Boeing 747 days are numbered

[Eric Mc]

V8LM said:

Eric Mc said:

V8LM said:

In flight now.

What is?

Sorry - G-BNLY, the Landor liveried BA 747-436.

https://fr24.com/BAW9154/263a3e26

Thanks.

Nice to see that it will be saved - for a while at least.

[Trevatanus]

Eric Mc said:

V8LM said:

Eric Mc said:

V8LM said:

In flight now.

What is?

Sorry - G-BNLY, the Landor liveried BA 747-436.

https://fr24.com/BAW9154/263a3e26

Thanks.

Nice to see that it will be saved - for a while at least.

Being turned into a conference centre \ cinema (remember those!) I understand

[PAUL500]

I have read that the BOAC 747 is taking the short hop from Cardiff Airport to St Athan on Friday, I am hoping I will be around to see it as the flightpath goes right over my house, anyone know what the planned take off time is?

Will this be the very last BA Jumbo to take to the air? have all the rest now been dispatched?

[legless]

Poor pic I took of G-BYGC earlier this year from the window of my seat on G-CIVW as I arrived back at Heathrow on what was my final BA 747 flight ever, although I didn't know it at the time.

Odd to think that both of these have ended up getting saved.

[aeropilot]

PAUL500 said:

I have read that the BOAC 747 is taking the short hop from Cardiff Airport to St Athan on Friday, I am hoping I will be around to see it as the flightpath goes right over my house, anyone know what the planned take off time is?

Will this be the very last BA Jumbo to take to the air? have all the rest now been dispatched?

Yes, I believe it will be the final BA 747 flight, all 45 secs of it...!!

The BOAC 747 is that last one left at Cardiff.

[magpie215]

aeropilot said:

Yes, I believe it will be the final BA 747 flight, all 45 secs of it...!!

The BOAC 747 is that last one left at Cardiff.

I wonder how many snags are in the Tech log for its final ferry flight?

[PAUL500]

I missed it! wasn't home at the time.

At least its only a few miles away, so I can take a good luck when they open it up to the public

[PAUL500]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOpsrLtab4Q&ab...

[nonsequitur]

magpie215 said:

aeropilot said:

Yes, I believe it will be the final BA 747 flight, all 45 secs of it...!!

The BOAC 747 is that last one left at Cardiff.

I wonder how many snags are in the Tech log for its final ferry flight?

'Toilet Blocked' was always a popular one. 'Rectumfied' was the engineers log entry after clearing said blockage.

[MrBig]

Big Jet TV are live streaming the departure of the final VA 747 from Heathrow this afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgXm80dBnAs

[JuniorD]

MrBig said:

Big Jet TV are live streaming the departure of the final VA 747 from Heathrow this afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgXm80dBnAs

It would have been funny if the flag had blown out from the 744 and got sucked into the engine of the BA Airbus

[Speed 3]

[Willy Nilly]

With a lot of 747's getting scrapped recently, what happens to the parts? Presumably there is a huge supply of used spares and not so much demand now.

[aeropilot]

Willy Nilly said:

With a lot of 747's getting scrapped recently, what happens to the parts? Presumably there is a huge supply of used spares and not so much demand now.

There will be stuff that will be in demand by the freighter operators, like undercarriage bits and stuff like that.

Engines are usually the big expensive item, but not so much demand from the freighter ops for the ex-BA stuff with their RR engines, as only a few RR engine freighters compared to the US engine versions.

[Willy Nilly]

aeropilot said:

Willy Nilly said:

With a lot of 747's getting scrapped recently, what happens to the parts? Presumably there is a huge supply of used spares and not so much demand now.

There will be stuff that will be in demand by the freighter operators, like undercarriage bits and stuff like that.

Engines are usually the big expensive item, but not so much demand from the freighter ops for the ex-BA stuff with their RR engines, as only a few RR engine freighters compared to the US engine versions.

What will happen to the RR engines? Can they be used in other applications as gas turbines etc? That could be a ridiculous question.

[magpie215]

Willy Nilly said:

What will happen to the RR engines? Can they be used in other applications as gas turbines etc? That could be a ridiculous question.

No not at all....RR Avons are still in use in 'alternative' non aerospace applications.

[eccles]

There was a TV series all about eCube based at St.Ahan called Plane Reclaimers that showed the inside line on the recovery of spares from end of life aircraft.
Most of the aircraft came in with a list of spares that were to be harvested, usually starting off with the engines. This list often ran to over 1200 parts.
The show also covered people buying bits of aircraft to convert into offices, art etc.
In the last episode it showed them gong to Spain to expand into new facilities to cope with growing demand. I believe it was the same facility that the recent fire on a BA aircraft was at.

[JuniorD]

magpie215 said:

Willy Nilly said:

What will happen to the RR engines? Can they be used in other applications as gas turbines etc? That could be a ridiculous question.

No not at all....RR Avons are still in use in 'alternative' non aerospace applications.

There's an Industrial version of the RB211, the SGT-A35. Though I don't think that it would be feasible to convert an RB211 aero engine, for example those off a BA 747-400, into an Industrial engine.

[aeropilot]

Willy Nilly said:

aeropilot said:

Willy Nilly said:

With a lot of 747's getting scrapped recently, what happens to the parts? Presumably there is a huge supply of used spares and not so much demand now.

There will be stuff that will be in demand by the freighter operators, like undercarriage bits and stuff like that.

Engines are usually the big expensive item, but not so much demand from the freighter ops for the ex-BA stuff with their RR engines, as only a few RR engine freighters compared to the US engine versions.

What will happen to the RR engines?

Cathy Pacific Cargo 747F's are RR powered, so they may be looking at a few of the lowest time ones for spares for their fleet, and I think one other cargo ops has RR engine 747F's. But given BA have just got rid 30 odd 747's, thats over a 100 RB211's on the market, and I suspect they will be cheap, given the relative lack of demand.
If BA are flogging them at less than a zero time overhaul on a RB211, then they will likely find buyers for them.

[smack]

JuniorD said:

magpie215 said:

Willy Nilly said:

What will happen to the RR engines? Can they be used in other applications as gas turbines etc? That could be a ridiculous question.

No not at all....RR Avons are still in use in 'alternative' non aerospace applications.

There's an Industrial version of the RB211, the SGT-A35. Though I don't think that it would be feasible to convert an RB211 aero engine, for example those off a BA 747-400, into an Industrial engine.

The ones with life left have been sold to a Cargo operator, since RR stopped making RB211's some time ago, so the 2nd hand market is the only way to get engines and parts. BA being the largest 747 and RB211 operator had the largest stock of in use engines and spare parts. Flogging off these parts is probably the only positive income stream to the airline at the moment. And the aircraft that went to Dunsfold had engines with low resale value.

When the cargo operator inspected BA's RB211's, they asked why the thrust reversers were in such great condition - after a long haul flight of 8-13 hours (LHR-SIN was the longest sector BA used them on) the aircraft had burnt off a load of it's weight, landing at airports with long runways, there is no need to hammer the reversers to stop the aircraft, unlike cargo aircraft that often do short hops with heavy payloads to pokey small airports which do.