Highest Time Airplane?

[500and2]

Check your MX Logs....... I want to see who has flown an airplane with the most hours on it.....

We just retired a B1900C back to Raytheon with +40K hrs.... (I heard it was the highest time B190 in the world!!!)

-Bless Our Troops-

Jackson

 

[Airpiraterob]

hmmm

its not the record but..

we werent keeping track of hours but we were flying an E110 with 57,000 cycles on it. and ones in mothballs with 5,000 hours left on the timed life airframe (60k). they'll probably get an extension on it somehow tho when they get it running again. anyone have a good deal on some -34's?

somewhere on the east coast is that DC-3 with 130k hours on it or something. still taking passengers too i think. i dunno where it is or who has it tho. every now and again it gets on discovery wings or something.

 

[OtterFO]

I do believe MAR or ASquared may some input here. How many hours do those old 6's have?

I've flown a couple of Twin Otters with twice relifed wings on it. I've forgotten the lifespan of the Twin Otter wings.

Today I was flying the lowest time navajo I have ever flown. 28,7XX TT

 

[LearLove]

If I remember correctly.....

At one time in the early/mid 90's PBA had a DC-3 in the NE (I think) that was the highest time and oldest aircraft in comm service. Can anyone back this up?

 

[FearlessFreep]

Highest time aircraft are going to be relative to the type. Smaller aircraft usually fly shorter legs, so their total time will not be as high as larger transport aircraft, which may have a smaller cycles count.

I have heard of some high time BE-99s operated by Ameriflight.

I know that there are a pretty high number of DC-8s that are well over 100K hours. I believe that there are a number of 747s that may exceed that.

The DC-3 with 130K is pretty impressive but remember that the aircraft is close to 60 years old.

I would be interested to hear the numbers on the -6's

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I've heard of a DC-9, currently in operation, with over 70K hours.

Cliff
GRB

 

[Capthuff]

I just dropped off our CJ2 for it's 125 hour check.
LOL

sorry
Cappy

 

[Freight Dog]

Ameriflight has some of the oldest airplanes in business. I flew the oldest living Piper Lance there - serial number 2 - who knows how much flight time there is on it. Serial number 1 crashed during flight test at Piper.

 

[metrodriver]

Flight International runs an aging aircraft session couple of times a year: NWA has a few 120.000 hr DC9's, a few convairs around with that time, DC8'swith 100.000+.
I flew for Ameriflight. They sold a falcon 20 in1995 with 90.000 hours, reportedly the highest time F20 then. The Pa32 Lances had around 16000 hrs in 1998, racking up 1000hrs/ year. Be99 times were very high too. The maintenance was good, and the result is that they were the a.d. generator for each type they got.

 

[JBcrjca]

The latest issue of Airways magazine has an article on the beloved Beech 99. It has a pic of Ameriflights' N34AK, noting that it's the highest time BE-99 in the world, just under 50,000 hrs total.

I recently looked at the log for SkyWests' original EMB120, 186SW...it has in excess of 36,000 hours on it, still running strong. And back in the early 90s, I flew a BE-58 for USCheck that had 12,000+ hours on it. If any AirNet guys reading this get a chance to fly 1653W, I'd be curious to know how many hours it has on it now. It's gotta be well over 20K.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, on 3/31 I flew a bird that was delivered from Montreal on 3/27...it had 31 hrs total, 19 cycles on it. New car smell, and no filth/dustbunnies in the cockpit yet. That was pretty sweet, a rare treat for me.

 

[dashtrasher]

At one time in the early/mid 90's PBA ha

I Believe the tail number was 136PB, in the early 80's it had around 93,000 hrs onit then and 150 engine changes.

 

[LearLove]

I'd believe it..........

I theory and what now looks like practice the DC-3 should last forever given no corrosion. Say you had a dc3 and used it between dca and lga at 9000ft or so, thats all you ever need as long as the pilots didn't bend it. the air loads at 160-180 mph are low especially for the tank that the dc3 is.

Also daily flying of an unpressurized aircraft allows air to flow thru the airframe this keeps it dry and corrosion free kind of like keeping it in the desert. This is why we'll see sh!tboxes and 99's for the next 100 years.

Even the dash fits here, now we all know its pressurized by it stays at lower altitudes where the diff is lower which makes for less stress in the pressure vessle. I think a few of ALG's dashes are around 30,000 if they haven't gone over it yet.

 

[jbDC9]

Speaking of US Check-Airnet, how about those Cessna 310s? When I flew´em from 1990 to 1993 they had anywhere from 10 to 13,000 hrs. I kinda crunched up a 13K hr machine at St Paul, totalled it... not my fault though, the prop came off! I see them around from time to time, they gotta be around 20,000 or more I´d guess...

 

[WrightAvia]

I jumped out of a DC-3 called Mr Douglas

I think Mr. Douglas was used at a dropzone in florida. It was also used in the Nick Nolte movie, "Mullholland Falls". They got paid to belly land Mr Douglas on the salt flats, with the gear up to film a sceen for the movie.

But anyway, they had better than 60,000 hours on the plane and that was 7 years ago.

I didn't actually fly that high time plane, but I did fart in it. And there was a whole plane load of skydivers that enjoyed that moment with me. Do you think that the troops that rode in that DC-3 would have ever imagined that people would jump for fun out of that plane...so many years after the war was over.

