United Charter 747-400

N328KF · Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:21 am

I saw this aircraft at ORD on Friday. I see that it's been posted in this hybrid scheme for two years. What gives? If it is going to stay with UA for a long period of time, why not have it in the standard scheme?

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32andBelow · Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:32 am

It was leased to Atlas that is why the tail is all blue and then back to UA. I believe it is all economy mostly military type charters?

CONTACREW · Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:35 am

Configuration is 14F/73J/260Y

N104UA · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:12 am

Quoting 32andBelow (Reply 1):
It was leased to Atlas that is why the tail is all blue and then back to UA. I believe it is all economy mostly military type charters?

Config is the old UA seats with lie flat F and recliner C seats from the early 2000s

hOMSaR · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:14 am

Does this plane occasionally make it into regular service (such as a last-minute equipment swap), or is it strictly relegated to specific charter work?

CONTACREW · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:21 am

Quoting HomSaR (Reply 4):
Does this plane occasionally make it into regular service (such as a last-minute equipment swap), or is it strictly relegated to specific charter work?

Used exclusively for charters.

N1120A · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:23 am

Quoting 32andBelow (Reply 1):
I believe it is all economy mostly military type charters?

Nope. Old UA 744 configuration. Pre-IPTE.

Quoting HomSaR (Reply 4):
Does this plane occasionally make it into regular service (such as a last-minute equipment swap), or is it strictly relegated to specific charter work?

It was for a while, but its exclusive to charter work now.

jasewgtn · Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:53 am

This old bird certainly gets around!!

http://www.flightradar24.com/reg/n194ua

stratacruiser · Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:33 pm

Quoting N1120A (Reply 6):
Nope. Old UA 744 configuration. Pre-IPTE.

All UA 744s are pre-IPTE in economy

The charter bird does get around.....have seen it when passing through SFO and ORD several times this year.

hOMSaR · Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:53 pm

So to guess a possible answer to the OP's question, perhaps UA figures it's not worth painting it right away since it doesn't fly regular passenger service, and "branding" isn't as important on military charters. Just a guess.

[Edited 2015-03-30 07:54:05]

ua900 · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:17 pm

Quoting N328KF (Thread starter):
What gives? If it is going to stay with UA for a long period of time, why not have it in the standard scheme?

Why have a non-standard plane in the standard scheme? I see that plane a lot at SFO, always a pleasant monotony breaker.

Quoting 32andBelow (Reply 1):
I believe it is all economy mostly military type charters?

With 25% of available seats being either F or C, it's the most premium heavy UA bird at present, albeit with Pre-IPTE C seats (same as the Hawaii 777s that got "upgraded" old int'l C seats in lieu of domestic F seats).

Quoting HomSaR (Reply 9):
So to guess a possible answer to the OP's question, perhaps UA figures it's not worth painting it right away since it doesn't fly regular passenger service, and "branding" isn't as important on military charters. Just a guess.

And perhaps it's in that scheme to serve as UA brand ambassador for charters. This bird used to sport the battleship grey (last bird to do so)

I was actually on it in for an evening flight back around late 2010 / early 2011 from SFO-LAX on the upper deck in the old C product. I still remember that flight to this day since it felt like time travel to be in the old C class again aboard a battleship grey 747. Night time, SFO lights, upper deck view from 747, vintage C, a short trip down memory lane, wow.

I heard it got pulled from storage, wish UA would pull more 747s from storage. Beats the dumb 739s with sky interior any day.

cosyr · Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:03 pm

Fairly certain that it is not, but just to double check, this one is not considered part of the 23 744's UA has in service? It's like a ghost 24th, correct?

adamblang · Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:42 pm

Quoting cosyr (Reply 11):
It's like a ghost 24th, correct?

Yup.

UA444 · Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:47 pm

Quoting ua900 (Reply 10):

There are no stored 747s, there will be when two are retired this year. If the charter business is that lucrative maybe one of those birds will have a new lease on life.

DC8FanJet · Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:17 pm

She's not really that old, 1996 build with only 57000 hours, she had an extended vacation in VCV.

Pretty reliable aircraft, and making lots of $$ for United.

UA444 · Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:27 pm

Quoting DC8FanJet (Reply 15):

Yep and some like N178UA have over 100,000 and are still flying strong. I remember this plane had a D check in the summer of 2010 after it was pulled from VCV after being stored in 2009.

[Edited 2015-03-30 14:28:46]

CALTECH · Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:53 pm

Quoting N328KF (Thread starter):
I saw this aircraft at ORD on Friday. I see that it's been posted in this hybrid scheme for two years. What gives? If it is going to stay with UA for a long period of time, why not have it in the standard scheme?

Looks like she will stay in the Charter Livery and is not scheduled to receive the United livery. She should get the ISP Mod completion by Jan 2016. Dedicated to Charter Service only.

xtoler · Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:29 pm

Quoting jasewgtn (Reply 7):

Wow, that looks like all military. I'm surprised to see it have two turns in Zweibrucken where Ramstein is just down the road, so to speak. I didn't think anyone was using that old airfield. Certainly getting around, indeed.

