The final Delta 747 flight was the scene of a wedding between a pilot and a flight attendant Wednesday as the plane headed from Atlanta to its final resting place in a scrapyard in Arizona.
Holly Rick and Gene Peterson met on a 747 nine years ago in Kuwait, AZ Central reported, and decided that final flight of that aircraft in the U.S. was a fitting destination for them to tie the knot.
The couple said their vows 40,000 feet over Memphis about an hour after flight 9771 took off with about 50 people — just the wedding party and some personnel to run the flight — on board, AZ Central reported. After the ceremony, they had champagne and chocolate cupcakes and spent time on the upper deck where they met.
“This is my dream wedding,” Rick said, AZ Central reported. “I’m on my favorite place to be in the world.”
The in-flight nuptials were actually the idea of 747 pilot Steve Hanlon, a longtime friend who captained the final flight.
Both Rick and Peterson were single parents and dated long distance for nine years. Their kids are all grown now but couldn’t make it to the wedding because of work or school, AZ Central reported.
Rick said she was 34 when the 747s started flying and would miss them.
“It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to this plane. I grew up on her. She’s majestic,” she told AZ Central.
The couple isn’t honeymooning in an exotic location; instead, they are flying from Phoenix back to Minnesota so Petersen can train on a new plane now that the 747s are out of service.
“This is the life of airline people,” Rick said, AZ Central reported.
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