Saturday, November 18, 2017

Victorville Visions


Victorville, CA...many aircraft end their days here. Others are painted and maintained, others stored temporarily prior to finding new operators. The majority though, will not fly again.



Lockheed L-1011 TriStar HZ-AB1 MSN 1247 (247th of 250 built), stored since 2013, but looking in good shape, compared to many other residents



Southwest retired their remaining 737 classics (specifically -300s) at the end of September, with many (but not all) of those aircraft now residing at Victorville.



N604SW was upgraded with winglets in 2007. Originally delivered new 4/95, removed from service 9/17. Southwest is maintaining many of these aircraft in 'fly away' condition, with the intention of selling a portion of them. At least three sales have already been realized.



(Ex) Alaska 737-400s are also stored at Victorville, some of which have been identified as freight conversion candidates, and will move on to new secondary careers with cargo airlines.



Overseas airlines also favor Victorville for aircraft scrapping or storage...such as British Airways (737-400s, 767-300ERs, 747-400s)



767-300ER G-BNWO (This and the 747-400 above are 'lifers', now stripped of all useful parts)



FedEx Express makes extensive use of Victorville, permanent final home for many 727s, A310s and DC-10s, and there's a few MD-11s in the rank there as well

Victorville is about a 100 mile drive east of Los Angeles, and is well worth visiting to view this extraordinary collection of (mostly) retired commercial aircraft.



Last look...another angle on the Southwest 737-300 armada


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