Airlines parking Becch 1900's

[msw]

Awhile back, I think I read something about several commuter airlines taking Beech 1900's out of service, parking them (mothballing them?) in the desert somewhere.

Does anyone have any specific info on this? Which models of the Beech 1900 are predominantly being taken out of service and why? What airlines have done this? Anyone know where (what airport) some of them are actually parked/mothballed?

 

[B190Captain]

Well not in my airline. It seems that we will fly the 1900 forever. Regionals will have space transports and we will still fly be flying the mighty 1900.

It is a great aircraft but I believe that people don't want to fly on a 1900 where there is no FA, No Galley, No toilet. Most other regionals are obtaining jet aircraft or fly larger turbo-props that have the amenities. Some companies may be parking them due to equipment requirements mandated by the FAA that will be due in the near future such as enhanced GPWS. We parked a couple 1900's but now most of them are back from tanning in Arizona I believe. Don't know exactly where though.

The sun is setting on the 1900.

But not here!!

Fly Safe!!

 

[English]

www.cactuswings.com for a link to the boneyard sites

 

[great cornholio]

We are getting rid of the C model in thoery. A few of them did leave this past year. Only a few more to go. They were suppose to be gone before Jan 1 but that didn't happen. Anyways getting rid of the C models cause the pax really hate those things, even more than the D model. No idea where they get parked.

 

[414Flyer]

You shoud see all the J-31s out there at Kingman

 

[I.P. Freley]

Heck, you should see all the J-31's in Lynchburg, VA. There must be over a dozen of them.

 

[Denizen]

Good Ole Kingman

Miles and Miles of used aircraft...heh.. there was even the nose of a 747 sitting there for the longest time.

 

[SkywayFO]

It will be interesting to see after next summer with the new wieghts.

 

[great cornholio]

We already use the new weights. It sucks we have a hard time getting under Max Zero Fuel Wt now. Bumping lots of pax.

 

[chperplt]

We already use the new weights.

No you don't.... They will be changing again since the weights you use now were before the FAA completed it's actual weight program. The weights Colgan chose were too low according to the test. Pax weights will be going up another 3lbs for summer and 5lbs for winter.. I forget what the bags will weigh.

 

[SkywayFO]

My point was summer heat. I don't think you have used the weights in the summer yet. The numbers are not going to work out well I'm sure. I would say it will be at 12 paxs airplane at best.

 

[chperplt]

My point was summer heat. I don't think you have used the weights in the summer yet

They actually did go up last summer. We went from 180 (summer 02) to 190 this past summer. We could still put 19 pax on if the weather was ok. If the weather wasn't ok, we could put 19 pax if we had a close alternate. The most I've ever had to bump was 2 people for weight.

The average Colgan flight was blocked at 45-60 minutes which doesn't require a lot of fuel.

 

[iaflyer]

Parked 1900s

I saw a bunch of 1900Ds in Salina, KS - probably a year ago. Several of them were CommutAir's old airplanes. I'd say there was 20-30 of them? They looked like they were in long-term storage. (parked very close together, behind a fence).

I think CommutAir replaced them with newer models.

As for why other companies eliminated the 1900 - probably competitive pressures. Passengers seem to prefer a larger airplane with a FA. A RJ is even better (to travel on, compared to a 1900)

iaflyer

 

[chperplt]

A RJ is even better (to travel on, compared to a 1900)

Are you talking comfort level? I think the 1900 D has more legroom and is more comfortable overall as a pax than either RJ.

 

[merikeyegro]

...

Actually, the most legroom I had on a regional was on the C402C @ Cape Air, believe it or not. That was great...The CRJ pales in comparison.

 

[enigma]

Re: Good Ole Kingman

Miles and Miles of used aircraft...heh.. there was even the nose of a 747 sitting there for the longest time.

