Not an acronym for an off-putting phrase, in FAA lingo it means withdrawn from use. Occasionally, I run across an early days airframe that I used to fly. These machines may have reached the end-of-the line due to age, component wear limit, abuse or neglect but in some cases, with extra care and good fortune, they might be operationally airworthy and still going.
This green job is still flying the airways. I have stick time in this one only when early on in my career it was liveried in United colors, a 15 seat EMB110P1 N102EB one of a fleet operated by Westair Commuter in California. Re-numbered TG-JCO you’ll note is not a USA registered tail but a Honduran one. We’ve both moved on.
There are significant others that I have tracked down from my office desk: N3053W LJ-613 a Beech King Air that I flew in the 1980’s now operating in South Africa; another King Air N511D LJ-951 operating as PT-OZJ in Brazil. The tail numbers and paint schemes change so if one happened to be physically within eye sight you’d never know it. A useful resource for tracing aircraft is a Dutch website with a database that can reference by registration number or C/N (construction number).
As there are many photographer aviation plane spotters worldwide actively capturing and identifying aircraft and location; it is usually easy to find any particular bird while stalking my Exes with a simple search. Some camera toting enthusiasts even venture into the graveyard.
Sad and at the same time artistic as they return to earth, this boneyard in Bates City, MO turns up dozens of old relics that have many flight hours logged and recorded in my own pilot log book. Pictured is N616KC c/n 110238 “retired” in 1991. There is a DNA resemblance to the green one above. They are of the same fleet type but this one has been stripped for parts.
Not all have been put out-to-pasture. Tragically, a number have been damaged beyond repair — written off. This is a euphemistic way of implying Crashed.
THE LAST RADIO CALL MADE BY THE PLT WAS AT 0658 EST WHEN HE REPORTED LEVEL AT 8000 FT. RADAR DATA AT 0708 EST, SHOWED THE ACFT CHANGING HEADING FROM 327 TO 335 DEGREES, ALT DECREASED FROM 8000 TO 5000 FT AND GROUND SPEED INCREASED FROM 179 TO 188 KTS. COMMUNICATION WITH THE ACFT COULD NOT BE ESTABLISHED AT THIS TIME. RADAR COVERAGE WAS LOST 5 MILES WNW OF SAYRE INTERSECTION. THE ACFT CONTINUED ITS DESCENT COLLIDING WITH POWER LINES FOLLOWED BY THE GROUND. INVESTIGATION DID NOT REVEAL ANY MECHANICAL FAILURES AND/OR MALFUNCTIONS.
That was N806Q a Beechcraft 58 Baron that I flew during happier times and I am sorry to learn of its demise in a morbid way. I logged 523 flights in it. Her sister, N807Q, another bad ending with occupant fatalities.
On a much happier note: N4702X a 1966 year model Cessna 150G still flying!
I had my first flight and solo in N4702X c/n 15064752 [photo credit: SBJ over Watsonville, California]. It still wears the original paint color scheme from memory. At the time (1975) it was part of a small flying club at a small airport in Fresno and this is where it all began.