FedEx has sent N575FE to the desert. Originally delivered to Garuda Indonesia, this GE powered airframe had 93856 hours and 21701 cycles on it as of this month.

Spacepope wrote:

FedEx has sent N575FE to the desert. Originally delivered to Garuda Indonesia, this GE powered airframe had 93856 hours and 21701 cycles on it as of this month.

Is FX making blanket MD11 retirements of any frame nearing heavy maint?
Is there expectations/projections that GE powered frames would return as PW frames HMV out or/alternately for peak?

*5X appears to be operating all but one parked frame after retiring two. March has been suggested to be a lull month in cargo, however, the number of longer term parked or stored viable 744*fs appears* to have stabilized post peak. *An outsider looking in.
** it should be noted that on a volumetric basis, the b767 replaces MD11's at a ratio of 4/3.

Areonaves has taken delivery of DC93Fs N327US and N205US out of YIP.

In 2020 N327US had 57,000 hours and 56,000 cycles, so mid-life for the Douglas jet.

Isn’t the MD-11’s cargo load by weight significantly greater than the 767. UPS AND Fed Ex still use the MD-11 on long haul missions to Asia and Europe. I was under the impression the MD-11 is able to fly further with heavier loads. It fell between the 767 and 747. How can they use the 767 for a 1:1 replacement?

DL757NYC wrote:

Isn’t the MD-11’s cargo load by weight significantly greater than the 767. UPS AND Fed Ex still use the MD-11 on long haul missions to Asia and Europe. I was under the impression the MD-11 is able to fly further with heavier loads. It fell between the 767 and 747. How can they use the 767 for a 1:1 replacement?

But all MD-11s aren't used for long-haul so 767 can replace other missions.

We also rarely ever see true 1:1 replacements with aircraft.

Skycana is running daily flights MIA-SDQ with Smartlinx A321F, a 2nd unit to be add

There's cargo and there's express. FedEx wants to fly express, because it generates a higher rate than cargo. Express usually bulks out before it weights out. So the weight-lifting ability of the MD11 is less important, other than its ability to lift a lot of fuel which it will then burn if it has to fly far. It ability to carry lots of containers, however, is still a good thing.

I think the proper comparison, which I haven't seen done yet with real world load types and volumes, is volume inside the containers that FedEx (or UPS) uses on each.

If you wanted to fly textiles and other dense stuff to and from the Caribbean and South America or further, then weight-carrying ability matters more. Buddy of mine whose airline usually flies express stuff did a cargo turn to South America and came back with a load pretty-close to MTOW. Said it was fun to see what the 763 could do when heavy, something he didn't normally even come close to experiencing.

wjcandee wrote:

There's cargo and there's express. FedEx wants to fly express, because it generates a higher rate than cargo. Express usually bulks out before it weights out. So the weight-lifting ability of the MD11 is less important, other than its ability to lift a lot of fuel which it will then burn if it has to fly far. It ability to carry lots of containers, however, is still a good thing.

I think the proper comparison, which I haven't seen done yet with real world load types and volumes, is volume inside the containers that FedEx (or UPS) uses on each.

If you wanted to fly textiles and other dense stuff to and from the Caribbean and South America or further, then weight-carrying ability matters more. Buddy of mine whose airline usually flies express stuff did a cargo turn to South America and came back with a load pretty-close to MTOW. Said it was fun to see what the 763 could do when heavy, something he didn't normally even come close to experiencing.

767 in FX configuration - 22xAAD, 1xSAA, 1xAYY, 15xAQF plus aft bulk compartment is 16000.5cf.
MD11 - 20xAMJ, 3xAAD, 2xSAA, 1xAYY, 32xAKE plus bulk is 20064.5cf.
So an almost exact 4/5 volume ratio between 767 and MD11.
AMJ volume is 603.6cf, AAD is 507 so a fairly clean 5/6 ratio there for the primary containers. "Average" weights bear out the volume disparity....if the average weight of a full AMJ is 4500lb, a full AAD will be about 3700lb.

DL757NYC wrote:

Isn’t the MD-11’s cargo load by weight significantly greater than the 767. UPS AND Fed Ex still use the MD-11 on long haul missions to Asia and Europe. I was under the impression the MD-11 is able to fly further with heavier loads. It fell between the 767 and 747. How can they use the 767 for a 1:1 replacement?

It’s not a 1:1 replacement, but you also don’t exactly need a 1:1 replacement.

