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UA Temporarily Grounds Boeing 772 (PW Power); returning to service: late May 2022

UA Temporarily Grounds Boeing 772 (PW Power); returning to service: late May 2022

Old Jun 26, 2021, 12:33 am
  #301  
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Originally Posted by PacificClipper
It’s believed that United will be announcing a large aircraft order on Tuesday. There’s speculation that the order will include 20 787-10s. That would be the right amount to replace the 20 domestic 777s where other fan blade cracks have been found. Further speculation is that the PW 777ERs, that have Polaris/PP, will return after the engine modification plan is finalized and installation completed.

Let’s see what Tuesday brings.
Even if they place the order now, no new widebodies can be built and deliver immediately, it would be at least a year or longer down the road, and UA doesn't seem like they are in a hurry to replace them neither or they would have bought those 10+ NH 77W that are scrapping right now, all those NH 77W are less than 20 years old
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Old Jun 26, 2021, 11:48 am
  #302  
 
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Originally Posted by worldtrav
Some of the PW fleet are in or heading to heavy checks in XMN, I seriously doubt UA would invest the cost of that check if they planned to retire them. Not saying that some of them won't be retired, just not all of them.
How do they do that - as in, have they already cleared inspection?
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Old Jun 26, 2021, 1:04 pm
  #303  
 
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Originally Posted by ORDnHKG
Even if they place the order now, no new widebodies can be built and deliver immediately, it would be at least a year or longer down the road, and UA doesn't seem like they are in a hurry to replace them neither or they would have bought those 10+ NH 77W that are scrapping right now, all those NH 77W are less than 20 years old
Both Boeing and Airbus are sitting on plenty of previously ordered, yet unclaimed inventory at the moment.
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Old Jun 26, 2021, 1:12 pm
  #304  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
How do they do that - as in, have they already cleared inspection?
No, but I believe someone mentioned prior they got a special permit for a ferry flight, this is not a new thing, as UA just recently had ferried those 77M and 77G that were left at HNL for months, flew to VCV for better storage, no inspection was done at HNL before they flew
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Old Jun 26, 2021, 3:38 pm
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
How do they do that - as in, have they already cleared inspection?
It would be on a ferry permit from the FAA which could include any number of conditions, mitigating procedures, and/or pre-flight inspections. Whatever the FAA deemed appropriate for the situation. It would be flown by a crew made up of engineering pilots who do nothing but maintenance test flights, maintenance ferries, etc. These are the same pilots who moved 737 MAX aircraft around, as required, during that grounding.
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Old Jun 27, 2021, 5:46 am
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Originally Posted by ORDnHKG
No, but I believe someone mentioned prior they got a special permit for a ferry flight, this is not a new thing, as UA just recently had ferried those 77M and 77G that were left at HNL for months, flew to VCV for better storage, no inspection was done at HNL before they flew
Bolding mine, that is completely wrong. United/Pratt is inspecting every single blade on every engine to determine which can be used to reposition the aircraft to storage under the special ferry permit. They are harvesting known good blade sets from the fleet and shipping them to any aircraft that needs blades replaced before ferrying.
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Old Jun 27, 2021, 6:54 am
  #307  
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Happy to hear these Polaris configured 772s will be going for heavy maintenance and return to scheduled services once international traffic goes back to normal.

Nothing against the 787s, but still prefer the roomier feelings of the 777s in the Premium Economy and Polaris cabins.

Hope they will be in service enough until A350s come join the fleet .

Love flying the A350. As far as traveling experience goes, it is a much better replacement for the 772/3 than 789/10.
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Old Jun 27, 2021, 5:15 pm
  #308  
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Originally Posted by artvandalay
Both Boeing and Airbus are sitting on plenty of previously ordered, yet unclaimed inventory at the moment.
I am not aware there are any 787 or 77W that are built and unclaimed, you might be mistaken the 737 MAX.

Originally Posted by worldtrav
Some of the PW fleet are in or heading to heavy checks in XMN, I seriously doubt UA would invest the cost of that check if they planned to retire them. Not saying that some of them won't be retired, just not all of them.
Those in XMN are actually stored there rather than in for heavy checks, if you noticed the in date they have been there for months, those that are there actually for maintenance are the sCO 77E

Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
Happy to hear these Polaris configured 772s will be going for heavy maintenance and return to scheduled services once international traffic goes back to normal.
there are no definitely plans to return to service, someone is mistaken the 77N/U/G/M had been there for months as storage rather than doing anything, the only ones that are actually there for maintenance are the 77E, which are the GE birds

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jun 27, 2021 at 9:18 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
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Old Jun 27, 2021, 7:33 pm
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Originally Posted by ORDnHKG
Those in XMN are actually stored there rather than in for heavy checks, if you noticed the in date they have been there for months, those that are there actually for maintenance are the sCO 77E
Originally Posted by ORDnHKG
there are no definitely plans to return to service, someone is mistaken the 77N/U/G/M had been there for months as storage rather than doing anything, the only ones that are actually there for maintenance are the 77E, which are the GE birds
UA literally flew a PW4000 bird to XMN last week
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Old Jun 27, 2021, 11:31 pm
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Originally Posted by N104UA
UA literally flew a PW4000 bird to XMN last week
I'm a bit surprised the FAA would grant a waiver to fly a grounded plane permission to fly to China - even for maintenance (isn't the engine part of heavy maintenance?). It is one thing to get them from - lets say Hawaii - to San Francisco - to be readied for inspection.
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Old Jun 28, 2021, 7:46 am
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
I'm a bit surprised the FAA would grant a waiver to fly a grounded plane permission to fly
Ferry permits are common and routine. They include restrictions, requirements, and procedures to mitigate the risk of whatever it is that is otherwise causing the airplane to be grounded.

I don't know any specifics about these ferry permits but I'm sure there are maintenance procedures and requirements to mitigate the risk of fan blade failure. Perhaps they have to install relatively low-time blades? Maybe there's some time of inspection that they must do? I don't know.
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Old Jun 28, 2021, 7:53 am
  #312  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
I'm a bit surprised the FAA would grant a waiver to fly a grounded plane permission to fly to China - even for maintenance (isn't the engine part of heavy maintenance?). It is one thing to get them from - lets say Hawaii - to San Francisco - to be readied for inspection.
Engine maintenance is separate from the airframe. It would be pretty hard for them to occur at the same time since they are on different schedules
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Old Jun 28, 2021, 7:54 am
  #313  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
I'm a bit surprised the FAA would grant a waiver to fly a grounded plane permission to fly to China - even for maintenance (isn't the engine part of heavy maintenance?). It is one thing to get them from - lets say Hawaii - to San Francisco - to be readied for inspection.
HNL-XMN is only about twice the distance of HNL-SFO — I wouldn't think that is a major factor in evaluating a waiver. I imagine they're more interested in the other risk mitigation steps taken, such as the possible ones LarryJ posed, perhaps along with the experience of the crew flying the ferry.
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Old Jul 5, 2021, 2:18 pm
  #314  
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772HDs look like they’re gone from SFO/HNL on a couple of dates I checked in December. Now 753s.
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Old Jul 5, 2021, 2:53 pm
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Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
772HDs look like they’re gone from SFO/HNL on a couple of dates I checked in December. Now 753s.
I had booked a December 13 trip from KOA-ORD. It looks like they are resuming the non-stop Summer service for the December holiday period, which is great news if it sticks! That said, when we booked it it was 772HD service. A few days later it became 788 service like the Summer service. It looks like the retrofit on the PW 772 is going to take a long time and/or UA is retiring some of these birds.
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