sbtinme

... here's one place to look: Greenwood MS. I know, sounds nutty, but this airfield is home to a commercial airliner scrapyard that salvages a/c parts and avionics for resale. Amazing to know that several US 734s are already dead. I can well remember flying on one the first week they were added to the fleet. Others may recall that PI was the launch customer for the 734, but virtually all of them were delivered new to US since the merger occurred in 1989.

In any case, here's a link to one of many photos:

US 734 in surgery somewhere in the middle of MS

In a way, it's really wild that these efficient a/c are being ripped apart after 12 years of work and NWA is still flying DC9s from the early mid 1960s!!! Wild.

phlwookie

A number have been scrapped. Airfleets.net has a reasonably good track of current and former US aircraft, though it's behind on the latest A319 returns to GECAS (N727UW being one I think).

Of the 734's, it looks like two were sold to JAT (N428US and N429US), 6-7 were scrapped (site says 5, but N412US, which is listed as sold but is partly broken up in that airliners.net photo, clearly isn't flying again). As I recall the scrapping occurred around the time of bankruptcy #1. I suppose the rest are still around.

Places like MHV and VCV (aircraft storage and scrapyards in the California desert) have lots of former US aircraft, such as DC-9's, MD-80's, 737-200's, and I imagine many are being scrapped. Some of the former US then Metrojet 737-200's have been resold. I'm not sure if all the F100's have been resold yet or not -Airfleets says 10 haven't - but I remember seeing a couple of them stored at LAS a few years back.

All in all, a sad state of affairs. Does anyone know if US actually has any 737-300/400 or Airbii stored that they still have the rights to use? Aircraft returned to lessors that haven't been repainted yet obviously don't count.

lt1GM

It's a good start. Just last week I was on a 734 and it was the worst I've ever seen on US Airways in terms of cleanliness. As we all know, that's saying something.

McFlyPHL

One thing to remember about the current and former US 733's and 734's is that they're oddballs of their types. IIRC, the original PI order specified analog flight decks to mimic the 732's in their fleet. Other 733's and 734's have the EFIS(?) glass cockpits rather than analog. Of course this limits resale value considerably as the don't have commonality with, well, much of anything.

I'll agree though, they are badly in need of refits or, hell, just a good dose of elbow grease and Simple Green would probably do wonders....

HPTunco

What a sad photo..........

SOBE ER DOC

I think I flew this aircraft last week from MIA to PHL. No wonder it was so drafty in roach class.

Wave1

Looking at the airfleets site, it is amazing to note that the US legacy carriers have some of the oldest fleets on earth (other than small airlines or those based in developing nations) Of the legacy carriers it looks like Continental has by far the yougest fleet (and also interesting to note they seem to be the only legacy carrier actually placing orders for new mainline aircraft (7E7).

The legacy carrier's fleets are only going to get older given their current financial state. On the other hand, Airtran, JetBlue ATA etc. have very young fleets (<5yrs old avg.). Some folks feel better flying newer AC, though the stats have shown that the difference in the US is not statistically meaningful in terms of safety. Comfort is a different matter-i.e the 737-200-yuck.

photog72

What's interesting on the airliners.net site is that, N412US was photographed a week before it's use was discontinued at MIA. Too bad it wasn't replaced with a shiny new Airbus.

PHL

Overall, I would say US' mainline fleet is within 7-10 years old. The Boeings are definitely contributing to the age factor, but there is a healthy fleet of airbuses that are all within 7 years old. Some much newer.

That ain't too bad. Nix those crusty old 767's in favor of more A330's and it'll be something to sing about.

deelmakur

For a ship like that 734 to be "parted out", there must have been some major maintenance issues. There's enough demand for that type aircraft, but not if it has to be rebuilt. It's an interesting phenomenon these days. The original LCC's, like Valujet, all made do with used equipment. Then, when disaster struck, the big guys very quietly tweaked their ads to remind folks how new their planes were, the suggestion being that older one's weren't so safe. This time around, the new kids read the playbook, and have, for the most part, launched with, or transitioned to, new equipment. Airbus, which seems to have endless supplies of narrow bodies, made sure they got them, and got them cheap. At the same time, Boeing got stuck with the 717, and loaded AirTran up with those, at what were very attractive prices. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Northwest is the most amazing. They have DC 9's and 10's, which have to be older than some of the pilots flying them. In the scheme of things, USAirways, thanks to those Airbuses, has a relatively young fleet, which. among other things, seems to result in fewer operational problems. Those Airbuses aren't perfect. A pal of mine was on a JetBlue 320 from LGA to FLL the other day. While being deiced, some of the ethanol got into the air intake, and the plane filled with fumes. Everybody freaked, and the crew didn't know what to do. Since LGA isn't their main base in NYC, ground staff was limited. The passengers went nuts, two guys onboard (apparently a Doctor and a Lawyer), called 911, who, unable to board the thing showed up in the baggage claim, and a good time was had by all. When the plane finally got back to a gate (they didn't want to open the doors, because the slides would have deployed, rendering the plane unuseable for quite awhile), a little old lady sitting up front, who had boarded in a wheel chair, got up, and ran off (regulars to Florida will have a smile on their faces with that one). Point. LCC's don't always have a lot of experience with unexpected problems, and those old Boeings really aren't so bad.

phlwookie

Fleet age is in the SEC filings. For the 10-K filed March 1st, go to http://investor.usairways.com/edgar.cfm and choose the version you want. Detail is by aircraft type, seats and age.

For those wanting the executive summary, on Dec 31st the average age of the active fleet of 281 mainline jets was 10.9 years.

Here's a Detroit Free Press article from Jan 2004 that compared fleet ages at that time. This is likely to be somewhat skewed by recent fleet retirements and new deliveries, but I'd bet that NW still flies the oldest fleet and will for a while:

http://www.freep.com/money/business/...4_20040124.htm

FWIW, the Airbus A330-200 order for 10 copies has, to the best of my knowledge, survived Bankruptcy 2 so far. These are slated as the direct replacements for the 767-200ER fleet. Although they did give up some Airbus delivery slots recently to get a refund on the deposit on some of those slots, I believe they were all A32x series slots.

sbtinme

Huh? NYC's LGA is absolutely US's major NYC base. Am I reading this wrong? What did you mean to convey??

Not so. Slides are very easily deactivated with a simple switch device. Remember, those doors open every time the plane is at the gate for pax loading and catering --- often front and back doors.

Score8

The story he told was about JetBlue, not US.

hscottm

Anyone have access to airliners.net for that photo?

Someone should add " this US 737 overshot the runway in PHL on an 11pm landing Tuesday night. It was found Wednesday morning in the neighborhood surrounding the airport in this condition."


Btw, funny to see a really heavy aircraft supported by wood pallets.

chtiet

If the plane is moving, the doors must be armed. It's probably illegal to de-arm the doors when the plane is not officially parked. So it's actually perfectly logical that they did not want to open any doors out on the tarmac, because indeed the slides would have deployed...