747 (Strangers in the Night)

"747 (Strangers in the Night)" is a song by Saxon from their 1980 album Wheels of Steel. It is one of the few Saxon songs that has been played on every tour since its release.[1]

"747 (Strangers in the Night)"
Single by Saxon
from the album Wheels of Steel
Released	1980
Recorded	1980
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	4:58
Label	Capitol
Songwriter(s)	Biff Byford, Paul Quinn, Graham Oliver, Steve Dawson and Pete Gill
Producer(s)	Nigel Thomas
Saxon singles chronology
"747 (Strangers in the Night)" (1980) "And the Bands Played On" (1981)

Lyrically, the song tells a story about a 1965 power cut that forced aircraft in New York City to remain airborne, with the power outage forcing a Scandinavian flight to detour to Kennedy airport in the dark.[2]

The flight mentioned, "Scandinavian 101", was actually Scandinavian Airlines flight 911 and was likely flown on a Douglas DC-8, as the 747 was still under development at the time and only entered commercial airline service in 1969, four years after the outage. The incident caused a major overhaul in safety and prompted the usage of reserve fuel tanks, as Scandinavian 911 almost used up all its fuel.