I don't remember the fuselage number, but the mechanics at the storage facility there (Kingman) said that the whale nose belonged to the old Honalulu Cactus bird.

enigma

 

[Cardinal]

Lakes has been sending aircraft to the dessert as they are returned on lease, but it's really just a change of venue. They've had a bunch sitting idle and engineless in Cheyenne since September 11th, and now they're getting reassembled and given back to Raytheon. Mesa has 10 or so parked in Farmington in a similar state of disrepair. Mesa also has six or so E120s in Liberal, Kansas. Somebody actually pays a mechanic to tug the aircraft forward 1/3 of a tire rotation every week, in addition to pulling all the plugs and performing a full runup.

 

[mainah]

There were also about 10 on the ramp in ABQ a month back and two of them were engineless.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

Awesome: I know something about this...

I work for a Beech/Raytheon Service center who is one of the big(ger) 1900 facilities. On our property, there are around fifteen 1900s perhaps, and I can only off the top of my head, think of two C models. The rest are Ds. We've got a few (5 at least) high S/N aircraft, in good shape.

Mostly, we get airplanes delivered, then take an engine or two off and send them to whoever actually owns them. We also cover the windows and tape all the seams/ports other than the cabin door. Eventually, someone buys them and Beech tells us to get it ready for a ferry flight. Most of these are VFR and are pretty low S/N airplanes with high time and occasionally operable components--as it were. I think these are generally going to Florida (big surprise there--a cheap operator in FL?).

Latest arrivals: two weeks or so ago a 1900D from Great Lakes, and today a 1900D from AeroTACA Colombia. We haven't even pulled that one inside yet.

The ones that have engine on them--we run them up every so often and do various checks to make sure they're all at least somewhat airworthy.

Hope that helps someone. I know that we're supposed to have a pretty steady stream of D models coming in for the next few months.

Dan

 

[great cornholio]

Great so now we are getting new new weights. Thats just gonna be awesome. Any idea when we have to start using those?

 

[B. Rubble]

A few overseas operators utilize the C model.

Falcon Express Cargo Airlines based out of Dubai, U.A.E.
has scheduled runs throughout the Persian Gulf, including
Iraq for the armed forces.http://www.af.mil/stories/123005068.shtml

 

[B190Captain]

We are at 193 lbs. per pax no matter male or female, winter or summer. Bags are at 30 lbs per bag that is placed in the aft cargo even if carry-on.

We bump bags on a daily basis, sometimes passengers.

 

[414Flyer]

Hmm that news link mentioned the Beech having a 3 person crew including a flight engineer

 

[propjockey]

We are at 193 lbs. per pax no matter male or female, winter or summer. Bags are at 30 lbs per bag that is placed in the aft cargo even if carry-on.

We bump bags on a daily basis, sometimes passengers.

That's better than what we have. At Lakes, ours are now 203 summer and 208 winter (bags are still 25). Unless we have halfweights on now, we're pretty much an 18 pax airplane (ref MZFW problems). I can't understand how local FSDO's could mandate that we use weights that are different from any other airline's weights. Doesn't hardly seem fair.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

Speaking for the 1900s at our facility:

About half are in really good, near new shape. The other half are danged tired (one of them this week decided that Ground Fine was an altogether superflous thing for an engine to do, so it was idle to reverse--nothing in between). But even those are pretty much ready to go to a freight operator somewhere.

Raytheon has been auditing the various 1900 storage facilities this week, because I guess they expect a rather good time to sell them soon. But like someone said: the ones with two engines get started, taxied, run up, most of the sytems checked, and then put back into storage--to be run in another month.

Some of these are at the end of thier useful life, but the vast majority are merely in a holding yard for the expected sale when the economy improves. We have heard of some of the smaller passenger airlines seriously looking at trading 402s and Navajos for the 1900s--because they're really not that much more expensive, and somebody seems desparate to get rid of them.

Dan

 

[flying4life]

I don't know if they're trying to get rid of the plane. It's got a bad rap after the CLT accident which was totally mechanical. Especially since the same exact thing happened again in HYA with just the 2 pilots on board. I flew the mighty beech for 3 1/2 years. The "D" has a ton of power, the military has the same plane certified for 18000lbs gross. Of all planes to be worrying about weight, the 1900D should not be one of them.