Transpac787 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 3143 posts, RR: 14 Posted (5 years 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 8200 times:
Hey all,
Well.... summer load factors are just about in full force now, so nonrevving is becoming a bit more difficult. So, instead of my normal international nonrev "fix", it seems I'll be going to Podunk, USA for a few months, haha. I usually don't do TR's for any of my domestic trips, but I figured I'd make an exception for this one. Anyhow, I thought a cool first trip would be to Roswell, New Mexico. It's a brand new route for AA, and it's a place I've wanted to see anyway. I want to go back again to visit the alleged UFO crash site as well as White Sands, but this trip was to visit the boneyard at Roswell Industrial Air Center. Despite being pretty hot, it was really cool to walk around and get to see all sorts of old planes: 741, L10, 727, etc. Like I said though, I have to head back to ROW soon.... pretty cool place!!
Again, the point of trip was quite simply to just go sight-seeing in Smalltown, USA. I've always wanted to see a boneyard.... Marana, Mojave, etc, but since AA now has scheduled service to the Roswell Industrial Air Center.... that makes it a lot easier!! The flights themselves on American Eagle were short an uneventful, so I won't post anything on them as there really is nothing to report. Here, though, are some pics I took along the way:
Pushback from gate in DFW. The Super 80 on pushback is the exact plane I took on DEN-DFW.
On short final into ROW. Talk about the middle of the desert out there.
Rollout in ROW. You actually taxi through the boneyard on your way to the terminal.
Walking into Roswell terminal - nice sign.
Definitely a ghost town in the middle of the desert.
AA Super 80's - there were quite a few of them around, probably no less than 30 or 40 of them.
Closeup of an AA Super 80.
Ex-UA DC10. Note the FE registration number.
Aloha 732's in the distance.
I really can't stress enough how I was literally the only person around for miles. This picture reminds me of the one line from the Don Henley song The Boys of Summer: "Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach"
Talk about an extremely lonely place - almost spooky.
DC8 row. My first time up close & personal with DC8's!!
For some reason, the DC8 seems smaller than it looks. Maybe it's just me, though.
ATA Tritanics. Always wanted to get on one of those, but probably never will.
This was the worst for me. I love the 727 and it will be a genuine sad day in a few days when Champion closes their doors. Along with that company will die my last best hope of actually getting to fly that glorious plane.
Effective shade
A couple more Tritanics. There were probably 20x L-1011's total at ROW.
An immaculate FedEx 727-100. Those signs were all over the perimeter fencing.
Well, I suppose I should cut the pics off there so this page doesn't take WAYY to long to load.
Like I said before, the flights to and from DFW were short and completely uneventful. So, here are a few last pics of departing the Roswell Industrial Air Center.
Small terminal building and ticket counter
Walking out to the ride back to DFW
Well, thanks to everyone for reading & viewing. All comments & feedback appreciated!!
Longhornmaniac From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 3102 posts, RR: 47 Reply 1, posted (5 years 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 8140 times:
Nice report, Matt.
I've wanted to go out to ROW and see the boneyard. I think I might have an emotional breakdown, however.
Triple7man From Thailand, joined May 2005, 683 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (5 years 3 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 8055 times:
I did not even know American Eagle flew into Roswell. Some more of our Super 80's will be joining the ones already there. Did you see any 777's parked there?
DALCE From Netherlands, joined Feb 2007, 1596 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (5 years 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 7968 times:
Hi There,
Amazing report, with some very good looking oldies. I always love to see those old birds.
It's sad that they are not used anymore, but times do change.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Joost ( D-ALCE )
flown on : F50,F70,CR1,CR2,CR9,E75,143,AR8,AR1,733,735,736,73G,738,753,744,319,320,321,333,AB6.
KingAir200 From United States of America, joined May 2006, 1587 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (5 years 3 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 7609 times:
I liked how you worked that Don Henley reference in. I hope you listened to that while you were there.
Atrude777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5623 posts, RR: 54 Reply 10, posted (5 years 3 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 7169 times:
Awesome Report dude.
ROW certainly sounds a fun place to go visit! You didn't need a car or anything? Just walked around? If so, pretty damn cool!
Maybe worthy of a TR Mileage run to check out in the late summer.
Alex
Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who go AFTER it!
Transpac787 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 3143 posts, RR: 14 Reply 12, posted (5 years 3 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 7041 times:
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 1): I think I might have an emotional breakdown, however.
Oh, I'm emotionally unstable anyway, so I was just crying hysterically the entire time. I suppose there are fringe benefits to not a single soul being around for miles
Quoting Triple7man (Reply 2): I did not even know American Eagle flew into Roswell.
Not a single one. Very few 747's too, only a few ex-UPS 741's.
Quoting KingAir200 (Reply 4): I hope you listened to that while you were there.
Of course!! My fave song of all time.
Quoting Gosimeon (Reply 5): Out of interest, why do so many flights fly to ROW? Seem's a bit "middle-of-nowhere...
AA started the route with 2x daily Eagle ER4's, now it's up to 3x daily ER4's. Apparently the route tends to run with pretty full loads. Surprise to me too, no doubt.
Quoting Ebs757 (Reply 6): let me know when your going back
Sure thing, sir. Next time I'm back there I wanna tour around a bit though. It's a neat place.
Quoting Jmy007 (Reply 7): So who else flys schedule into ROW?
AA and AA alone. Mesa used to fly in there, but no longer.
Quoting Ebs757 (Reply 9): Most likely not... AA is phasing out the oldest Md80's. From what I've heard, twa's are some of the youngest
Yes, some of the ex-TW Super 80's are some of the youngest around. That having been said though, AA tends to prefer their own equipment compared to the planes acquired through TW, Reno, etc. Other than the young S80's, all TW aircraft are now gone. 763, 752, and 717. AA kept the Reno Air Super 80's for only a short time before getting rid of them. So, oddly enough, AA is retiring some of the young TW birds right along with the older AA-original birds.
Quoting Atrude777 (Reply 10): You didn't need a car or anything? Just walked around?
No car, just walked!! Bring some good shoes though, that place is HUGE. I probably walked a couple good 2-3 miles and only saw maybe 2/3 of the facility.
Quoting HT (Reply 11): ROW used to be linked to ABQ, but at the moment I cannot find any flights between these two cities.
Mesa used to fly it but terminated the route. Now AA is the only carrier in there, 3x daily ER4.
DFW13L From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (5 years 3 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 6744 times:
Wow!
Loved your report. I'm now inspired. I think I have to go there--soon! As a nonrev I have heard ROW is a difficult flight due to high loads and low frequency of service.
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