Ex Eastern 757-225 At US Airways

doulasc · Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:22 am

Has US Airways retired their ex Eastern Boeing 757-225s or do they still have a few that may go over to American.
I also read on Boeing not bringing back the 757,out of 1049 airframes built only half of them are still flying.I guess
the other half got scrapped.

PRAirbus · Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:32 am

AA is not taking any US 757s; AA is indeed retiring 757s. AA will keep around 50 frames for a few more years. 35 will be modified with fully lie-flat seats; same design as the new 763 Biz. Those 35 will fly thin long routes for some more years.

wn676 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:39 am

They were retired in early 2010, I want to say at the beginning of February right after the Super Bowl.

hufftheweevil · Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:32 am

Quoting PRAirbus (Reply 1):
AA is not taking any US 757s

Oh really? Then why have they repainted 10 US 757s into American colors already?

Max Q · Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:35 am

Quoting hufftheweevil (Reply 3):
Oh really? Then why have they repainted 10 US 757s into American colors already?

I think you're mistaken huff, the 757's have been gone from USAIR for years now.

flightsimer · Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:40 am

Quoting Max Q (Reply 4):

US Airways has not retired the 757.

yyz717 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:05 am

US operates 24 752's. None of the older -225's are still in service.

Given that several of the US 752's have been painted in the new AA livery, it looks like they will be around for several years to come, if not all 24.

USAIRWAYS321 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:14 am

Quoting Max Q (Reply 4):
I think you're mistaken huff, the 757's have been gone from USAIR for years now.

You mean like these ones, photographed last week?

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UA444 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:41 am

All the exEA birds are gone and have been for awhile. Not many 225s left in service anywhere. I think FX has some, Honeywell has one, and there might be a couple more.

Max Q · Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:35 am

Quoting USAIRWAYS321 (Reply 7):
You mean like these ones, photographed last week?

My mistake !

SpaceshipDC10 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:08 pm

Quoting yyz717 (Reply 6):
None of the older -225's are still in service.

And some have already been scrapped.

United_fan · Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:39 pm

Quoting UA444 (Reply 8):
All the exEA birds are gone and have been for awhile. Not many 225s left in service anywhere. I think FX has some, Honeywell has one, and there might be a couple more

I think ATI had one.

nc3rd · Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:13 pm

9 of the 24 US Airways 757s will be retired this year. The oldest ones are the ones that are used out in PHX for Hawaiian service. The newer ones that have the winglets and go to Europe will be around for a while longer.

Fixinthe757 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:17 pm

FedEx has three ex US Air. 901, 903, and 906 are ex US Air. N206UW is here at Mobile (BFM) for c-check and pylon mod

hufftheweevil · Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:15 pm

Quoting Max Q (Reply 4):
I think you're mistaken huff, the 757's have been gone from USAIR for years now.

Quoting Max Q (Reply 9):
My mistake !

As a highly respected member of this community (and therefore someone I would not easily doubt), you had me sorely confused for a split second. LOL Especially since I work at PHL and have those things fueled every day. For that split second, I thought I had been seeing mirages all this time.

But hey, we all make mistakes once in a while.

chepos · Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:31 pm

While some will be retired some of the LUS 757's will be kept. As mentioned above that is why some LUS 757 aircraft have been repainted to the AA colors.

wn676 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:13 pm

Quoting nc3rd (Reply 12):
The oldest ones are the ones that are used out in PHX for Hawaiian service. The newer ones that have the winglets and go to Europe will be around for a while longer.

Four of the Hawaii-configured aircraft are equipped with winglets; 908-910 and 207 (actually the newest in the fleet). The remaining five -2S7s are the ones that are sans-winglets.

wn676 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:22 pm

Maybe this was an airline-specific thing, but does anyone who worked these early-build 757s remember them having latching doors in the cargo bins as opposed to nets? I remember that being one of the slight oddities with these aircraft.

tommy767 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:10 pm

Quoting chepos (Reply 15):

Very true. Seems that the sUS 757 that they are keeping were delivered between 1994-1996 and a few were delivered in 2000.

