Fun to fly...a grind to plumb. Buh-bye.

Now if we can just ditch the old auto-pilots we've still got on a few of the -200s.

Just about everything on the plane is old except the sweat and other bodily emissions each new crew brings.

so who gets to fly this -100 across the pond?

I'll volunteer... as long as the leg is not longer than 1+15. Seriously, it will be interesting to see how long it takes training to drop their references to the -100.

From what I was told the job was contracted out.

I would have liked to take that trip.

FJ

anyone wanna take a guess as to when the -200 will leave the property for the last time? i'll guess 2020

A few months back someone relayed a conversation they had had with JL and he guestimated 2015 for the las -200. Since then someone else heard from the training dept rumor pool @ 2012.

Up until a few months ago I was hoping they would be on the property until at least 2025, now I guess I have to hope they will be here until 2030. :(

Of the 90 200s we have, there are three scheduled to retire this CY and another one in Jan08. I'm guessing that the driving factor must be cycles and corrosion, as none of the tails scheduled to retire are particularly old, and none have the crappy two-paddle autopilot.
Just for info, 496 and 478 are scheduled to go in Sep, 272 in Oct, and 477 in Jan.

Any SA on what is going on with the 'bus fleet? Are some of the Europe birds coming stateside when 757s go over there? Are we "optimizing" away the missing lines, or are they going 1 for 1 over to the 'bus?

Sure would be nice to salvage some of the good autopilots out of those birds--along with the GPS if applicable--but probably more cost than its worth.