Posted on 09/18/2022 12:42:03 PM PDT by DFG
Would you feel uneasy flying on a plane built in 1974? Harold Wilson was enjoying his second stint in Number 10, the band Queen was in its pomp, man’s first small step on the surface of the moon was still relatively fresh in the memory. And 1974 was also the year that a Boeing 737-200, with the serial number 20836, made its maiden flight for Transavia Airlines, based in the Netherlands.
Forty-eight years on, Harold Wilson has shuffled off this mortal coil, as has Freddie, while Nasa is hoping to start a colony on Mars. But 20836 is still going strong in the services of Nolinor Aviation, a Canadian charter airline, under the registration C-GNLK.
Its journey from Holland to Quebec has been a circuitous one, covering five continents. After leaving the low-cost Dutch airline in 1977 it went to Saudia, then Aerolineas Argentinas. Next up was the now-defunct Australian Airlines, followed by Air Florida, another former carrier. MarkAir, based in Alaska (also deceased), came next, before a stint as a cargo plane. In 2004, it went to Peru. In 2006, it was bought by the short-lived Italian airline Voliamo. In 2008, CityLine Hungary – which ceased trading in 2015 – snapped up the well travelled 737.
Since 2014, however, it has been in the services of little Nolinor Aviation, based in Mirabel, a suburb of Montreal, which serves a handful of domestic destinations using a fleet of 18 aircraft. At 48 years, it is, according to the database of Airfleets.net, the world’s oldest passenger plane still in service.
So would you feel safe on board? The reliability of elderly aircraft is occasionally raised, such as in 2017 when a 31-year-old Jet2 plane, also a 737, made two emergency landings in as many weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
B-52s built how long ago are still flying?
Hmmm… DC3s are still flying commercial passengers.
Nice clean B757 with only 89,000 hrs on the airframe:
https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/215575675/1988-boeing-757-200-jet-aircraft
Takes a lickin’, keeps on tickin’
74 years old.
Buffalo air in Canada regularly flies C-46’s, DC-3’s and DC-4’s in commercial service. So I claim lazy journalism on this one.
CC
I flew C130s that were made in 1963 up until 2017. And those airframes were slammed to the ground on many short-field landings (called assault landings to us). I don’t think people really understand what goes into maintaining the airworthiness of these aircraft.
It’s not the years, it’s the hard mileage. That goes for people, too.
“Oldest passenger plane?” There 18 airworthy Ford Trimotors still around and at least three of them are carrying paying passengers. The last Trimotor was built in 1933!
Some of those are still in service. I flew on one in 1998. The stewardess told me she had a pilot's license and had flown the plane--the only stewardess I have ever met who had stick time in the plane in which she worked.
There are KC-135s built in the 60s still flying.
I used to love flying in those old seaplanes Chalk’s had before they got the turbo-prop Mallards.
Wife and I flew on a DC 3 in Mexico some years back…
We have B-52s being flown by the grandsons of the first, original pilots that flew them. In one case of which I am aware, the grandson is actually flying the exact, same tail numbered, aircraft. The B-52 is the Colt 1911 of the military aviation world... It just keeps on working.
No they weren't. They had only signed with EMI the year before, and had just released Queen II to terrible reviews. Then Sheer Heart Attack arrived in November and then they were on their way.
1967 or so rode in a C-47 of unknown age, piloted by the last, or one of the last, enlisted Marine pilots. He looked older than the plane, and might have been.
I’ve flown in a 39’ Fairchild. It was a beautiful thing.
Payments as low as $54,315 a month...tempting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.