Classic airliner fans will be pleased to know that the visual film history of the NASA Boeing 747SP N747NA SOFIA is now playing on JetFlix. We are pleased to present a selection of fascinating NASA PR films that cover all aspects of this amazing aircraft from its early flights in 2007 to present day. The quality of the films is amazing and it features awesome inflight footage of the 747SP, as well as landing, taxi and on board footage. All of which is used to tell the amazing history of this fabulous aircraft and the people that are intimately familiar with the aircraft’s operation and its use as an airborne space observation platform.

SOFIA is a highly modified classic Boeing 747SP Special Performance wide-body airliner that has been outfitted with a large door in the aft section of the port side fuselage which can be opened in flight allows a large diameter reflecting telescope to view the sky and far reaches of outer space and distance cosmic galaxies. This airborne high-perfomance telescope is specially designed for infrared astronomic observation of the earth’s outer stratosphere at altitudes reaching as high as 41,000 feet. The Boeing 747SP offers a terrific altitude and range combination enabling the aircraft to cruise above earth’s atmospheric water vapour, which typically blocks or screens infrared wavelengths from reaching ground based observatories. At the 747SP’s comfortable cruising altitude, as much as 85% of the available infrared range is available for observation. The ultra long range 747SP can fly to most destinations over the Earth’s surface, allowing airborne cosmic observation from the distant reaches of the northern and the southern hemispheres.