Your highest volume is going to be coming out of the major hubs (SDF, MEM). The returns back are, on average for most stations, quite a bit lighter. At least in the 5X market, most of the stations that get an MD-11, also have another flight that feeds the station. So off the day sort you get an MD-11 + something smaller. Usually one of those flights has positions available. So yeah, you can’t lift as much, but you don’t need to.

Then you have the added benefit of removing essentially an orphan fleet type. At 5X the Airbuses + 757/767 can go pretty much to any gateway. The MD-11 is fairly more restrictive. Now your problem child is limited to the 747, but you’re not going to drop that into many places that don’t already accept them anyways. You have more 767s that can do that job now.

HPRamper wrote:

767 in FX configuration - 22xAAD, 1xSAA, 1xAYY, 15xAQF plus aft bulk compartment is 16000.5cf.
MD11 - 20xAMJ, 3xAAD, 2xSAA, 1xAYY, 32xAKE plus bulk is 20064.5cf.
So an almost exact 4/5 volume ratio between 767 and MD11.
AMJ volume is 603.6cf, AAD is 507 so a fairly clean 5/6 ratio there for the primary containers. "Average" weights bear out the volume disparity....if the average weight of a full AMJ is 4500lb, a full AAD will be about 3700lb.

Wow! THANK YOU for this!! This is in the best traditions of A.net, where a knowledgeable person in the industry shares actual facts with us to help us understand something. THANK YOU AGAIN. So interesting!

Bottom line: the 767 in FedEx configuration carries 20 percent less containerized volume when maxed-out than does the MD11, or, alternatively, the MD11 carries 25 percent more containerized volume than does the 767. (Actually, I realize that the numbers actually include bulk carriage, but they properly account for the fact that everything outside of the bulk pits is usually carried in containers.) My original concern was that people sometimes try to calculate the difference in the volume of the tube, or difference in the volume of the useable area of the tube, which may skew things a bit.

jetblueguy22 wrote:

DL757NYC wrote:

Isn’t the MD-11’s cargo load by weight significantly greater than the 767. UPS AND Fed Ex still use the MD-11 on long haul missions to Asia and Europe. I was under the impression the MD-11 is able to fly further with heavier loads. It fell between the 767 and 747. How can they use the 767 for a 1:1 replacement?

It’s not a 1:1 replacement, but you also don’t exactly need a 1:1 replacement.

Your highest volume is going to be coming out of the major hubs (SDF, MEM). The returns back are, on average for most stations, quite a bit lighter. At least in the 5X market, most of the stations that get an MD-11, also have another flight that feeds the station. So off the day sort you get an MD-11 + something smaller. Usually one of those flights has positions available. So yeah, you can’t lift as much, but you don’t need to.

Then you have the added benefit of removing essentially an orphan fleet type. At 5X the Airbuses + 757/767 can go pretty much to any gateway. The MD-11 is fairly more restrictive. Now your problem child is limited to the 747, but you’re not going to drop that into many places that don’t already accept them anyways. You have more 767s that can do that job now.

So interesting to see how this stuff works in the real world!

AirBridgeCargo reported to be restarting with IL96-400T. The first aircraft’s, RA-96103 has already been painted.

N287CM CAM B763 scheduled ILN-SNN tonite, then TLV for BDSF conversion. cheers!

mark1484 wrote:

AirBridgeCargo reported to be restarting with IL96-400T. The first aircraft’s, RA-96103 has already been painted.

Fascinating. Looks like there were only 30-ish of the entire series ever built, and only 2 built of this freighter model. The one in question flew for polet for 3 years and was then parked, like a decade ago, and is now being brought back into service. The other one, also formerly flying for polet, is still parked. All- Russian airframe, engines and avionics.

stretch8 wrote:

N287CM CAM B763 scheduled ILN-SNN tonite, then TLV for BDSF conversion. cheers!

Lots of activity in CAM's freighter leasing these days! Thanks for the update!

It looks like IAI's throughput is substantially increasing.

Former NyxAir Saab 340F ES-NSD is headed to Ameriflight as N949AF

I was tracking another flight and saw N619FE is on its way to VCV today. Is it being sent for scrapping as well?

TheZ wrote:

I was tracking another flight and saw N619FE is on its way to VCV today. Is it being sent for scrapping as well?