NYPECO · Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:33 am

If this aircraft makes so much money for United, how likely would it be for United to convert some more of their 747s to charter before retiring them?

spinkid · Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:18 am

I was looking at its most recent routings.
I'm wondering.

Does united have dedicated crews for Charter work?

or is it bid out with the rest of the 747 flying?

BiggerJetsPlz · Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:24 am

All this talk about N194UA relegated to mere charter service. Remember, she was a lucky 747. Her sisters N193UA and N195UA weren't nearly as lucky, both now scrapped after a mere 12 years of service.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9331932...606013310/in/set-72157635247705557
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9331932...602830837/in/set-72157635247705557

Up in N195UA before she gets scrapped at Tupelo -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCuXUJoIAGE

Not to mention N185UA, N190UA, N192UA, N106UA, N196UA and N198UA. All eight of these frames scrapped with 10-12 years in service and barely 40,000 hours each.

[Edited 2015-03-30 21:26:54]

CALTECH · Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:26 am

Quoting BiggerJetsPlz (Reply 29):
Not to mention N185UA, N190UA, N192UA, N106UA, N196UA and N198UA. All eight of these frames scrapped with 10-12 years in service and barely 40,000 hours each.

That's sad. Victims of bankruptcy. Hate to see 4 holers like that.

UA444 · Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:03 am

Quoting N1120A (Reply 31):

Charter trips are able to be bid by any 747 pilot.

azncsa4qf744er · Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:51 am

This aircraft ONLY does CHARTER flying. Never have it done revenue flight post return from Atlas Air. I believe this have something to do with the certificate of some type.

intotheair · Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:10 am

I remember reading on Flyertalk from a username who was usually associated with reliable internal UA info also said that Y+ had been removed in this plane. Does anybody know if that's true?

azncsa4qf744er · Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:30 am

This plane does not have Economy Plus. The configuration is 14F/73J/270Y.

[Edited 2015-03-31 03:37:40]

DC8FanJet · Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:55 pm

Quoting intotheair (Reply 28):
remember reading on Flyertalk from a username who was usually associated with reliable internal UA info also said that Y+ had been removed in this plane. Does anybody know if that's true?

This aircraft never had Economy Plus. It was parked in the desert during the time that the others were modified.

SmithAir747 · Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:58 pm

What types of charters is it used for?

SmithAir747

intotheair · Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:36 pm

Quoting DC8FanJet (Reply 30):
This aircraft never had Economy Plus. It was parked in the desert during the time that the others were modified.

I don't think that's true. N194UA was semi-retired around 2010/2011. E+ was introduced in the early 2000s. It was, however, retired with the old config Business class as the other 744s were being modified, though both the current and previous 744 configurations had E+ in Y.

Seat map:

http://www.aviationexplorer.com/airl...rlines_boeing747_seating_chart.gif

bw50505 · Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:47 pm

Quoting SmithAir747 (Reply 31):

Sports, military, and probably other things too. I've seen it operating both military and sports charter flights, so I know those two for a fact.

bw50505

N1120A · Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:35 am

Quoting azncsa4qf744er (Reply 29):
This plane does not have Economy Plus. The configuration is 14F/73J/270Y.

Quoting DC8FanJet (Reply 30):
This aircraft never had Economy Plus. It was parked in the desert during the time that the others were modified.

The plane definitely has Economy Plus. When she was running around the network as an operational spare, mainly handling domestic routes, I had an upgrade on her from E+ to C on ORD-SFO.

charlienorth · Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:58 am

Quoting azncsa4qf744er (Reply 27):
This aircraft ONLY does CHARTER flying. Never have it done revenue flight post return from Atlas Air. I believe this have something to do with the certificate of some type.

In the summer of 2010 it was doing sscheduled ORD-SFO-ORD flights.

hoya · Wed Apr 01, 2015 1:14 pm

Quoting N1120A (Reply 34):
The plane definitely has Economy Plus. When she was running around the network as an operational spare, mainly handling domestic routes, I had an upgrade on her from E+ to C on ORD-SFO.

Once it entered charter duty, apparently the E+ was removed to allow for more Y seating.

71Zulu · Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:27 am

Quoting SmithAir747 (Reply 31):
What types of charters is it used for?

Mostly military. I saw it landing at March Air Force Base a few weeks ago.

COSPN · Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:49 pm

Yes arrived at IND last year from a base in Germany

azncsa4qf744er · Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:41 pm

This a/c start life with Atlas late in 2010-2011.

[Edited 2015-04-02 15:47:57]

DC8FanJet · Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:09 am

Quoting azncsa4qf744er (Reply 39):
This a/c start life with Atlas late in 2010-2011.

Aircraft was delivered to UA in 1996, was to be long-term lease to Atlas in 2010, but they decided they
didn't need the a/c so it was returned to United.

CALTECH · Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:38 pm

Quoting azncsa4qf744er (Reply 25):
This plane does not have Economy Plus. The configuration is 14F/73J/270Y

Correct. No Economy + on the Charter 747.

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