Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Victorville Update

The majority of stored aircraft at VCV have been moved to a new, custom-built storage area at the northeast corner of the airfield, well out of spotting range of the main ramp. There are ways to access this new area via dirt roads around the north end of the airport, but these have not been explored by Cactus Wings as of yet.

There are still several planes on the main ramp as of this writing, clustered very tightly together.

(Noted while flying UA6034 LAX-SGU on Sunday)

Monday, August 23, 2004

Cactus Wings News
23Aug-2004
News items
==========
* Delta B767-400 N828MH [29699] was noted at Phoenix on 08Aug-2004 with a technical problem with the left engine. It was parked remotely on the west cargo ramp, and departed on 12Aug-2004 to ATL. Photo:
* Boeing B737-7ES N378BC [33474], the first 'Wedgetail' aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force, has been at Williams-Gateway for hot-weather testing. It was first noted on 10Aug-2004, and has been spotted several times since, last being 22Aug-2004. Photo:
* USAF VC-25 92-9000 brought President Bush to Phoenix on 11Aug-2004 for a campaign visit. Accompanying Air Force One was the press aircraft, Primaris B757-200 N740PA [24497]; and three USAF C-17s: 03-3120, 99-0063, and 99-0062.
* Hello Airlines MD-90-30 N744BC [53553] was delivered to the airline on 11/12Aug-2004. It ferried MZJ-TUS-YQX as 'N744BC' and was cancelled from the US register on 13Aug-2004, HB-JIB being reserved for the aircraft. Photo:
* Ex-UPS B747-200F N528UP [24071], previously at Marana, was leased to Air Atlanta Icelandic and was delivered on 21Aug-2004. It routed MZJ-PHX-HNL as 'ABD35P', wearing an all-white color scheme.
* Southwest Airlines took delivery of two new aircraft. N477WN [33988] arrived at Phoenix on 12Aug-2004; and N478WN [33989] arrived at Phoenix on 17Aug-2004.
* Goodyear updates from Steve Cook, http://www.visitingphx.com:
GYR on Sunday 8/15: There were 3 new aircraft to GYR: AWE B732 N178AW which was parked on the TIMCO Ramp with n/t, also BOE MD11 N278UP was on the TIMCO Ramp painted a/w, and WOA MD11 N273WA was in between the hangars at TIMCO. Both COA MD80 N35836 and USPS B727 N421EX have been moved to the TIMCO Ramp this weekend, while VRG MD11 N501FR (PP-VPP); UAL B722 N7272U; and 3 COA MD80's N10834, N35832, N18835 have all been moved to the field now. USPS B722 N314NE was in the scrapping area previously and is now presumed scrapped since it was missing this weekend. AWE B732 N149AW has been moved to the scrapping area, still wearing its full c/s and appears to be on pallets now. Other aircraft still parked at TIMCO include: UAL B772 N770UA, BOE A310 N229BA, BOE B744 N223BA, GRO MD80 XA-TUP, VRG MD11 N499HE, and VRG MD11 N485LS. USPS B722 N315NE departed on Saturday 8/14 as its reg via GYR-TUS-OPF. Cielos Cargo DC10 N322FE and WOA DC10 N303WL were also missing on Sunday. We were able to verify the reg's on all of the USPS 727's this weekend and all were present with the exception of one's previously mentioned as scrapped or departed. Another note is that both AWE B732's N180AW and N188AW now have their titles painted out. Other than those changes, all of the other aircraft still appeared to be present at GYR on Sunday.

GYR on Saturday 8/21: The FFT B733 flight planned on Saturday morning, apparently dropped off the system. Only a couple new aircraft to note at GYR, a WOA MD11, N277WA which just arrived Saturday evening from LAX and the most interesting note ex-AAL B752 N719TW is now in full Uzbekistan c/s parked on the TIMCO Ramp. AWE B732, N149AW now appears to be scrapped this weekend and N421EX has been moved to the scrapping area at TIMCO. WOA MD11, N273WA departed earlier this week, so this aircraft is no longer at GYR.
Other aircraft on the TIMCO Ramp:
N136CV Fly Air B752 -moved from field
N241CV Fly Air B752 -moved from field
JA8156 ANA B742 -moved from field
N121NJ VGD B732 -moved from field
N188AW AWE B732 -moved from field
N178AW AWE B732
N485LS VRG MD11
N278UP BOE MD11
N223BA BOE B744
N229BA BOE A310
Both VRG B762's still appear to be inside the hangar. The GRO MD80, XA-TUP has been moved to the field along with VRG MD11, N499HE. Other than those changes, all of the other aircraft previously reported still appeared to be present at GYR on Saturday.
Aircraft movements
==================
07Aug
N199SW EM2 LAS-MZJ
09Aug
N744BC MD90 TUS-MZJ - Hello Airlines
10Aug
BOE201 B73G EDW-IWA N378BC RAAF 'Wedgetail'
BOE8577 MD11 NRT-TUS-GYR
11Aug
N744BC MD90 MZJ-TUS - Hello Airlines, 'IB' on nwd
12Aug
N744BC MD90 TUS-YQX
13Aug
N726TW B757 ROW-VCV
SXA145 MD11 airtest MHV
14Aug
NWA9750 DC-9 MSP-MZJ N8911E
SXA145 MD11 MHV-SLN-ZRH
16Aug
AAL9629 F100 TUL-MHV N1463A
UAL9960 B767 SFO-VCV N614UA
17Aug
AAL9630 F100 TUL-MHV N1427A
19Aug
AAL9787 B757 MCI-GYR N724TW
COA9970 MD82 MHV-ARG N937MC
NASA57 B757 TUS-MZJ
WOA911 MD11 GYR-RIV
20Aug
N203ME DC-9 MHV-TUS
MGE425 B72S HNL-TUS
Any tie-ups on the above, or anything I may have missed, would be appreciated. It helps keep my database and the Cactus Wings website up to date.