Surprisingly, this is one of the factory built FedEx MD11 freighters, powered by CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Perhaps these engines can be re-used for new to be delivered 767-300F aircraft (modifying a CF6-80C2D1F to -B6F standard is possible during engine overhaul )

747classic wrote:

TheZ wrote:

I was tracking another flight and saw N619FE is on its way to VCV today. Is it being sent for scrapping as well?

Surprisingly, this is one of the factory built FedEx MD11 freighters, powered by CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Perhaps these engines can be re-used for new to be delivered 767-300F aircraft (modifying a CF6-80C2D1F to -B6F standard is possible during engine overhaul )

Based on SDRs, her last heavy check was exactly 2 years ago. I'd wager she's getting parked in lieu of the heavy check, and will be brought back in the future.

As of Feb 2023 she only had about 82,000 hours and 20,000 cycles.

N287CM CAM B763 is enroute ILN-SNN. cheers!

stretch8 wrote:

N287CM CAM B763 is enroute ILN-SNN. cheers!

YAY!

Spacepope wrote:

747classic wrote:

TheZ wrote:

I was tracking another flight and saw N619FE is on its way to VCV today. Is it being sent for scrapping as well?

Surprisingly, this is one of the factory built FedEx MD11 freighters, powered by CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Perhaps these engines can be re-used for new to be delivered 767-300F aircraft (modifying a CF6-80C2D1F to -B6F standard is possible during engine overhaul )

Based on SDRs, her last heavy check was exactly 2 years ago. I'd wager she's getting parked in lieu of the heavy check, and will be brought back in the future.

As of Feb 2023 she only had about 82,000 hours and 20,000 cycles.

20,000 cycles are not that few. The default limit of validity for the MD-11 is 20,000 cycles, but there seems to be an extension to 40,000 cycles. I wonder how expensive it is to operate an MD-11 beyond 20,000 cycles, as there could be additional maintenance tasks required for example.

a2b7 wrote:

Spacepope wrote:

747classic wrote:

Surprisingly, this is one of the factory built FedEx MD11 freighters, powered by CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Perhaps these engines can be re-used for new to be delivered 767-300F aircraft (modifying a CF6-80C2D1F to -B6F standard is possible during engine overhaul )

Based on SDRs, her last heavy check was exactly 2 years ago. I'd wager she's getting parked in lieu of the heavy check, and will be brought back in the future.

As of Feb 2023 she only had about 82,000 hours and 20,000 cycles.

20,000 cycles are not that few. The default limit of validity for the MD-11 is 20,000 cycles, but there seems to be an extension to 40,000 cycles. I wonder how expensive it is to operate an MD-11 beyond 20,000 cycles, for example due to additional maintenance tasks required.

The extended MD11 LOV is 40.000 cycles.
Compared to other aircraft built in the same era, the MD11 (derived from the "overbuilt" DC10, with an LOV of 60.000cycles) has relative few Widespread Fatigue Damage issues.
Consequently, the number of additional "aging aircraft inspections" during HMV is relative low

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... -all-b747s

Cannot see behind paywall where the explanation might be.

I hope the brain trust on the Cargo thread knows about the nuances of liabiliy between lessors and lessees when aircraft are returned. Maybe there is a tax angle in play since I thought Jetonex as owner/lessor is US based and Longtail Bermuda based.

N287CM CAM B763 is enroute SNN-TLV, for BDSF conversion. cheers!

Asl airlines has acquired Australian airline Pionair per simple, flying, and will expand by adding a 737, 800 freighter into the market. It will be rebranded as ASL Australia.

National's first full freigher 747 is finally on the move, N663CA flew MCO-Moody AFB and is now flying US DoD flight out of Moody. She arrived at MCO early Nov, having spend some time at HHN for mx.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n663ca

TUI Netherlands' 767-300ER PH-OYI has been flown AMS-DGX last Monday prior freighter conversion.
Last passenger flight was the day before; FUE to AMS.

TF-ISP Iceair 763F is now at SNN for painting, after conversion at QPG

Iemand91 wrote:

TUI Netherlands' 767-300ER PH-OYI has been flown AMS-DGX last Monday prior freighter conversion.
Last passenger flight was the day before; FUE to AMS.

Good conversion candidate, 20 years old, FADEC engines. Guess it's just waiting for a slot. DGX is a boneyard, but it's also a place to store aircraft. Not a great place (like Lourdes isn't a great place and yet a lot of the early Atlas conversions spent time there), but a place it is.

747classic wrote:

TheZ wrote:

I was tracking another flight and saw N619FE is on its way to VCV today. Is it being sent for scrapping as well?

