Rise From Your Grave(yard) Part Deux

Matt Cawby tweeted that the last two frames in storage, line 1479 (RC525) JA15KZ for Nippon Cargo Airlines and line 1482 (RC605) VQ-BRJ for AirBridgeCargo, will head back to KPAE today. NCA 747-8s are all over KPAE right now!

 Update: Didn't happen. But line 1437 (RC573) went for a flight with the FAA on board. And she has blue engines now. What could this mean? If this were a good blog I could tell you :(

Pic by Matt Cawby.

There was an airworthiness directive issued today for 747-8s about a missing bushing that could lead to problems.

RIP 747-400 line 927 JA8957 for ANA. She goes to her doom at Tupelo, the saddest place in the world for a 747 fan. The locals must have gotten a kick seeing this colorful bird come in for a landing.

Tupelo

Headed to Tupelo...

Took me long enough to post these pictures, didn't it? I visited Tupelo Regional Airport in search of old 747s a few weeks ago, and I wasn't disappointed. It's safe to assume that any large airplane flying into Tupelo is soon to be a scrap pile. Case in point, former United 747-400 N193UA, which flew here back in December:

"And that there's what's left of 193..."

The Lufthansa 747s that flew in here last year? Not a sign of them ever existing. It was a really interesting visit. The company that does all this dirty work, Universal Asset Management, stays very busy. They also have a spin off company called Aviation Afterlife that creates furniture and artwork using pieces and parts from these scrapped planes. I won't blather on any more about it; I'll just get to the pictures and videos.

Photo Gallery
Up in N195UA (video)
Flight Line 1 (video)
Flight Line 2 (video)