I remember as a small boy visiting the cockpit of a chartered DC-10. I actually got to sit up front during an approach and landing into Boston. I remember looking back into the cavernous cabin of this massive plane and asking the captain how he could fly and manage such an amazingly large airplane and he simply answered. "You fly this baby from the cockpit forward and whatever is behind you will follow". He made it sound so simple he convinced me that even I could do such a thing one day. I too flew the 747 and it was awesome. 785,000 pound takeoff weights are hard to even imagine much less do routinely. It was a time I will always remember and feel fortunte to have had the opportunity to fly such a wonderful airplane.