A bit of history

[Yada Yada]

I stumbled over this website today and saw a photo of an ex-AN 767 (or what's left of it) sitting in the desert:

 

[JohnK]

Memories....... Good photo.

BTW how does a plane sit as opposed to standing? :roll:

 

[QF WP]

Any idea of the rego of the plane and how it got there?? (and no wise cracks about it flew there!!)

 

[markis10]

Most of them actually did fly to Mojave and then get parted out. looks like a 204 , possibly RMO that became N807AN, her is her history:

RMO - Stored at the MEL Ansett Terminal.

Test-flown 17/6/02, as AN4089.
It departed Melbourne, as AN4040, 21/6/02, ferrying MEL-HNL & HNL-MHV 22/6/02, for storage at Mojave, California.
Struck-Off-Register 27/6/02.
Reregistered N807AN to MSA 5/7/02.
Still stored at Mojave, CA, 30/6/04. Sold to AAR Parts Trading, Inc., 20/7/04. Parting-out, by Flight Director, commenced 8/04.
Struck off the U.S. Register 20/8/04.
Seen still WFU at Mojave 19/9/04 in basic Ansett scheme
She was an ex Brittania aircraft that was expected to possibly fly again as she had a lot less cycles thann many AN 767's.

 

[MetroAir]

Lao Air are flying an ex Ansett A320 - HYO I believe although it may be HYT, and still have the AN branded lifejackets for the safety demo.

I was of the understanding that RMO was redelivered and not broken up - but perhaps I'm wrong.

You can still buy a BAe 146 if you want one!

Memories indeed!

 

[Mal]

IIRC, OzJet are buying an ex-Ansett plane as part of their fleet!

 

[JohnK]

Any idea of the rego of the plane and how it got there?? (and no wise cracks about it flew there!!)

What a disciplined bunch AFFers are? They provided the information you asked and not a single wise crack about the plane flying to get to the Mojave desert from MEL via HNL. What more could you wish for?

 

[Yada Yada]

Any idea of the rego of the plane and how it got there?? (and no wise cracks about it flew there!!)

Sorry Lindsay, there is no other information on the website aside from some generic info about AN. Here is the link: http://www.airchive.com/SITE PAGES/VIN-MOJAVE.html

BTW how does a plane sit as opposed to standing? :roll:

Ah....hmm...., good point. I guess "standing" means it will be moving again soon. "Sitting" means it is there for longer. Perhaps I should have said "lying down", because it ain't going anywhere. :mrgreen:

 

[Yada Yada]

Oh, BTW... on the page of photos at the website linked in my previous post, just above the photo of the AN 767 are some photos of an America West 737-200. Here is what they say:

America West Boeing 737-200 (2005 Photo)
America West, along with Southwest, retired their 737-200s in January 2005. They were together the last mainline carriers in the U.S. to operate the classics.

Hadn't heard that term before. So now I know that O7 flys "classics". :wink:

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

yadayada - your avatar of the austrian airlines logo needs to be rotated 90 degree

 

[Yada Yada]

Most of them actually did fly to Mojave and then get parted out. looks like a 204 , possibly RMO that became N807AN, her is her history:

RMO - Stored at the MEL Ansett Terminal.

I just Googled and every reference I found indicates you are correct - it is N807AN (VH-RMO), a 767-204.

Here is a clearer photo showing the rego:

Link: http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=410018

 

[markis10]

Here is a summary of what happened to the aircraft, its a little dated:

A320's
HYA - Air Luxor, Portugal
HYB - Air Luxor, Portugal
HYC - Lao Airlines
HYD - Libyan Arab Airlines
HYE - Storage, Cambridge UK
HYF - UMAIr
HYG - Bulgarian Aviation
HYH - Eqagle Aviation france
HYI - Afriqiyah Airways, Libya (This operated the last AN service)
HYJ - LAT Charter Poland
HYK - Afriqiyah Airways Libya
HYL - Siberia Airlines
HYM - Unknown
HYN - Siberian Airlines
HYO - Armavia of Armenia
HYQ - Fonds GmbH
HYR - Air Moldova
HYS - Armavia of Armenia
HYT - Air Moldova
HYX - Free Bird Airlines, Turkey
HYY - Azal Azerbaijan Airlines, Baku-Bina, Azerbaijan

