Sad indeed :(

Just curious (if you have any insight): When it is known that a airframe is going to get scrapped (or converted to a freighter), does UA (or anyone else)strip the inside of airline specific items (Seats, galleys, etc)?

There is very little market for spare interior parts from another airlines interior. If the airplane is owned by an airline they will definitely remove many parts off the airplane at the scrap yard and then have then re-certified/overhauled for use on other airplanes or for sale. Flight controls are expensive to purchase or lease, but overhauling them can be done pretty cheaply.

So the leasing company will sell the airplane to a scrapping company, who will remove the engines, gear, flight controls and other mechanical components and then pretty much just chop up the airplane for scrap metal.

Thanks for the follow-up. (and I don't know why I didn't ask like this): But I was specifically thinking about the ITPE seats. Would you remove them?

I am not involved in the lease return side of the business, but I would imagine that those seats and other items would make a great set of spares.

Good idea. The list of tail numbers can be on a separate page. Another page on the Wiki that simply lists the tail numbers for those people interested in tracking aircraft.

Here's what I'm thinking for the Wiki, let me know if there are any objections. Idea is to break up pages to have a specific purpose for each page:

Fleet Painting
* Primary fleet information page
* Combines PMUA/PMCO fleets
* Grouped by plane type and number of cabins (e.g. 752, p.s., 753 would be 3 separate listings), but irrespective of interior differences (e.g. mainline/ex-Ted A320s to be combined, 777-200s and 777-200ERs across all fleet to be combined)
* Uses N-numbers, sorted by N-number
* 5 colors used to indicate paint progress (Continental, Battleship United, Blue/White United, New United, Special Livery)
* No interior conversion information (separate pages)
* Exterior information would be listed (e.g. winglets)
* Fleet notes for each would exist
* Once painting is complete, could include additional information via color coding, but not to overwhelm

United Fleet - IPTE/BusinessFirst Conversions
* Combines PMUA/PMCO fleets
* Grouped by plane type (e.g. 767-200, 767-300ER would be separate listings)
* Uses N-numbers, sorted by N-number
* 5 colors used to indicate conversion progress (unconverted, in progress IPTE, IPTE complete, in progress BusinessFirst, BusinessFirst complete)
* No paint information

Economy Plus Conversions
* Similar to above, color coded for uncomplete, in progress, complete
* PMCO specific? Or maybe both

Live TV/WiFi Conversions
* Similar to above, color coded

Sub-Fleets by configuration
* Show mainline/ex-Ted A320 breakdown
* Show 777 (XA/XC, XI/XP/PMCO) breakdown
* Show 738 mid-cabin lav vs short performance package

My goal was to try not to clutter each of the pages while breaking each out to be as specific as possible, thoughts?

IMhO, I would just have 3 categories for paint:

• Old paint (encompassing all old paint)
• New Paint
• Special liveries

Other then that, everything else you suggest is ^

A.net is reporting the first PMCO 757 in E+ configuration is now flying.

16F 45E+ 108E-

sweet! the conversion has begun.

I suggest we keep the distinction between PMUA battleship gray and PMUA blue 'n white tulip until all the gray frames are repainted (which admittedly doesn't look like it will be all that far off).

N127UA had the Tom Stuker titles added over the summer. During fleet week, N127UA did the fly-over, and the T.S. titles were missing. A photo from a recent trip also confirms that they have been taken down.


Any clues as to why this happened?

http://friendlyskies.smugmug.com/Uni.../DSC0625-L.jpg

I was at ORD a few weeks ago and most of the UA aircraft I saw still are painted, still have the UA tail. On the other hand I was at EWR and almost every CO aircraft has United on the plane.

All wiki updates are on hold until FlyerGuide comes back.

Appears the Wiki is back but restored to a previous version, so much of the work that was done to separate pages was lost.

Additionally, making updates doesn't seem to work...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17706966-post11.html

:td:

I have an up-to-date UA Fleet page on my desktop ready to paste in once updates are allowed. It is in the old style, however, that did not have the updates listed above.

The CO page is up to date except for one error - N24736 has not been painted.

It let me get to the 'Show preview' page just now (didn't save it for obvious reasons), so it looks like it might be editable again...