Hello everybody.

I have a question for you guys, on Saturday Afternoon around 4pm I saw a Northwest plane over North Holland, on long departure out of Schipol. It appeared to be a DC-10, but I wasn't sure that any had been repainted. Does anybody know if this was one of the first ones repainted, or did I see a 747?

Jason

DC-10 and a 747 are rather different, even at long range.

I realize that they are totally different aircraft...the whole 3 engine vs 4 etc, etc, etc. To me it really looked like DC-10...and I would say that it was one, except I hadn´t seen anything here indicating that any had been repainted yet.

No DC-10 or B742 have been painted, nor are their any immediate plans to do so.

If you for sure saw a DC-10 (viewing the right side of the airplane in flight from ground level), perhaps it was in NWA/KLM livery? The tail would be red and the KLM fuselage may visually "fade" into a silvery appearance from a distance, especially in hazy conditions.

Then, I don't know if this livery is still in operation. Just a thought...Jack

Last Friday I worked flight #2 from Bangkok to Tokyo on our recently repainted 747-400. While I despise the big, black nwa on the fuselage, as well as the design team's unclear-on-the-concept northeast pointing compasses, the pearly silver paint is very attractive. Staring at the plane from the terminal at Narita (it had been dark when we boarded in Bangkok), I laughingly agreed when the captain commented "I think Mercedes offers this same color...".

No I don't think that special livery is till in operation. I just checked all NW DC-10 pictures taken this year 2003, there are about 100 of them, all of them show the current red and dark gray livery with the thin blue line getting ticker as you move towards the rear of the airplane. Like IndustrialPate says, no DC-10's have been repainted in the latest livery.
Chances are, Jbmitt, it was a DC-10 that you saw because Northwest flies them out a lot out of AMS. I'm sure it was wearing the livery I just described, from the ground you must have seen a white belly with the blue cheatline getting thicker, and white engine nacelles. Northwest will maybe repaint one DC-10 and one Classic 747 in the latest livery, not more, if they ever decide to introduce their new livery on those aircrafts.

Ben Soriano
Brussels Belgium

The Northwest/KLM combo DC-10 was repainted into standard (old) Northwest colors a while ago. I doubt any 747-200s will be repainted as Northwest seems to be retiring these aircraft faster than originally planned. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see a DC-10 in new colors since they'll still be around for a few more years, but at the same time I could see Northwest getting away with not repainting any before they get retired.