unusual planes going to unusual places

[jenny@nw]

I was in the Detroit lounge yesterday for about 10 hrs due to my leg(s) being cancelled. I heard in the lounge that we're flying A330's and 747's to fantastic-exotic places like: PDX... SEA.... PHX.... ect.

I like the excuse I heard on why they were doing this: Because those planes need to fly or they would have glitches and BREAK! :unsure:

Is this true or it's a bunch of nonsense that someone made up. I suspect they are taking revenue passengers from cancelled flights to wherever.

I figure you smart pilots/mechanics would know the answer to this one.

 

[Kev3188]

I know PDX saw three A330 domestic flights the other day due to lack of '57 crews...

I can't believe they'll break if they're *not* flown, though nothing these days would suprise me.....

 

[robbedagain]

if the 330s break due to the non flying, wouldnt that affect any otheer airbus' plus maybe the boeings. what kind of sh!t are they smoking these days!!!! 🙄

 

[tech2101]

if the 330s break due to the non flying, wouldnt that affect any otheer airbus' plus maybe the boeings. what kind of sh!t are they smoking these days!!!! 🙄

I would suspect that they were 'positioning' the aircraft to accomadate mx/flt ops requirements that were missed due to the crew cx due to shortages. Just my opine.

 

[USFlyer]

As I understand the regulations, the FAA requires ETOPS aircraft to be flown a certain # of hours in non-ETOPS operation before the planes are ETOPS certified. When US was receiving new A330s, they would fly them to SJU or LAX to accrue the hours needed.

 

[jenny@nw]

As I understand the regulations, the FAA requires ETOPS aircraft to be flown a certain # of hours in non-ETOPS operation before the planes are ETOPS certified. When US was receiving new A330s, they would fly them to SJU or LAX to accrue the hours needed.

That totaly makes sense! Thanks!

 

[tech2101]

As I understand the regulations, the FAA requires ETOPS aircraft to be flown a certain # of hours in non-ETOPS operation before the planes are ETOPS certified. When US was receiving new A330s, they would fly them to SJU or LAX to accrue the hours needed.

NWA did the same thing when they first purchased some of the DC-10-30's from some other airline. When they were re-configured in Singapore/HKG, they would fly them to GUM/HNL/SEA. By the time they got there they had so many MEL's the FAA would require them to fly domestically until the MEL count was within 'normal' amounts for the fleet type. I remember having one of the buffalo-30's coming to MCO with MEL stickers covering the inside and outside of the logbook cover. IIRC there were 16 MEL's on this pig when it finally made it back to the states. That was out of a MX facility at Singapore or HKG (it left with zero). The pilots were somewhat irritated. 🙄

 

[700UW]

US' 330s never flew to LAX. They stayed on the East Coast.

 

[USFlyer]

US' 330s never flew to LAX. They stayed on the East Coast.

That's right, Terminal 1 at LAX can barely handle a 767 when gates around it are full. I think they sometimes went to MCO and MIA, if I remember correctly.

 

[700UW]

CLT, MIA, PHL, CHS, SJU all on test flights, not sure about the others, but it was based in MIA during the proving runs.

 

[Kev3188]

As I understand the regulations, the FAA requires ETOPS aircraft to be flown a certain # of hours in non-ETOPS operation before the planes are ETOPS certified. When US was receiving new A330s, they would fly them to SJU or LAX to accrue the hours needed.

This is very interesting! I guess I assumed that ETOPS planes came out of the factory "ready to go."

..It's worth noting that in NWA's case, these were all planes that were already flying ETOPS routes...

 

[700UW]

Kev,

You are right, the planes are ETOPS from the factory.

The airlines have to make proving runs to show the FAA they can operate the plane, they do not have to make runs for ETOPS certification.

 

[robbedagain]

why do they have to make proving runs for the flights? and does each new widbody have to do it as well as the narrowboddy

 

[700UW]

When an airline adds a new fleet type to the company they have to have proving runs to show the FAA they can operate the plane safely.

 

[robbedagain]

thank u 700uw