DC - 10 NEWS
April 13th 2004
*Welcome, Armenia! The first armenian-registred DC-10 appeared in early 2004. Former Electra Airlines DC-10-15 #346 was sold to an unknown operator, probably russian carrier VIM Airlines.
*DAS Air Cargo transferred two of its US-registred DC-10s into the ugandan aircraft register.
March 11th 2004
*A french start-up carrier Sud Airlines plands to acquire former AOM aircraft #288.
*#185, the former African Safari and Africa One DC-10, will be scrapped at Kemble (UK).
February 3rd 2004
*Centurion Air Cargo is currently changing its DC-10 fleet. After two -40 freighters were sold to Aeroflot, two -30 freighters were acquired. Both are former Omni aircraft and leased from XS Aviation. As far as I know, a single DC-10-40F is still in service with Centurion.
*Briish aviation magazine "Aircraft Illustrated" recently published a list of the world's 100 greatest aircraft. This list, voted by readers, consisted of both, civil and military aircraft. The DC-10 got a notable 58th place and became 10th among the commercial aircraft! It left the L-1011, 777, Caravelle, JU52 and many others behind. The Concorde was the winner, although in my opinion only the DC-3 deserves this place.
*DAS Air Cargo acquired an ex-BCAL/BA DC-10 (#214) from Gemini Air Cargo in late December. By the way, Gemini Air Cargo is changing its DC-10s again. Two of them were stored and a stored aircraft is back in service.
*Africa One is definitively not operating its DC-10 anymore. It is not clear if the airline is still active in any way. The aircraft, #185, is stored in Kemble (UK).
*This month, no news from Ghana :(
January 15th 2004
*On December 18th 2003, a FedEx MD-10 burnt out after a hard landing in Memphis, TN. The aircraft veered off the runway after the right main landing gear collapsed. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. The aircraft was #4 (N364FE), the second oldest DC-10 in service and formerly United Airlines' first DC-10. Click for the accident report.
*Dan Parent, from partner site kc-10.net made some great photos of the DC-10 mentioned above. Check them out here!
*One of Ghana Airways' DC-10s (#106, 9G-AND) was grounded in late December and early January due technical reasons.
*Ken Fielding sent me some interesting photos showing former Monarch Airlines DC-10 #348. The aircraft was broken up in Manchester and its nose moved to the new airport viewing park
*An ex Iberia/Continental Airlines DC-10-30 (#186) is being prepared for Omni International.
*#193 was scrapped in Miami during 2003. Please check out the great photos I got from Alain Lejeune. Thanks Alain!
*Finally, some news from Aeroflot. A fourth DC-10-40 freighter was added to the fleet. The aircraft, #262, is again a former CAC / Centurion aircraft.
December 9th 2003
*Finnair's first DC-10 #181, which was operated by Air Lib until early 2003, will probably be displayed in Ivalo, Finland as a tourist attraction.
*Other sources say that the three DC-10s Air Scandic is interested are the three former Finnair / Air Liberté aircraft. This will include #181 mentioned above.
*The aircraft going to VIM Airlines will be #346.
*Ghana... Two of the aircraft #159 (9G-ANC) and #369 (9G-ANA) are stored in Rome and not in London. They are together with #84 (9G-PHN / OO-PHN) which has an unclear ownership. #234 is stored in Accra. It is doubtful, if it will fly again. I will try to keep you up to date!
*Aeroflot aqcuired a third DC-10-40F from Centurion Air Cargo (#224).
November 9th 2003
*A Bangladesh Biman DC-10-30ER (#295) was seen in San Antonio. Was it returned to the lessor?
*Former Continental Airlines aircraft #100 will be used for counter terrorism training by the Royal Canadian Mountain Police.
*Russian carrier VIM Airlines has acquired a former Electra Aviation DC-10-15. It is still not clear which aircraft it is.
*Some news again from Manchester's airport viewing park: Parts of the Monarch DC-10 will be displaced in the Airport viewing park (cockpit and front section), while the rest will be scrapped.
