QF 744 retirement. Where is it at?

[Steve S... 2]

I just checked the PlaneSpotters fleets as I was curious - OJM (the oldest at retirement) got to 25 yrs 10 mths and OEB is currently 25 yrs 9 mths - OEB may well exceed OJM, which is kind of a shame as OJM served with Qantas the entire time and OEB only since 1998.

[Kent Broadhead]

For some reason I had 91 rather than 93 in my head for OEB. She is an oldie.

[James Smith]

The following item is from the Aviation Herald about OJUs engine shut down and diversion to Cairns. The aircraft still looks to be in Cairns over 2 days later. I love the use of the word "drifted" in describing the slow descent. It looks to be the number 2 engine.

A Qantas Boeing 747-400, registration VH-OJU performing flight QF26 (dep May 11th) from Tokyo Haneda (Japan) to Sydney (Australia), was enroute at FL350 over the Pacific Ocean north of Papua New Guinea when an engine (RB211) emitted a loud bang, streaks of flame followed by sparks and was subsequently shut down by the crew. The crew drifted the aircraft down to FL290, later FL250 and diverted to Cairns (Australia) where the aircraft landed safely about 135 minutes after the engine went bang.

The airline confirmed the crew shut an engine down.

Source: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c7dda0b&opt=0

[Rowan McKeever]

‘Drifted’ is a great term, but personally I can’t go past “landed safely... after the engine went bang”. Technical term right there, priceless!

[Yusef D]

Drift down is a technical and yes prosaic term, for descending gently using remaining power on good engines after an engine failure.

[Rowan McKeever]

Originally Posted by Yusef D

Drift down is a technical and yes prosaic term, for descending gently using remaining power on good engines after an engine failure.

I was referring, sarcastically, to the phrase “the engine went bang” being a technical term. Agree with you re ‘drift down’.

[James Smith]

Interestingly, according to Flightaware, OJU took 8 hours 24 minutes to reach Cairns and on its last flight from Haneda to Sydney took 8 hours and 41 minutes.

Apart from drifting down in altitude she drifted down in speed on three engines for over 2 hours as the flight time from Cairns to Sydney is nearly 2.5 hours. OJU is still in Cairns.

There is an account on the Aviation Herald website of what was experienced on the plane by a passenger on the flight. Vibrations were experienced on the plane until it landed in Cairns.

[James Smith]

B744 OJU positioned from CNS to SYD late yesterday afternoon, 16 May, 2019 arriving around 18:00.

[James Smith]

B744 OJU returned to service operating QF73 from SYD to SFO yesterday evening, 17 May, 2019.

[C Patters]

Any update on when OEB will be heading to the desert for retirement?