 

[skyking1976]

At one time Midwest Express (now Midwest Airlines) was flying the highest time DC-9. I believe that it had around 150K hours. Don't quote me on that though. Midex guys, how about a little help.

Skyking

 

[jetdriven]

air midwest has a few 1900's with 40,000 cycles on them. Remember, the oldest of these planes was built in 1991.

that would be about 35,000 hours.

I heard Air Tran donated a DC-9 with 150K on it to a museum in florida?? Is that true?

 

[AceCrackshot]

Lakes has a few C models that were very high cycle, don't remember exactly how much, but our impression was that they were among the high 1900's in world.

Piedmont operates the high time/cycle Dash 8 in the world 906HA.
DinoDash is used in all the Bombardier PowerPoint presentations as an example of the ruggedness of the 8.

 

[LR25]

906HA, not a bad machine, people give it alot of grief, but its actualy a pretty cool (as in temp) airplane in the back in the summer.

I used to work for ATI as a mechanic on the DC-8, and back in 97 867BX a DC-8-63 had about 87K hours and about 45K cycles.

I think Academy Airlines in Griffin, GA has the second highest time DC-3, I believe around 90K hours, not sure though.

 

[500and2]

GLA

yep.... we're flying on of your planes...

N45GL (it has over 40K on it) -1900C

amazing what these planes can handle. (going to max diff. on every other leg...... maybe that explains why they all fly so crooked!!!)

Beautiful day here in ANC...... might actually pull out the shorts.

 

[AceCrackshot]

About 30000 V1 cuts in training, too.

 

[SabreFlyR]

Speaking of US Check-Airnet, how about those Cessna 310s? When I flew´em from 1990 to 1993 they had anywhere from 10 to 13,000 hrs. I kinda crunched up a 13K hr machine at St Paul, totalled it... not my fault though, the prop came off! I see them around from time to time, they gotta be around 20,000 or more I´d guess...

I flew the 310's at Wright Express in 1988 before they were bought by US Check. They were worn out then. Saw one while passing thru Indy a couple weeks ago. Amazing what a little paint will do for them though.

 

[jetdriven]

we had a 401 at texstar that had over 30,000 hours on it. It actually flew pretty good. The airframe made a lot of niose in turbulence though.

 

[Dr4uh60l]

I get a little nerous flying through moderate turbulence in a 210 with 18,000+ hours on it. How much can these things take? We also have a Baron that has been geared up 6 times---the tail # ends in "TA"and is called "Twisted Airplane" because it flies crooked.

 

[LXApilot]

Old Birds

I remember flying a Cessna 172 when I was in college that was rumored to have around 40,000 hours... it was a late sixties model that had been flying hard in training and put away wet ever since it was delivered. Old ex-American Airlines DC10 N140AA has 93,912 hours on 21,412 cycles, and an ex-United Airlines DC10-30 with 92,507 on 22,286 cycles. There is an old Delta 737-200 for sale that advertises with 72,793 hours on the airframe.

 

[LJDRVR]

The highest time CE172 is in Oregon with 26K. I'm pretty sure the highest time DC-3 is still the North Central Airlines ship 18 in the Henry Ford museum, at 81,535TT as of August 1964. (It flew till 1967) I'm not sure what it retired with, maybe someone knows. For a long time, #18 was the highest time airframe in the world, since surpassed by some of those first generation jet airliners.

 

[B190Captain]

Check your MX Logs....... I want to see who has flown an airplane with the most hours on it.....

We just retired a B1900C back to Raytheon with +40K hrs.... (I heard it was the highest time B190 in the world!!!)

-Bless Our Troops-

Jackson

It did not happen to be UB-1 which was N190GA was it?

 

[hydroflyer]

Speaking of US Check-Airnet, how about those Cessna 310s? When I flew´em from 1990 to 1993 they had anywhere from 10 to 13,000 hrs. I kinda crunched up a 13K hr machine at St Paul, totalled it... not my fault though, the prop came off! I see them around from time to time, they gotta be around 20,000 or more I´d guess...

Good guess! Apparently 37575 is right about on the mark of 20,000. Still has some of the original paint left to.

 

[EX_CV580FR8Dawg]

HI time

I can't remember the hours or cycles exactly, as it has been almost two years since I flew the 580. I recall seeing over 75,000+ cycles on one of the aircraft. It was an ex Allegheny Aircraft(5810) and is now 151FL. That was in the summer of 2001, so i would imagine theyve added quite a few since then

 

[avbug]

Bear in mind that total hours and years mean nothing. The environment the airplane has flown in during that time, the type of flying it's done, and it's maintenance history all play critical roles in the lifespan of the airplane.

The highest time airframe I've flown in a light airplane was a Cessna 206 with a little over 23,000 hours. It was still a very strong airplane.

I've flown other airplanes that were much older but with far less hours, that suffered catastrauphic in-flight breakups and serious structural failures. It's not the years, it's the miles. Hours, however, don't count for a whole lot.

 

[EX_CV580FR8Dawg]

Well I can agree with you on that. The mx on the CVs that I was flying was pristine. The build dates on them were early 50s and I bet theyll still be flying for a long time. Yer gonna have to try real hard to break a Convair

When I first started flying the Convairs, my father, whos a sup at MKE atc told me of this incident.

http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1968/1968-29.htm