October 20th 2003
*Some interesting news: Ghana Airways is reactivating two former American Airlines DC-10 with over 90 000 flight hours each! The aircaft are N140AA (46712/ 106) and N141AA (46713/ 165)
*More Ghana: Romours say that two DC-10s (#159 and #369) are grounded in London due to non-paid fees while the third (#234) is being overhauled in Accra. JAT was operating some of Ghana's routes with its sole DC-10 #278. So the question is: How are they going to pay for the DC-10s mentioned above?
*MyTravel suspended DC-10-10 operations on September 30th. The last DC-10-30 will continue to fly
*UK leisure operator Air Scandic is looking for DC-10 crews. Perhaps they are taking over the ex MyTravel aircraft?
*A former Omni DC-10-10 (#162), which was scheduled for scrapping, is doing test flights as a water bomber aircraft!
*Cielos del Perú keeps on growing. A fifth aircraft, formerly with Gemini Air Cargo, was leased in June.
*It is now said that #348 is going to be scrapped instead of going to the projected "Airport Viewing Park". So we have to wait again until we see the first preserved DC-10...
*Taino Airlines of the Dominican Republic is awaiting delivery of former AOM / Air Lib aircraft #217.
August 8th 2003
*Summer season in Germany means for me: a lot of work at the airport, less time for the page. So this update is not very interesting...
*The greek aviation authorities withdrew Electra Airlines' license. All 757 and a single DC-10-15 are now stored.
*Former Monarch DC-10 #348 will be displayed in Mancherster's "Airport Viewing Park", together with the AVRO RJX100 and a Lockheed TriStar.
*Some details were added to the page, including inaugural services dates for SABENA aircraft and a Ghana Airways seating chart.
July 11th 2003
*Skyservice will scrap one of its two DC-10-10 (#283)
*Santa Barbara Airlines recieved its second aircraft (#133) as YV-1052C. The first one, #178, was named "Ciudad de Puerto la Cruz".
June 15th 2003
*Finally, I succeeded in a new update! A slight design change was made as well as some changes in the operators section. I hope you like it.
*There are rumours that Ghana Airways' #159 will not fly again. The aircraft seems to be at a C-check in Kuala Lumpur since over 6 months...
*Also, #133 has been under C-check for a very long time. I hope to see it flying with Santa Barbara soon.
*#167 seems to be an interesting aircraft. Now I have three different informations about it. One says, it is scrapped, one that it is in Panama and the third one that it was bought by FedEx...
*On March 4th 2003, Hawaiian Airlines operated its last DC-10 flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles with #270.
*Air Mali returned its sole DC-10 to Astra Airlines. The aircraft is now stored in Opa Locka.
*Garuda offers its five DC-10-30 for sale. They continue operating.
March 11th 2003
*On February 6th 2003, Air Lib ceased operations with a fleet of 30 aircraft, including 8 active and 3 stored DC-10-30 aircraft. I hope that this will not be the end for the DC-10 in France...
*Incredible, but true: After #212 returned to service, all three Centurion DC-10-40F are in service at the same time!
February 16th 2003
*This update doesn't include many movements, but many new photos. Thanks to Ken, there are now also photos of Garuda and Korean Air Lines aircraft in old colour schemes!
*Welcome, Air Mali! This carrier sub-leased a DC-10-15 (#358) from Astra Airlines for a year
*Nobody told me about that! One of my favourite DC-10 (#200, the ex Canadian signature plane) was broken up in late 2002!
*A correction: World Airways #221 was NOT converted to a freighter
*Last year, two DC-10s were used in a show called "Men vs. Beast" they were #116 and #136
January 12th 2003
*#114, an aircraft which is going to be scrapped in Maxton, NC was reported to be the current high hour DC-10 with 117749 hours and 27393 cycles accumulated by December 6th. Among the active ones, I am not sure which one has accumulated the most hours. I guess, it's DAS Air Cargo's #115, but this carrier doesn't seem to be very cooperative...