The EX-Eastern ones definitely made it to the last US color scheme and were painted that way, but I think the last retirement was in 2010 or 2011.

wn676 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:38 pm

Had to go digging but it looks like the last ex-EA aircraft was retired in January 2010. LRF for N916UW was on 01/18/10 operating US1556 SXM-CLT; it ferried out to MCN the next day. Interesting to note that this was l/n 3. LRF for the West side of the airline was a year prior on 02/06/09 with N915AW operating US92 ORD-PHX; that one ferried out to BFM.

yyz717 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:49 pm

Quoting doulasc (Thread starter):
I also read on Boeing not bringing back the 757,out of 1049 airframes built only half of them are still flying

According to atdb.org, 801 757s remain in service, of the 1051 built. Of the remaining 250 airframes:
153 are in storage
45 derelict
42 scrapped
9 crashed
and 1 is in a museum.

PRAirbus · Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:34 pm

Quoting hufftheweevil (Reply 3):

Yes painted but not mixed or cross fleet between AA/US metal yet; the single operating certifiicate will take place in a few months but mixing or swapping metal not until 2017 at the earliest. US 757s are operated by USAirways pilots; all the fleet types are segregated; crews too.

phllax · Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:41 pm

Quoting wn676 (Reply 19):
Had to go digging but it looks like the last ex-EA aircraft was retired in January 2010. LRF for N916UW was on 01/18/10 operating US1556 SXM-CLT; it ferried out to MCN the next day. Interesting to note that this was l/n 3.

That was the bird affectionately named Christine, because she was a hangar queen. Her original taill number was either 600 or 601.

Max Q · Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:31 pm

Quoting hufftheweevil (Reply 14):
As a highly respected member of this community (and therefore someone I would not easily doubt), you had me sorely confused for a split second. LOL Especially since I work at PHL and have those things fueled every day. For that split second, I thought I had been seeing mirages all this time.

But hey, we all make mistakes once in a while.

Thanks huff.

Best wishes.

DL_Mech · Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:39 pm

Quoting hufftheweevil (Reply 14):
As a highly respected member of this community (and therefore someone I would not easily doubt), you had me sorely confused for a split second. LOL Especially since I work at PHL and have those things fueled every day. For that split second, I thought I had been seeing mirages all this time.

But hey, we all make mistakes once in a while.

Max was technically right......USAir has not flown a 757 since 1998 (according to the database).

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UA444 · Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:54 pm

How many 2B7s are left in the fleet and how many built total?

kgaiflyer · Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:17 pm

Am I mistaken or wasn't one of those ex-Eastern Airlines 757s nicknamed "Christine" after the Stephen King novel.

I know it was a hanger queen. But apparently there were also other problems with it.

spartanmjf · Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:35 pm

IIRC "Christine" was line number 3 - N916UW - retired by US four or five years ago?

EA CO AS · Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:49 pm

Quoting spartanmjf (Reply 27):
IIRC "Christine" was line number 3 - N916UW - retired by US four or five years ago?

Was that "The Ramper Stamper" that had seriously injured at least one ramper with a towbar in the early 90s?

wn676 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 1:35 am

Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 28):

Quoting spartanmjf (Reply 27):
IIRC "Christine" was line number 3 - N916UW - retired by US four or five years ago?

Was that "The Ramper Stamper" that had seriously injured at least one ramper with a towbar in the early 90s?

The "ramper stamper" nickname has been attributed to two former HP 757s that each ran over a headset operator during pushback. The second incident prompted HP to eliminate the practice and give the headset to the push tug driver. I believe they were ships 901 and 903.

I think at some point in the last 25 years just about every 757 has earned the "Christine" title. At HP I had heard it attributed to 901 and 908 - the latter a victim of a couple unfortunate lav incidents and a bit of a lightning magnet, not to mention the infamous nose drop in the PHX hangar - but some of the old US guys insisted that it was actually 916.

