mention1
Firstly I am not a pilot and I have never misrepresented myself as such, Captain or otherwise. Secondly, no I am not joking. Preserving old aeroplanes is not something I am given to joking about. Thanks for sharing with us some apparently privileged information regarding the economics of the disposal of the SPs. If indeed Qantas has a policy that "a Qantas aircraft will never be seen to be scrapped in Australia" that's probably not such a bad policy. I don't know if you've ever seen an aeroplane broken up but it's not a pretty sight for someone who loves aeroplanes. If indeed the donation of a 742 to Longreach is going to save Qantas "a motza" then clearly the company is on to a good thing and other aviation museums can presumably anticipate offers of similar donations. No, I think not. Despite the fact that there is probably only one other aviation museum in Australia that might even contemplate accepting a 747, there are also
PR considerations for an airline having one of its aeroplanes in a museum. It is obviously in the airline's interests to ensure that the aircraft is maintained and displayed in an appropriate manner and this places a significant ongoing burden on the museum. For this reason, the congratulations which I previously extended to Qantas, are now happily (and belatedly) extended to The Qantas Founders Outback Museum. So mention1, instead of looking for something negative, why not celebrate this for what it is, the most significant aviation heritage breakthrough in many years.