B744 VH-OED Retirement - Page 2

danielc · #11 18th September 2009, 02:53 PM

I flew on OEC earlier this week as QF74 from SFO to SYD. Judging by the shape of the aircraft (seats, paneling, bathrooms, etc), it certainly looked to have a lot of flying years left in it. This was in stark contrast to the UA 767 that I flew on a week earlier from HNL to SFO which was looking very worse for wear.

Ash W · #12 18th September 2009, 04:24 PM

Looks are not the sole judge of how much life is left in the a/c. You have also just compared an international configured aircraft with a US domestic configured shuttle bus.

Fred C · #13 18th September 2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew

I assume the retirement schedule is based on cycles flown and proximity to D Checks?

This is the most correct answer. All of the aircraft "parked" will require a major check before going flying again.

Mike W · #14 19th September 2009, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve S... 2

I would like to see Qantas retire OQA, OQB, OQC and OQD instead... lol.

Ha ha. It'll be interesting to see how these things are doing in 20 years or so. History is a true judge. They'd have to be pretty special to be up there with the mighty 747 and as of now, I have many doubts.

Georgie B · #15 25th September 2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike W

Interestingly, from the forum link above "744s VH-OEC, OED, OJF, OJK (I deliberately left out the 767s for this discussion) are all up for sale and will be gone from the Qantas fleet by the end of this year/early 2010" so I suppose not surprisingly, the two non-'38 747's (747-4H6s) and the two troubled QF 747-438s involved in 'incidents' over the past few years.

Still leaves OEB (747-48E) and the older OJ series pre OJH and K.

*Sigh*
How I wish I was older, so I could have perhaps seen them more when they were still flying. Curse that A380!