[Edited 2015-02-13 17:39:25]

tommy767 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 1:44 am

Quoting spartanmjf (Reply 27):

Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 28):

HAH! That's a funny name

Quoting wn676 (Reply 29):
I think at some point in the last 25 years just about every 757 has earned the "Christine" title. At HP I had heard it attributed to 901 and 908 - the latter a victim of a couple unfortunate lav incidents and a bit of a lightning magnet, not to mention the infamous nose drop in the PHX hangar - but some of the old US guys insisted that it was actually 916.

Whoa whoa whoa. More details please -- especially the nose drop story.

wn676 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 2:11 am

Quoting tommy767 (Reply 30):

Quoting spartanmjf (Reply 27):
Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 28):

HAH! That's a funny name

Quoting wn676 (Reply 29):
I think at some point in the last 25 years just about every 757 has earned the "Christine" title. At HP I had heard it attributed to 901 and 908 - the latter a victim of a couple unfortunate lav incidents and a bit of a lightning magnet, not to mention the infamous nose drop in the PHX hangar - but some of the old US guys insisted that it was actually 916.

Whoa whoa whoa. More details please -- especially the nose drop story.

"KEEP CLIMBING" -- DELTA

I'll start with the nose drop...apparently 908 had been on jacks doing gear swings, after which it was lowered and being prepared for RTS. Not sure of the sequence of events but somehow the nose gear was inadvertently retracted with two mechanics onboard. The aircraft was nearly a write-off and required a rather extensive and unique repair by Boeing to make it airworthy again. At the time it wore the Arizona Cardinals colors and were still an exceptionally bad team which only added to the legend of bad luck. You can find pictures online, I would post but I'm on a phone...

As to the lavs, there are two stories which I believe both occurred with 908. The first involved a separation of the dump hose at the forward service point in which the nose gear was completely soaked in...stuff. Apparently it worked its way so deep that for months afterwards, you could still smell it going by when the brakes heated up. The second one happened when the aircraft was out of service for about a week or so sitting on the pads near the hangar. The lavs were never serviced. It was towed up to a gate, and when the cleaning crew opened the mid lav doors, apparently they were swarming with maggots. As the story goes, the entire concourse was evacuated due to a strong odor that was later pinned on the aircraft.

PurdueAv2003 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:32 am

Some memories of 916 and why she may have earned her nickname from an Engineering point of view:

The aircraft had been a test flight aircraft (Line #3). As a result, there were all kinds of little frame repairs all over the fuselage where holes had been cut to run strain gage wiring. Many of these repairs could barely be called "repairs". One I remember was about a 1.5" hole in a frame web with a "doubler" held on by 4 AD rivets, one in each corner. For those without a structures or sheet metal background, that means the "doubler" wasn't doing anything other than covering the hole. We couldn't substantiate something like that, and Boeing doesn't have production repair records going back that far, so we couldn't "grandfather in" the repair. Anytime that aircraft was into a check, someone would write up one or more of these crappy repairs. It was always kind of a reminder of how the industry has changed over the years, though. The documentation and substantiation standards are so much higher now than they used to be (for the better, in my opinion).

hufftheweevil · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:13 am

Quoting PRAirbus (Reply 21):
Yes painted but not mixed or cross fleet between AA/US metal yet; the single operating certifiicate will take place in a few months but mixing or swapping metal not until 2017 at the earliest. US 757s are operated by USAirways pilots; all the fleet types are segregated; crews too.

No argument there. But when you refer to one airline "taking" aircraft from another, I think most people assume you are referring to the SOC. Hence, AA will be taking most of US's 757s and adding them to their own certificate.

Quoting DL_Mech (Reply 24):
Max was technically right......USAir has not flown a 757 since 1998

You know I thought the same thing after I posted that. Then again, USAir hasn't flown since 1998.

Oh, what would we do without technicalities.

kparke777 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:58 am

Quoting nc3rd (Reply 12):

What will replace the West frames that are retired which currently support Hawaiian ops?

UA444 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:26 am

Quoting kparke777 (Reply 34):

They could just hang onto more AA 757s

Sancho99504 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:13 am

Quoting wn676 (Reply 29):

Ramper stamper was N902AW, formerly the HP Teamwork Coast to Coast theme plane.

