Rumor has it we are going to equip a DC9-50 with winglets and a new tailcone to see if there is a significant fuel savings. Anyone else hear this?

:eek: Sailing said it!

Finally, at least a reasonable excuse for the misunderstanding on the pilots part. There is no excuse for the NWA MEC or KW to have any misunderstanding whatsoever about what BP5 meant. Your thoughts are perfectly understandable, however your leadership should have stood up and taken ownership of the misunderstanding and corrected it. Instead this has been fed into a North-South fight that is nothing more than political horse hockey (no offense intended hockeypilot, just trying to stay within the terms of service). For some reason, the former NWA reps like to stoke the victimhood feelings amongst some of their pilots to try to create leverage for themselves.

It must be working for them because they go back to the same well time after time. At some point you would hope they will realize that this type of divisive tactic gives them short term political gain while weakening the pilot group for the long term. It would be nice if their pilots start holding them accountable because if you want mo' money in 2012 we have to all be rowing in the same direction.

Didn't someone equip some 727's with winglets back in the day? How'd that work out?

Worked out pretty well, but 4% fuel savings off the burn of a 767 wasn't enough when you also consider the noise restrictions on the early JT8's. Hush kits to quiet the engines were not as successful. The airplane really needed new engines. Flight Engineers were another anachronistic cost of operating those things.

IMHO, even without winglets, the 757's absolutely kick as domestic jets. They burn less than an MD88 while carrying a whole lot more. Sure a winglet jet might save some money on JFK-SEA, but there is plenty of up and down the coast flying that the 757 can perform better than any other jet in the fleet.

... and since we aren't seriously buying any narrowbody mainline lift (other than the 12 Billion we just spent on RJ's) I say, bring on those NWA 757's!

I'm erasing....

I heard it too. Except I only heard thAt they will be fitted with a tailcone.

TYG

I don't know. Why don't you ask D.T.? :p

http://k53.pbase.com/g6/21/670021/2/...4.FtRJqYRq.jpg

From Widgetheads.net:

5500 Series May Be Painted
March 5, 2010

While it has not been confirmed by official sources, it is believed to be true that the 5500-series 757-200s, otherwise known as the 75N sub-fleet, will be repainted into the Delta livery. It is unknown, however, how long these birds will remain in the fleet.

Undisclosed sources indicate that the rest of the 757-200s will be repainted in two phases: April-May and September-November. With the DC-9-30 and DC-9-40 being phased out of service this summer, that means no Northwest-colored birds should remain as such through 2011.
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I don't have the number memorized but I read where the 75N is the oldest 757 subfleet. Maybe parking them makes them last a little longer in the sense that why keep running up the hours and cycles if you don't need the whole 757 fleet flying? Just park them and save them for later.

Future Ship 9220 Arrives GSO
March 9, 2010
China Eastern's B-2256 has been waiting in HOU for a few days. It was suspected the sale transaction was going to take place here and that it would ferry to GSO under a DAL callsign. However, this is not the case as it flew as CES599 again to GSO. But reguardless, future ship 9220 will get a complete overhaul here to bring it up to Delta standards.

Ship 9217, the first MD-90-30 to arrive at GSO back in October should be finishing up soon and ready for its entry into Delta service.


N642DL Removed From Storage
March 7, 2010
Ship 642, a 757-200, ferried from VCV to SAT yesterday as DAL9997. While it has not been confirmed, my best guess is that it has been removed from storage and is going to get an HMV at SAT prior to return to service. Anything with more information, please advise: .