Remarks: I remember when the 747-400 was introduced into airline service and now I am seeing them being scrapped. Very sad and makes me feel a little old!
Remarks: An overview of the main storage area at Victorville. This contains about 90% of all the planes in long term storage here. As you can see, plenty of Mexicana 717s!
Remarks: A sad sight for me as I have personally flown this plane. B-HOO is Cathay's oldest 747-400 (Although the 2nd to enter service with CX - due to it being part of the 744 test program and needed to be refurbished prior to entering service). B-HOO is the first to be retired, with the rest of the fleet slated for retirement in the next few years although they have had a small reprieve because the economy is doing well and our flights are so full.
Remarks: Thankfully not all planes which end up at Victorville are scrapped. Cathay stored four A340-300s during the 2008 economic downturn. As the leases on these planes run out, they are being reactivated and returned to Hong Kong before being returned to the leasing company. B-HXO has just been towed to the active ramp area for reactivation.
Remarks: One of a large fleet of 737-900ERs operated by Lion Air, arrives early morning at Surabaya's airport. Note the Orbis DC10 parked in the background at the old terminal on the other side of the runway.
Remarks: I think the 777-300ER looks nice in almost any scheme but it really looks nice in this shot; those big engines, the clean shiny blue scheme of Korean and on a nice sunny day. In the background a US Air A321 lands on runway 24R.
Remarks: This plane has only been in service a few days and already it is missing half of the tail picture from one side of the tail! Flying to Hong Kong under the airline name Sky King, this 23 year old 737 departs back to Guam. This 737 previously flew with Aegean Airlines, Cronus Airlines, China Xinhua and Istanbul Airlines.
Remarks: What on earth happened to this plane? It looks like it has been through a lot. Doesn't do much to advertise United's image does it? Time for a repaint I think!
