Boeing 747-400 Operating Sochi To EWR

heysfo · Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:15 am

Was curious I assume this would be a Cargo flight carrying all USA Team equipment and baggage?

Odd its a "Giant" Boeing 747 Dreamlifter - Atlas Air 8647

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/G...7/history/20140223/2128Z/URSS/KEWR

Allee · Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:58 am

It's N263SG, a passenger 744.

AS737MAX · Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:07 am

Quoting Allee (Reply 1):

Correct. The dreamlifter can only transport Boeing parts anyways as it lacks a fire suppression system.

zeke · Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:22 am

Quoting AS737MAX (Reply 2):

Most 747 freighters do not have main deck fire suppression.

arffdude · Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:05 am

Quoting zeke (Reply 3):
Most 747 freighters do not have main deck fire suppression.

Per its type certificate, only ""Only cargo that supports Boeing corporate lines of business is allowed for carriage" aboard the Dreamlifter.

Ronaldo747 · Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:06 am

The Dreamlifter is not certified to do other operations than lifting 787 fuselages and wings.

zeke · Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:29 am

Quoting arffdude (Reply 4):
Per its type certificate, only ""Only cargo that supports Boeing corporate lines of business is allowed for carriage" aboard the Dreamlifter.

That does not change the fact that most 747s do not have main deck fire suppression, e.g. UPS accident in DXB.

The FAA exemption lists the method that Boeing would need to seek approval to carry other cargo.

ltbewr · Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:36 am

Perhaps this contained some of the stuff used by NBC from their broadcasting staff at Sochi or by major advertisers there ?

BravoOne · Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:50 am

Quoting arffdude (Reply 4):
Per its type certificate, only ""Only cargo that supports Boeing corporate lines of business is allowed for carriage" aboard the Dreamlifter.

Quoting ltbewr (Reply 7):
Perhaps this contained some of the stuff used by NBC from their broadcasting staff at Sochi or by major advertisers there ?

ltbewr. what the man said.

as77w · Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:07 pm

Quoting heysfo (Thread starter):
Odd its a "Giant" Boeing 747 Dreamlifter - Atlas Air 8647

Atlas uses the callsign "Giant", that does not mean its a giant 744 dreamlifter.

Quoting Allee (Reply 1):
It's N263SG, a passenger 744.

I believe they also have a 763 used for passenger charter ops as well.

cmh235 · Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:09 pm

I think the original poster was confused by the Atlas Air call sign being "giant" (which is used for all Atlas flights) and that FlightAware shows a picture of the dream lifter for all Atlas flights, even though most of the 744's in Atlas' fleet are normal 744 freighters or pax.

Western727 · Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:47 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 6):
That does not change the fact that most 747s do not have main deck fire suppression, e.g. UPS accident in DXB.

Am I alone in thinking that's ridiculous? Shouldn't that be a given?

bikerthai · Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:50 pm

Quoting Western727 (Reply 11):

Am I alone in thinking that's ridiculous? Shouldn't that be a given?

Not if you consider those portable bottles in the overhead bins as part of the Main Deck Fire Suppression system

bt

Western727 · Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:54 pm

Quoting bikerthai (Reply 12):
Not if you consider those portable bottles in the overhead bins as part of the Main Deck Fire Suppression system

True!

At the same time, Zeke, as I understand it, was referring to 747 freighters, like the UPS 744 incident @ DXB.

icna05e · Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:14 pm

A Dreamlifter visited the Middle East yesterday, flew through Bordeaux ACC airspace early afternoon as flight GTI4322 , KCHS - LIBG. It brought up the attention of a pilot 1000ft above who said it was definitely not a regular 744.
Do Boeing have a manufacturing plant in Israel?

mbm3 · Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:25 pm

After being inside a Dreamlifter, it is safe to say that there are no creature comforts behind the massive bulkhead that protects the cockpit area.

clickhappy · Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:50 pm

Quoting icna05e (Reply 14):
A Dreamlifter visited the Middle East yesterday

Italy is the Middle East now?

Alenia Aeronautica gets a once a month Dreamlifter flight.

icna05e · Mon Feb 24, 2014 7:30 pm

Quoting clickhappy (Reply 16):
Italy is the Middle East now?

Oops. Of course LIBG isn't in Israel... Well, you can learn stuff on this forum. Even some that you'd already know! So, I thought I could help but, no

atpcliff · Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:58 pm

Atlas is operating 4 744 pax planes, and about 6 767 pax planes.

Atlas flies into Taranto, Itally, more than once a month in the Dreamlifter.

Revelation · Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:18 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 6):
The FAA exemption lists the method that Boeing would need to seek approval to carry other cargo.

Ok, but that doesn't change the fact that it is not currently approved to carry non-Boeing cargo, right?

JonnyGT · Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:59 pm

The NHL scheduled these charters, and they were not strictly for one "nation", so to speak. All NHL players who were remaining in Sochi (USA, CAN, FIN, SWE) took these charters back to the USA to rejoin their teams.

as77w · Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:06 am

Quoting JonnyGT (Reply 20):
The NHL scheduled these charters, and they were not strictly for one "nation", so to speak. All NHL players who were remaining in Sochi (USA, CAN, FIN, SWE) took these charters back to the USA to rejoin their teams.

