Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
N411SN: Diverted to Anchorage August 27th. Made it to Shreveport on October 15. Hasn't moved since.
N412JN: Was at Ft. Meyers for five days. Back in circulation.
N415JN: Parked at Shreveport Jan 28.
N435KD: Parked. Ancient history.
N512JN: Parked at Shreveport two days ago.
N513SN: Parked in Taipei, heavy check, since Jan 03
N542KD: Parked in Incheon since Jan 31
N543JN: Landed Huntsville, yesterday
N545JN: Diversion to Anchorage Jan 13. Hasn't moved since. Engine out.
N581JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers three days ago.
N781SN: coasting out, Anchorage to Incheon, right now.
N799JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers Feb 03.
N804SN: Might fly one day.
One flying, two others operational.
Great list. N546JN has also been in SHV for over a month. And N783SN is now arriving back from conformity/whatever in TPE.
When I look at their fleet, I consider permanently-parked N435KD and N804SN (which looked real pretty when it came from LH, but hasn't moved in 3 years since it arrived in SHV).
And while I appreciate Wingedeagle11's admonition not to worry, the fact is that a lot of the fleet is already regularly at SHV for long stretches or broken in-situ. I hoped that their reliability would improve when I saw them starting to get the really-heavy stuff done at Evergreen in TPE, but here we are. The same night nearly a month ago that 545's #3 engine blew on climb, another MD11 did an air return to Chicago with, IIRC, a flight control (or avionics) issue. (I seem to recall something about raw data only, but that might have been a different incident.) Rolled the trucks for both. One has to at least raise an eyebrow at 2 emergency landings on the same day out of a flyable fleet of MD11s that then stood at 12.
I guess this makes one a non-complacent pilot, but...
So I'm happy these very-in-demand aircraft are getting some TLC, but it's not like they're not already being worked on all the time, and it's not like they operate at a particularly-high tempo in the first place. I hope they get it together because I always hear what nice people their crews, trainers, etc. are.