*More Northwest DC-10-40 have been broken up
*After some years, I finally completed two tasks I wanted to have finished when the page went online in 2000: The KC-10 infos are online! And second: I corrected the error I had on my registrations map. Instead of Bangladesh, I had Myanmar marked. Sorry!
*Finally, I got a photo of #29, the aircraft which had the accident near Paris in 1974. Many more of this excellent pictures are going to be added within the next weeks. Thanks, Martin!
December 15th 2002
*First, the bad news. What was long expected, is true now. 46500/ 1, the first DC-10, was broken up at Goodyear after 24 years of service and 8 years of storage. It's really ashaming that this airliner was not preserved. What if the old Douglas Aircraft Company was still alive...?
*The other movements are just the usual ones: Some ex AA/NW/UA aircraft scrapped or moved to the scrapping yard.
*Well, some good news for me: My home airport got DC-10 service again! Ghana Airways is connecting Hamburg once a week with Accra, Ghana on every monday. The service started on December 9th.
November 4th 2002
*Santa Barbara Airlines, a venezuelan regional carrier with a strong ATR-fleet took over an ex-AVENSA DC-10 (#178) and re-registred it YV-1040C. #133, the last AVENSA DC-10, is undertaking a C-check in Rio de Janeiro and will be re-registred YV-1052C for Santa Barbara too.
*As now confirmed, #178 was never operated by AVENSA, although it was painted in their full colour scheme.
*Omni Air International took its two DC-10-10 out of service and operates a fleet of DC-10-30 and -30F
October 12th 2002
*Cielos del Perú leased two further DC-10-30F from Polaris. These were #147 and #152, two ex-Emery aircraft. They replace wet-leased MD-11s.
*In August, Hewa Bora Airways leased an Electra Aviation DC-10-15 to replace a damaged L-1011 TriStar.
*AVENSA returned #156 to Pegasus with two DC-10-30 left in the fleet.
*Air Lib reactivated three ex-AOM DC-10-30.
*Northwest Airlines' DC-10-40 fleet keeps on shrinking. Only five aircraft remain active.
September 12th 2002
*#164, a DC-10-40 which flew almost 30 years for Northwest Airlines, is now being used for destructive tests by the FAA.
*Some FedEx DC-10s met their fate in Goodyear this year. This included mostly old ex-AA aircraft.
*The NMB DC-10 is for sale. #157, an ex-SABENA aircraft, is being offered by Omega Air of Ireland.
*Yesterday was a sad day. Let us remeber the victims of the terrorists' attack on New York and Washington on September 11th 2001.
August 18th 2002
*OK, OK I am late again... I'll try to be punctual next time :)
*First an old error: #221 was NOT converted to a freighter aircraft, but #291 was already in 2000. Both are World Airways DC-10-30. Thanks to Ken Fielding for this info (and not only for this one...) !
*ORBIS is back! The operations were resumed this summer - nice to see #2 again.
*In late May, many FedEx DC-10 were sold to ECS Refining and Aviation Management Systems for scrapping. One of the victims is going to be #1!
*Finally, I got an e-mail from the son of a DC-10 accident victim. Although the words this gentleman used towards me and this homepage were not really nice, I would like to give him and everybody who lost a friend or relative in such an accident my heartfelt condolences. However, I will NOT take my homepage from the web as demanded and keep on with my work!
May 11th 2002
*I don't know if anybody of you knew it earlier. ORBIS, the flying eye hospital, has not flown a single mission since September 11th of last year. Is the aircraft, #2, being overhauled, was this caused by September 11ths impact on the world's civil aviation or is there a lack of money?. It is assumed that the operations will be resumed in July of this year.
*Africa One began operations in early 2002 with #185, an ex-ASA DC-10 which was registred 5X-ONE.
*#84 was returned to Skyjet / Electra after several years of lease to Ghana Airways and is now a member of Aerowings' fleet