I find this very hard to believe considering how unpopular the idea of players under NHL contracts participating in these Olympics was with money hungry team owners and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Sure, lets charter all of our players a personal 747 to and from the olympic games that we DON'T want them playing in...

BreninTW · Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:25 am

Quoting as77w (Reply 21):
I find this very hard to believe considering how unpopular the idea of players under NHL contracts participating in these Olympics was with money hungry team owners and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Sure, lets charter all of our players a personal 747 to and from the olympic games that we DON'T want them playing in...

The point of the charter is to get the players BACK to the league as quickly as possible, rather than relying on the Olympic flights.

kl692 · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:06 am

Quoting JonnyGT (Reply 20):
The NHL scheduled these charters, and they were not strictly for one "nation", so to speak. All NHL players who were remaining in Sochi (USA, CAN, FIN, SWE) took these charters back to the USA to rejoin their teams.

All I can say is that the NHL did not and I repeat did not schedule these charter flights for the players.

Stabilator · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:16 am

Id imagine this flight was carrying almost all of the NHL players that attended the games. I watched an Olympics interview with some Minnesota Wild players who were headed to Sochi, and they said they were meeting in EWR to fly over there. The NHL season continues in a few days, so it would make sense for them to come back together. I may be wrong on this though!

kl692 · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:20 am

Quoting Stabilator (Reply 24):

Id imagine this flight was carrying almost all of the NHL players that attended the games. I watched an Olympics interview with some Minnesota Wild players who were headed to Sochi, and they said they were meeting in EWR to fly over there. The NHL season continues in a few days, so it would make sense for them to come back together. I may be wrong on this though!

Sorry but you are you are wrong on this.

wjcandee · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:42 am

Ummm...a few points:

(1) As noted above, Atlas has 2 passenger 747s they own/lease and fly, and there are two Sonair-owned passenger 747s.

(2) That they would use a Sonair aircraft on a charter means that Sonair is loosening its paranoia; when World flew their aircraft, they were super-picky about risking damage to the interior from charter passengers. Maybe their partnership with the China International Fund has put some actual businesspeople in their management ranks.

(3) If that is indeed the aircraft on the charter, know that it is in a very VIP-heavy configuration. It's the "Houston Express" aircraft. Ten First-Class, 143 business, 36 economy. 189 seats in a 747-400.

(4) This isn't the only 747-400 charter flight to EWR in the last few days. Delta flew one this morning. I think United had one a few days ago.

flyingclrs727 · Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:23 am

Quoting AS737MAX (Reply 2):
Correct. The dreamlifter can only transport Boeing parts anyways as it lacks a fire suppression system.

Considering the cargo bay is unpressurized, cargo fires are less likely.

Passedv1 · Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:50 am

Sans fire suppression on the main-deck is the norm. Both FED-Ex and UPS have experimental programs on parts of their fleets, but Main-Deck fire suppression is not required on "all-cargo" aircraft. To be clear, Fire Suppression IS required if passengers are on board.

bikerthai · Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:18 pm

Quoting kl692 (Reply 25):

Sorry but you are you are wrong on this.

While I agree with you on this as I would suspect that NHL players who's national teams gets eliminated earlier, would want to get back to their teams as soon as possible (apart from not wanting to stay in the Olympic Village for various other reasons), please provide reasoning why you are sure that others are wrong . . . even if it's "I can't reveal my source because of confidential reasons".

bt

rwy04lga · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:09 pm

Quoting wjcandee (Reply 26):
This isn't the only 747-400 charter flight to EWR in the last few days. Delta flew one this morning.

Why would DL fly into EWR as opposed to the more usual DL hubs?

codc10 · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:15 pm

UAL charter flights carried NHL, NBC and Olympics athletes/staff/personnel, among others.

Stabilator · Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:58 pm

Stand corrected on the NHL issue. Thanks for pointing that out. All I knew is that the players were being funneled through EWR, and UA makes sense to do this.

71Zulu · Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:01 pm

Quoting rwy04lga (Reply 30):
Why would DL fly into EWR as opposed to the more usual DL hubs?

Usual hubs have nothing to do with it, if the chartering party who is writing the check wants to go to EWR then DL will take them to EWR and if there is an extra charge for moving the plane back to base, they will pay for that too. That's why charters are so profitable, somebody is paying for everything.

wjcandee · Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:08 pm

Quoting rwy04lga (Reply 30):
Why would DL fly into EWR as opposed to the more usual DL hubs?

As said above, because that's where the client wants to go.

levg79 · Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:56 pm

According to the map they flew right over Chernobyl. Freaky.

bikerthai · Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:26 pm

Quoting levg79 (Reply 35):
According to the map they flew right over Chernobyl. Freaky.

. . . and the Fukushima radio active water has reached the US West Coast . . . where can I buy the leaded underwear

bt