Aircraft scrapping in the UK

[Cara Van Man]

tuffer said:

When I joined the RAF they had a load of really old and decrepid VC10's and the Nimrods were on their last legs.........That was 20 years ago and they are still in use

quite

[mrmaggit]

I know some Vulcans were scrapped on the tarmac at Scampton. I was on the phone to a chap putting ducting along the runways when one was scrapped in front of him by having a digger bucket driven through it!

[Moose.]

off_again said:

They do this at Kemble! In the last couple of years they have stripped down and broken up an old 747 and I think there is another couple of planes ready to go I think.

There's an Air India 747 there at the moment:



(or at least it was there last month )

Edited by Moose. on Monday 23 February 10:00

[Eric Mc]

Moose. said:

off_again said:

They do this at Kemble! In the last couple of years they have stripped down and broken up an old 747 and I think there is another couple of planes ready to go I think.

There's an Air India 747 there at the moment:



(or at least it was there last month )

Edited by Moose. on Monday 23 February 10:00

We send them our ships - they send us their planes.

[fathomfive]

Davi said:

fathomfive said:

So is there an opportunity for people to buy harmless chunks of old plane then?

what you after?

It was a curiosity more than anything. Any links at all?

[Davi]

fathomfive said:

Davi said:

fathomfive said:

So is there an opportunity for people to buy harmless chunks of old plane then?

what you after?

It was a curiosity more than anything. Any links at all?

my mates company is Air Salvage International - they're stripping the Air India at Kemble mentioned above by the look of it!

One of those opportunities I really wish I'd taken further, helped him when he was getting the company going!

http://www.airsalvage.co.uk/ is their website.

Edited by Davi on Monday 23 February 10:20

[S7Paul]

I tend to agree with Eric's earlier comment; although many of the UK's charter fleet aren't in their first flush of youth, they do seem to be pretty well maintained.

However I do recall a documentary a few years ago which focused on the "hidden history" of the aircraft that take us on holiday. In particular, they featured a 727 whose history went something like:

In use for donkeys years with a major US airline - in storage for a while - bought by some obscure South American operator - damaged - flown unpressurised to Arizona for repair - bought by Dan Air and in daily use flying Brits to Spain.

[john_p]

There's a company at Booker (High Wycombe) which always seems to have various parts of old aircraft lying about. I don't know if they break them on site or just store them for scrapping / onward sale. There was the wing section of a Harrier there not long ago..

[jcwuk]

Racingdude009 said:

They is a massive industry in breaking up planes.

Paul Stoddard who one owned Minardi did pretty well out of it.

So does Peter Saywell

[Eric Mc]

S7Paul said:

I tend to agree with Eric's earlier comment; although many of the UK's charter fleet aren't in their first flush of youth, they do seem to be pretty well maintained.

However I do recall a documentary a few years ago which focused on the "hidden history" of the aircraft that take us on holiday. In particular, they featured a 727 whose history went something like:

In use for donkeys years with a major US airline - in storage for a while - bought by some obscure South American operator - damaged - flown unpressurised to Arizona for repair - bought by Dan Air and in daily use flying Brits to Spain.

I remember it well and actually flew on the 727. However, this is the best part of two decades ago - I flew in that 727 to Italy with Dan Air in 1989.
Dan Air were a bit of a "bin" for collecting older airliners - they were the last operators of the De Havilland Comet.
The 727 had been operated by Mexicana (not that obscure in that they were the second largest Mexican operator back then after Aero Mexico. The plane overran the runway at Acapulco and was severly damaged. It was flown wheels down and unpressurised to Miami where it was repaired. It was then sold to a leasing company who leased it to Dan Air who flew it for a few more years without incident.

Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 23 February 11:07

[BigLepton]

Eric Mc said:

Merritt said:

fathomfive said:

So what happens in the UK when planes get old?

'First Choice' buy them and use them for a further 10 years.... allegedly

Very unfair.

Most of the charter airlines in the UK buy their planes new - although they may hang on to them for up to 20 years. The ThomsonFly 767 I flew to Majorca in last October was ex-Britannia (the service trolleys still had the Britannia logos embossed on them) and was around 20 years old. However, the 767 wasn't bought second hand. Britannia morphed into ThomsonFly when Tui took over the Thomason/Britannia group.

Is it true you have to have your sense of humour surgically removed before you can pass your accountancy finals?

[Eric Mc]

Absolutely. It's the most enjoyable part of being an accountancy student.