<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Nuitari:
I remember flying Athens-Beirut in or around 1995 and it was quite scary because the plane definitely showed it's old age and it had signs of being a spare plane written all over . One of the engine needed reparation on the tarmac and the ustensils were from various airlines, including Sabena, KLM, Canadian, AC and LH. </font>
Ah, don't worry about the old girl. MEA flew through all the Lebanese political turbulence and had so much of their fleet destroyed by various terrorist acts on the ground at Beirut (hence the insurance comment above - at least the 707s were cheap to replace by this time). But despite appalling base conditions for pilots and maintenance crews, mechanically and operationally their old 707s flew on impeccably through it all.
Occasionally I see an old one at airfields in Britain. If I was miraculously offered a seat aboard on a flight, I'd be on it in a flash.