737
CZA - Airlift Trading Ltd, Auckland (Wet leased by Vanair till Dec 04)
CZB - Jet2 Airways
CZC - Grupo Turistico Magno Mexico
CZD - Scrapped at BNE
CZE - Jet2 Spain
CZF - Jet2 Spain
CZG - Dart group UK
CZH - Jet2
CZi - jet2
CZJ - Jet2
CZK - Channel Express
CZL - Jet2
CZM - Dart group
CZN - Dart Group
CZO - Merpati Nusantara
CZP - Merpati Nusantara
CZQ - Virgin Blue (Retired from fleet earlier this year I think)
CZR - Aérolineas Aéreas Azteca Mexico
CZS - Aérolineas Aéreas Azteca Mexico
CZT - Varig
CZU - Leased to QF NZ until 10/04
CZV - Jet2
CZW - jet2
CZX - Dart Group

 

[Yada Yada]

yadayada - your avatar of the austrian airlines logo needs to be rotated 90 degree

 

[kristo1]

Could I sell it and get some value for my Ansett FF points?

 

[NM]

Took me a while to be convinced this was actually VH-RMO. RMO was a 767-200 and the image clearly shows two over-wing emergency exits - only seen on certain configs of 767-300 aircraft (such as 767-338, as opposed to 767-336 that have the full-size emergency doors fore and aft of the wing).

Comparing with another image of RMO in her glory days, it appears the window immediately after the over-wing exit has been cut out and looks like a second exit even though it never was.

So even though it first struck me as a 763, it is obviously 762 length.

Its strange that when it arrived in Mojave it was still registered VH-RMO, as seen here in this photo dated 6th December 2002. So why was the rego changed after arrival if it never left the desert?

 

[QF WP]

Maybe it's like cars....take your car over to the USA and you have to get a new licence plate. Although crazy to have to go through to process to re-register only to de-register straight away.

 

[markis10]

An aircraft can only be registered with a VH if it will operate under Australian rules from a base in Australia. So as soon as an aircraft is sold and goes overseas, it needs to get a new rego based on the intended company of operation.

RMO got caught in the glut of relatively new aircraft that came onto the market following 9/11 and its aftermath, and 767-200s were not as cheap to operate compared to similar priced used aircraft, dont forget Ansett were operating 767s with a three seat coughpit.

I believe Air Pacific are using VH -ANA 747-400 still.

 

[NM]

An aircraft can only be registered with a VH if it will operate under Australian rules from a base in Australia. So as soon as an aircraft is sold and goes overseas, it needs to get a new rego based on the intended company of operation.

She say all covered up, but still in tact, for nearly 2 years before being parted out. Still strange to me that they went to the trouble to register it with an N-rego. I would have thought that would only happen if it was about to fly again and not until there was a buyer (or portential buyer) for it.

RMO got caught in the glut of relatively new aircraft that came onto the market following 9/11 and its aftermath, and 767-200s were not as cheap to operate compared to similar priced used aircraft, dont forget Ansett were operating 767s with a three seat coughpit.

I believe RMO was a 2-seat coughpit, unlike many of the AN 676-200's.

 

[markis10]

[quote="NM" I believe RMO was a 2-seat coughpit, unlike many of the AN 676-200's.[/quote]

You would be right on that score being a bird made for Britannia (hence the 204 desig). Whats really weird is that most of the 204 birds have been scrapped or stored, with one at AKL being used as a fire trainer (ZK-NBJ) and RML also being stored for instance.

I have heard that aircraft off the line that go straight to Australia achieve much higher resale value because they used to be in better shape from maintenance then when they left the line, however I suspect that these days that may not be the case with a lot of overhauls being done out of country.

 

[NM]

I have heard that aircraft off the line that go straight to Australia achieve much higher resale value because they used to be in better shape from maintenance then when they left the line, however I suspect that these days that may not be the case with a lot of overhauls being done out of country.

Keep in mind that one of the factors that contributed to the downfall of AN was the maintenance process issues they had with the 767 fleet and the subsequent groundings until they sorted out the paperwork etc. Perhaps that also contributed to resale problems if the full maintenance history could not be proven.