B744 VH-OED Retirement

[Brad Myer]

Hi all,

Have some questions regarding OEDs retirement...

So this A/C operated a schedule flight to the US and was then flowen straight to "retirement"

What about the A/C interior? It has brand new Y+ seats installed etc do they just go to waste?

I remember when the B742/B743 and B762s were retired from QF the A/C were stripped of any valuable cbin items and then flowen out of SYD for retirement.

Anyone have any details?

[Gerald A]

http://www.400scalehangar.net/forums...ad.php?t=42900

[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.

[Anthony J]

What incident did OJF have?

[BradR]

OJH landed in the bunker in BKK not OJF.

I assume retirements of the 2 class RR 744s will be decided by which is next due for heavy maintenance.

[Mike W]

Apologies as per the above. I actually did mean OJH, not OJF and I think I must have had OJH on the brain assuming it would be retired because of the golf course incident. Certainly got my wires crossed.

I guess this destroys that aspect of my point then

[Nick Te Mata]

OEC and OED,both -4H6 (ex-MH) frames, have had some serious problems involving corrosion and other structural faults which were discovered during D-check in about 2002 and go back to their service/maintenance life with their original owner. Not to mention that they're not exactly young, but conceivably still have a few years in frontline service in a healthy economic climate. OEB hasn't really had the same issues being an ex-OZ -48E.

OJF and OJK, despite being a touch younger (both '91 builds from memory) than the aircraft with earlier registrations, have more hours and cycles than others. In normal circumstances they wouldn't be retired at this stage and it's really much of a muchness as to which 744s leave the fleet, but some had to go as there is currently way too much capacity with new 388s coming online -- these aircraft headed the list. Had this situation arisen in a different economic climate, we'd probably see 744s drifting into domestic work (SYD-CNS, SYD/MEL-PER) and secondary international routes much as the classic 747s did in the twilight of their service -- ECB, ECC, EBS and EBQ for example lasted to about 25 years old, the 743s 23-24. Right now the loads just can't justify holding onto that capacity.

The original order of 744s consists of OJA-OJR and span late 1989 to early 1993; they were all built at a similar time so the overriding concern will be hours/cycles (as is generally the case with most aircraft retirement). If OJK's incidents lately had played a part in its retirement, the aircraft wouldn't have been repaired at significant cost. It's simply coincidental.

[Tom PER]

OEC 79990 hrs/9733 cycles
OED 79236 hrs/9572 cycles

OJF 86641 hrs/11215 cycles
OJK 81519 hrs/10648 cycles

Is what they were advertised with having on the airframes.

Why are they being stored at VCV and not say Avalon where they could be re-activated at short notice?

[Marty H]

Tom they are now surplus to QF's requirement, two years ago QF were under capacity, now they are way over, its not about a temporary storage they are leaving the fleet for good.

[Steve S... 2]

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