Surprisingly, this is one of the factory built FedEx MD11 freighters, powered by CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Perhaps these engines can be re-used for new to be delivered 767-300F aircraft (modifying a CF6-80C2D1F to -B6F standard is possible during engine overhaul )

FedEx plans to retire the MD11F fleet in the next 5 years. The company expects to retire the last aircraft in FY 2028.
See (partly paywall) : https://cargofacts.com/allposts/express ... n-5-years/

wjcandee wrote:

Iemand91 wrote:

TUI Netherlands' 767-300ER PH-OYI has been flown AMS-DGX last Monday prior freighter conversion.
Last passenger flight was the day before; FUE to AMS.

Good conversion candidate, 20 years old, FADEC engines. Guess it's just waiting for a slot. DGX is a boneyard, but it's also a place to store aircraft. Not a great place (like Lourdes isn't a great place and yet a lot of the early Atlas conversions spent time there), but a place it is.

What happened to the Atlas converted that were stored in Lourdes?

A380MSN004 wrote:

What happened to the Atlas converted that were stored in Lourdes?

They were converted and dry-leased to Amazon.

A321 9H-AME Avion Express to be converted into F

Posted this in the Alabama thread as well, but it looks like Air Atlanta Icelandic's 1x weekly LGG-ATL for Astral may be moving to LGG-BHM. BHM's international cargo service began earlier this week with the arrival of the first STR-BHM flight on N862GT of Atlas. This is supposed to operate 2x weekly as ORD-STR-BHM. BHM's air cargo business is quickly growing, if this flight is permanently moving to BHM.

"TF-AMU, 747-400F operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic for Astral Aviation (Kenya) is currently flying LGG-BHM as ABD4400 (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ABD ... /EBLG/KBHM). It looks like this is usually a 1x weekly flight from LGG to ATL. Not sure if it is coming to BHM due to weather or if this is a permanent thing?

It left LGG at 1:26 AM local time, and it usually leaves LGG between 9-10 PM local time, which makes me think that they may be moving this operation to BHM, and the earlier time is to accommodate ramp space for the second K+N STR-BHM flight of the week. I think that Alliance Ground International is contracted to handle Astral/Air Atlanta Icelandic in ATL too (last week's flight parked at one of the two ramp spots in front of AGI's warehouse at the south cargo ramp at ATL), but that may be a sign, if they are, that this route is moving to BHM."

Kalitta Charters II has retired N724CK with it being the first retired in the KII fleet, It was officially withdrawn from service Sept of 2022. It's already being used to keep the other 3 remaining 727's around and with that being said, 729CK is being retired by the end of this summer (2023) and 726CK will be the last 727 retired from their fleet in November of 2024. 725CK has an unannounced retirement date as of now.

zkojq wrote:

Turkmenistan Airlines' first A330-200P2F has been painted:

9H-AJN Airbus A330-200 @ Shannon, Feb 2023 by Warren Leak, on Flickr

9H-AJQ 332F has now arrived at Shannon from Dresden after conversion, for painting in Turkmenistan colours

CargoJet bought N691AA from AerSale. It was converted to freighter by AvEx at ARA.


N198AA, the first of the nine sold purchased by AAR, was sold to AreSale and flown to ARA. It doesn't appear that this one will be CargoJet-bound.

Robert16627 wrote:

Kalitta Charters II has retired N724CK with it being the first retired in the KII fleet, It was officially withdrawn from service Sept of 2022. It's already being used to keep the other 3 remaining 727's around and with that being said, 729CK is being retired by the end of this summer (2023) and 726CK will be the last 727 retired from their fleet in November of 2024. 725CK has an unannounced retirement date as of now.

Aww man. They couldn't last forever but I'm still a bit sad to see a 727 go. Especially the ones I used to see on the ONT (later SBD) horse charter runs all the time.

Robert16627 wrote:

Kalitta Charters II has retired N724CK with it being the first retired in the KII fleet, It was officially withdrawn from service Sept of 2022. It's already being used to keep the other 3 remaining 727's around and with that being said, 729CK is being retired by the end of this summer (2023) and 726CK will be the last 727 retired from their fleet in November of 2024. 725CK has an unannounced retirement date as of now.

Just for the uninitiated, N725CK is the famous "Air Horse One", used by Tex Sutton horse transporter. Other of the 727s fill in when that frame is down or in maintenance, but 725CK is the one painted in the Tex Sutton livery and used most often on the horse runs.

