Originally Posted by
Wannabe Flyer
The 2 Aircraft VT ALW & VT ALV have been parked at Forthworth for interior & other fit outs for the past 6 months. They last flew there in the AI livery from Chicago after scheduled passenger flights. ALW took to the air about a week ago probably for a test flight for the first time. This photoshopped picture has been doing the rounds for at least a month.
You are mistaken on several counts, I'm afraid.
It's true that ALW has been at Forth Worth Alliance - though not for "6 months", but for more than a year.
However it flew more than 2 months ago, on April 14 - not "about a week ago" - to San Bernardino. KSBD is the home ot
AeroPro who, amongst other activities, provide aircraft painting services to airlines and government operators (other paintshops are available
).
ALW returned to KAFW 7 weeks later, on June 2, resplendent in its new Indian Government livery, and sporting a newly-acquired SATCOM antenna (AeroPro also specialise in
SATCOM upgrades).
June 2 happens to be the date of those two widely-circulated photos by a respected and prolific aviation photographer - Andy Egloff - showing the aircraft approaching KAFW on its return flight. Egloff would become a laughing stock it it was shown that he was passing off fake photos as genuine.
Finally, a Google image search fails to find any instances of those two photos prior to June 2. If you can find a copy of either photo that was posted "at least a month" ago, I'd be interested to see it.