EA CO AS · Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:26 am

Quoting sancho99504 (Reply 36):
Ramper stamper was N902AW, formerly the HP Teamwork Coast to Coast theme plane.

I could have sworn it was the "Arizona" state plane. I stand corrected.

I do remember hearing from a former Ramp Lead friend of mine about an incident involving a tiller, a towbar, and a compound fracture to the tibia though.

wn676 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:04 pm

Quoting sancho99504 (Reply 36):

Quoting wn676 (Reply 29):

Ramper stamper was N902AW, formerly the HP Teamwork Coast to Coast theme plane.

Ah that's right, 902 was the original. Then 901 did the same thing a few years later. Both agents lost their legs from what I've been told. Wasn't 902 also the one that hit the ped bridge in DEN?

lostsound · Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:44 pm

All of US Airways' 757s will be retired by 2020. Until then the ones staying the longest are being repainted in AA colours. AA's domestic 757s will have all left the fleet around 2019/2020 as well leaving just the international ones which are getting cabin upgrades.

Sancho99504 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:21 pm

Quoting wn676 (Reply 38):

Ship 902 has been involved in atleast 3 incidents involving nose gear and rampers legs or feet. I've never heard anything about 902 hitting a bridge at DEN, someone else might be able to verify that.

Quoting wn676 (Reply 31):

908 was an absolute nightmare while it was dressed in red. Every time that aircraft was scheduled to operate out of a gate I was working at PHX from 04-06, it always seemed to go tech, with half the time the outbound being canceled. I don't know if it had a better dispatch reliability after she was painted or not, but it was always something.

Sevensixtyseven · Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:40 am

I went and took a peek at the NTSB accident database..from what I could see-

Ship 901 ran over a ramp worker in 1994. 902 also ran over a ramp worker when he tripped while the jet was pushing back in 1989.

Quoting sancho99504 (Reply 40):

In 1997, 902 was taxiing in from PHX and they went under the passenger bridge in DEN. The 757 was not regularly scheduled, this was the first time, the controller giving instructions wasn't aware it was a 757..so the tail struck the bridge.

Also apparently 910 tried to push back in 1999 without having the jetbridge away or the L2 door closed, because the captain was too impatient and didn't want another delay.

America West had quite a history with their 757s..it seems not a single one remained incident free.

Cody · Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:41 pm

The former Eastern 757's at US AIRWAYS (east) stunk.....literally. When Eastern folded, the 757's were taken to the desert with full galleys and full lavatories. Imagine the stench as they festered in the sweltering desert sun. And the smell never fully went away.

You could always tell you were on a former Eastern plane because the passenger service units in the overhead compartments were dark brown with orange f/a call buttons. The ones delivered new from Boeing had grey passenger service units.

n471wn · Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:43 pm

Quoting Cody (Reply 42):
The former Eastern 757's at US AIRWAYS (east) stunk.....literally. When Eastern folded, the 757's were taken to the desert with full galleys and full lavatories. Imagine the stench as they festered in the sweltering desert sun. And the smell never fully went away.

This is so over the top----these a/c stunk no more than any others at US Air

DL_Mech · Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:44 pm

Quoting n471wn (Reply 43):
This is so over the top----these a/c stunk no more than any others at US Air

I can't speak for the ex-EA 757s, but the ex-EA planes at DL definitely had an "aroma." The smell eventually went away, but it took several years.

wn676 · Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:26 pm

Quoting sancho99504 (Reply 40):
I don't know if it had a better dispatch reliability after she was painted or not, but it was always something.

Can't say I remember any real outstanding incidents after 908 was repainted, and after the winglet mod, it was actually one of the better planes to have for a Hawaii departure due to the more accommodating MTOW. Truly one of the more memorable legends from the former airline though; I can't say I've ever heard more colorful and sometimes unbelievable tales about a particular fleet type, ever.

hibtastic · Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:41 pm

Do the AA 757's that will be used on JFK to EDI have at seat IFE?

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