SX-DNF A321-231 ex Aegean was flown ATH-TEV for freighter conversion I’m assuming.

wjcandee wrote:

Just for the uninitiated, N725CK is the famous "Air Horse One", used by Tex Sutton horse transporter. Other of the 727s fill in when that frame is down or in maintenance, but 725CK is the one painted in the Tex Sutton livery and used most often on the horse runs.

Was. Is now painted all-white, I believe.

Newark727 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

Just for the uninitiated, N725CK is the famous "Air Horse One", used by Tex Sutton horse transporter. Other of the 727s fill in when that frame is down or in maintenance, but 725CK is the one painted in the Tex Sutton livery and used most often on the horse runs.

Was. Is now painted all-white, I believe.

Ah. Oh well.

Looks like ex-AC Rouge N230CM will be heading West soon for conversion from ILN, where it has been for 2 months. It's a CAM aircraft now, one of the ones they're sending to QPG (or TPE) for the BCF conversion. (This is apparently because formerly-exclusive-vendor IAI was having trouble pushing product through during COVID and later. Looks like it's getting better now, albeit not to the 5-to-6-month turnaround time from arrival to departure back to the US.)

LH982 wrote:

9H-AJQ 332F has now arrived at Shannon from Dresden after conversion, for painting in Turkmenistan colours

Correct, here is a pic of it before painting.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanair/52796248150/

Icelandair's 767-300F TF-ISP also (I flew in this one many years ago when it was in PAX config ):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanair/52795289172

N230CM CAM B763 enroute ILN-HNL-GUM-QPG for BCF conversion. cheers!

stretch8 wrote:

N230CM CAM B763 enroute ILN-HNL-GUM-QPG for BCF conversion. cheers!

Thanks stretch8! One more to QPG!

Newark727 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

Just for the uninitiated, N725CK is the famous "Air Horse One", used by Tex Sutton horse transporter. Other of the 727s fill in when that frame is down or in maintenance, but 725CK is the one painted in the Tex Sutton livery and used most often on the horse runs.

Was. Is now painted all-white, I believe.

Correct, was repainted into the all white livery in March of 2022, there was a falling out between Tex Sutton and Kalitta Charters II in which they fought for who should pay for the damaged wing after a truck driver picking up horses backed into the wing. After that, they cut ties and now I believe Fedex moves the horses between races.

747classic wrote:

a2b7 wrote:

Spacepope wrote:

Based on SDRs, her last heavy check was exactly 2 years ago. I'd wager she's getting parked in lieu of the heavy check, and will be brought back in the future.

As of Feb 2023 she only had about 82,000 hours and 20,000 cycles.

20,000 cycles are not that few. The default limit of validity for the MD-11 is 20,000 cycles, but there seems to be an extension to 40,000 cycles. I wonder how expensive it is to operate an MD-11 beyond 20,000 cycles, for example due to additional maintenance tasks required.

The extended MD11 LOV is 40.000 cycles.
Compared to other aircraft built in the same era, the MD11 (derived from the "overbuilt" DC10, with an LOV of 60.000cycles) has relative few Widespread Fatigue Damage issues.
Consequently, the number of additional "aging aircraft inspections" during HMV is relative low

Exactly the MDD aircraft aren’t known for fatigue issues. Jut look at the amount of cycles the DC-9 family of aircraft are allowed. They have to do some additional inspections. Where it becomes expensive is when they have to do structural repairs. Those repairs need to be done following strict guidelines. I’ve heard of repairs taking a week of round the clock shifts to repair a small fatigued piece of metal. here is the tablefrom Boeing the actual table.

Model Minor Model Anticipated LOV
Cycles Flight Hours
Next-Generation 737 -600/-700/-700 Cargo/-800/-900/
-900 Extended Range 100,000 125,000
757 All 75,000 150,000
767 -200/-300 75,000 150,000
767 -300 Freighter/-400 Extended Range 60,000 150,000
777 -200/-200 Long Range/-300/
-300 Extended Range 60,000 160,000
777 Freighter 37,500 160,000
747 747-8 Intercontinental/747-8 Freighter 35,000 165,000
787 All 66,000 200,000
MD-10 All 60,000 160,000
MD-11 All 40,000 150,000
MD-90 All 110,000 150,000
717 All 110,000 110,000

D-ABUI CFG B763 routed FRA-BGR-ILN, arriving ILN this morning, probably for CAM. cheers!