Originally Posted by
Fris B. Fairing
Back off topic for a minute.
I just remembered that there was another odd aeroplane around that time. Qantas sold B747-238B VH-EBG to El Al in May 88 but it came back into the Qantas fleet on lease in Sept 88. The lower lobe galley had been ripped out and the cabin was reconfigured so it wasn't the EBG we knew. Many manuals had to be rewritten and the aeroplane was generally more trouble than it was worth. It went back to El Al in June 89.
Wasn't it also substantially heavier too... I seem to recall EBA and/or EBB coming back as well from a stint at Air Lanka and had to be put through a D check because maintenance records weren't kept up to date by Air Lanka, so I was told.
A small point, was there evidence that the LLG had been 'ripped out' or was it perhaps just 'removed' (sorry, just being a smart alec).