Qantas Frequent Flyer - The Irony of a certain ex-QF 733

A little off the usual topics but a nice little snippet at any rate...

As many NZ and Aussie flyers will remember I was the one who shed a tear or two :rolleyes: at the retirement of Qantas Jetconnect 737-300 ZK-JNC, aka the ultimate maintenance nightmare/hangar queen of the Jetconnect fleet. But as it was the last-ever QF 733 in the fleet I thought it deserved an update...

It is with a sense of irony, and perhaps fittingly, that I can report that ZK-JNC survived the wreckers ball.

After a year of sitting at Marana Air Park, JNC was resurrected from the desert and flown to Bournemouth Airport in the UK. It is currently being converted to a VIP aircraft and until very recently was still sporting partial QF colours and JNC registration (although officially registered N294AG).

At present it in the European Aviation Hangar being 'zero-timed'. How the hell this plane was saved considering its 'illustrious' history at Jetconnect (and headaches for QF flyers and crew) is amazing.

A big thanks to the Bouremouth Airport Spotters and Aviation Pics forum posters @ Farnborough Aviation Groups for the heads up on the pics of this plane. ^

Follow this link here to the web-site for pics or you can even google search N294AG and you should see some pics of Charlie come up.
http://farnborough.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=boh&action=display&thread=5835&page=4

and here:

http://farnborough.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=boh&action=display&thread=5835&page=3

I see an OzJet plane hiding behind the QF 733 too.

I see an OzJet plane hiding behind the QF 733 too.
OzJet was asubsidary of European Aviation, well Paul Stoddart controlled enties at least.
I too am amazed that someone chose ex ZK-JNC to keep flying.

OzJet was asubsidary of European Aviation, well Paul Stoddart controlled enties at least.
I too am amazed that someone chose ex ZK-JNC to keep flying.

It's weird really- out of the all the planes in all the world this one just had to keep on going...from what I hear, although I can't go into too much detail, JNC arrived with MANY issues but someone somewhere for some weird reason picked her out to keep on trucking...

It's weird really- out of the all the planes in all the world this one just had to keep on going...from what I hear, although I can't go into too much detail, JNC arrived with MANY issues but someone somewhere for some weird reason picked her out to keep on trucking...
Come on, spill the beans. You've got us interested in why this is the ultimate maintenance nightmare/hangar queen of the Jetconnect fleet. If you can't say, is there somewhere else where the information is hiding?

Maybe with all the replacment parts that have been installed is it's effectively newer than other 733 of the same era.

Maybe with all the replacment parts that have been installed is it's effectively newer than other 733 of the same era.

My thinking as well. This beast might be fixed up to a point that it is almost a new 733. Or someone is thinking he is good with a screwdriver and sticky tape.

Well if it was such a 'hanger queen' it would obviously have lower hours and cycles than the other ZK birds:eek:

Come on, spill the beans. You've got us interested in why this is the ultimate maintenance nightmare/hangar queen of the Jetconnect fleet. If you can't say, is there somewhere else where the information is hiding?

It was well known at Jetconnect, amongst QF/JC crews, that JNC was not at all a reliable bird (although out of the other 733s I don't think any of them could truly be called 'reliable').

There were a multitude of maintenance issues, some of which have been referred to, in various posts on this forum.

Well if it was such a 'hanger queen' it would obviously have lower hours and cycles than the other ZK birds:eek:

You would have thought so but apparently not...

She was reasonably high-time.

Also I should point out that I'm not talking about the wings falling off here but rather a series of daily operating issues and niggly little problems that for one reason or another just wouldn't go away.

My thinking as well. This beast might be fixed up to a point that it is almost a new 733. Or someone is thinking he is good with a screwdriver and sticky tape.

I agree - I think there were quite a few new parts in her (considering she underwent a great deal of repairs in 2009) and she must have been worth it. Funnily enough if it sat in the desert for a year before flying from MZJ to BOH, it's a wonder it wasn't cannibalized for parts straight away. Somebody must have reallly wanted her :)

You must also remember that there was a delivery delay in the new 737-800s to Jetconnect and they were absolutely desperate for planes...so the decision was made to patch up JNC in mid/late 2009 just to keep her going a few more weeks.

Just an update on ZK-JNC; unfortunately after a year of sitting in a hangar at Bournemouth there was a mishap of some kind and the VIP conversion has been cancelled with the airframe now going to be scrapped shortly. I just had the update from my contact in the UK. It has been towed back outside and sits in the scrap area awaiting the cutting torch.

Was the mishap the new owners read this thread on FT and realised what they had bitten off? ;-)

Was the mishap the new owners read this thread on FT and realised what they had bitten off? ;-)

Maybe...just maybe :p