757 Retrofitting at SAT?
 

Does NW retrofit their 757s at SAT (San Antonio)? I have seen one with winglets and one without. The one with winglets has been here for more than a week, and the other one has been here at least 4 or 5 days now.

Not sure, but I also saw a NW plane getting worked on @ SAT a while ago -- week before Christmas, I think. It was right by the car rental (Hertz) return area.

Not sure why they'd be down in SAT other than for charter/special services.

FWIW, the new 757 winglets have been being installed at Kelowna Flightcraft (at YLW) in Kelowna, British Columbia.

We were in SAT for spring break last March. A NW 757 was undergoing a "heavy" maintenance right next to the Hertz location. It looked pretty well put back together when we left a week later. Didn't see winglets - but that decision might not have been made at that time.

There are a few MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) facilities located at SAT:
http://www.sanantonio.gov/aviation/a...nce+and+Repair

I suppose NW could have a contract with one or more of them, perhaps as a result of the pending/ongoing mechanics' strike from the last few years? Pure speculation on my part, though.

I do know for certain (see my last post) that they're not doing the 757 winglet retrofits at SAT, though.

Installing the winglets and changing the seat configuration are operations done in two separate steps and by two different contractors.
Every wingletted 757 will have to be taken out of service for the second operation before it goes TATL. I remember reading that NW did this in two steps as it wanted to properly evaluate the effect of the winglets on the aircraft performance w/r to fuel burn etc. Furthermore, at least in some cases, the re-configuring coincides with a heavy maintenance check.
I believe there is a NW press release on this, but I could not find it...

Why would they take the winglets off? I thought they were supposed to provide better fuel efficiency because of improved aerodynamics.

?

They're not taking them off, they're putting them on.

Steve B.

Step 1- Take plane off service and install winglet. No change in seat configuration.

Step 2- Take plane off service, keep winglet on, change seat configuration.

The two steps are done during different maintenance checks.

San Antonio Aviation (the big red hangers by Hertz) does heavy maintenance for many airlines, as well as retrofits. A few months ago, they redid a 744 for a Russian airline. I've seen quite a few NW 757s in and out over the past year or so.

My office is at the far end of the runway, so I get to watch them land and take off all the time.