BAe 146 & Avro's

[HZ123]

May be premature on this thread but will tha 146/Avro have as long a life as the 1-11/727. There are already a glut of these a/c parked and I wonder will they enjoy a second lease of life abroad or is the size & 4 engines going to prevent their longevity.

[treadigraph]

Well... 727 - slightly older than me. Youngest airframe? Circa 1986? Alitalia as I recall picked up some the last off the line. 1000 or so aircraft. Plenty still flying and lots of useful spares.

1-11. 260 or so built between the mid-60s and about 1980, plus the RomBACs. How many still fly? Not many I'd guess, and dwindling spares.

BAe 146 - 20 or so years in service - but a much lower airframe count than the 727. It'll go for a while yet in service, those parked up (as at Kemble last weekend) will find new revenue customers, or be scrapped for spares to provide for the rest. Sad, but inevitable. Plenty of 737s and A320 series aircraft about which attract the buyers.

Longevity has been the 727/737 watchword. The 146, sadly, will not enjoy such elongated popularity I suspect. But Airbus, and by association BAe, may yet have the last laugh. Watch this space for some decades to come...! :)

[spagiola]

The 146 has capabilities that no other jet can match, and that will keep at least some examples in service for quite a long time. It's also very quiet, so there's no reason for the type to be grounded by more stringent noise rules (unlike the 727, say).

Right now there are plenty of examples of just about every airliner type in storage, so having examples parked up doesn't say much about prospects for any single particular type.

1,832 727s were built before production ended in 1982-ish. 394 (or 395, depending on how you count) 146s were built before production ended in early 2002.

One way to ask your question in a more precise way might be: Today, 22 years after 727 production ended, x% of the examples built are still in service. Will x% of the 146/RJs still be in service in 2034?

[HZ123]

Quite. Are the mark of a/c still about in the USA in any numbers. As stated there are large numbers of these a/c parked and UK outfits flying them indicate that they are looking to replace them sooner rather than later.

[treadigraph]

We were both wrong - 727 production ended in 1984!

Sorry, I'm not knocking the 146, I agree it's a superbly quiet aeroplane (except when the flaps are going up or down!) and very capable, and there's life in the young dog yet.

How many 727s are still flying? Presumably not many in Europe now, last few I've noticed knocking around appeared to be execs (one had winglets even, or did I imagine it?).

[HZ123]

There are a regular stream of 727 (wingletted & not) that go thru ATC at Lasham and Southend and for some months earlier this year 'MBI' wingletted mark was based at Southend. I was informed that it is in regular use by 'El Makotoum' the race horse person. There are also a couple of cargo stage 111 versions parked at both airfields, EI-PAK which has been undergoing period work for some months at SEN. Rgds

[Inverted81]

i come from the birthplace of the 146.... always remember seeing the freshly undercoated planes turning over my house to turn crosswind....
i hope they are around for a time to come.... as said before they are very versatile but the 737 and a320's will always win the short haul routes i guess...
C :O