Delta 777 Retirement Flight

[MileHighMati]

Hi All, I know this happened some weeks ago but I put together a great video for everyone to check out. I interviewed the pilots & cabin crew and even took a little VIP ride around LAX in the Delta Porsche! Here is the youtube link! Let me know what you think!!

[LH-B744]

I really love this aviation platform, since more than 12 years. Most of the time because of the new members, our Juniors. Who soon should become real forum members. Which is not so difficult as it sounds. Alex might prevent me from publishing that public secret, but, back then when I left the jetphotos 'Junior' status, I only needed.. Alex, help me.. 100 forum entries?

You're about to watch one of the most ENTERTAINING airline EVER

That's not really what you tried to tell us, or was that the case. I confess, I shortened it a little bit.

I just had to look it up, because here at my home airport DL always appears as a Boeing airline, since... quite a long time. DL-B763ER is one of the very very very well known aircraft here at Lohausen International.

So, I looked it up, en wikipedia. Delta today does not own one Boeing 777, not after only 21 years in the Delta fleet (1999-2020).

21 years. Today I really try to stay polite somehow, but that's quite ridiculous if you know how old I am...

But that somehow is something which happens worldwide. Not the biggest aircraft in the fleet survive. Here in Germany, we do no longer have one Airbus A380 in the air!!

These are the a/c types who survive:

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9978790

The DL-B763ER at Lohausen International. The Delta 767 history reaches back to the year 1982. So, only the real classics (35 years and more in the fleet) will survive?

And, who would you guess, would fit into the category "real classic fleets, 35+, who survive", here in Germany?

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9987177

The Lufthansa 747 fleet. On a jetphoto which is less than one year old, @ Toronto Lester B. Pearson. I so very much love it!

PS: During the past 12 years, have I mentioned that I love flights across the pond? Definitely not only with destination Pearson International, but during the year 2020, Canada always shined a little bit more than Washington D.C ... Tomorrow, I like to continue a tradition which I brought back to life in November 2020.
I like to congratulate the 2021 President of one quite important country in Northern America for his birthday. Canada, this time. But not before midnight, Montreal time zone.

[LH-B744]

What happens if a fleet is only in the air for 21 years, like the Delta 777s.

I don't know why, but I always imagine, a fleet chief who took over a longhaul jet fleet at one of the traditional long haul airlines who cross the Atlantic Ocean since... clearly more than 50 years. If he's really good, he is a Flight Captain at the age of 31. Thus, he could be 52 years old when his favorite aircraft of all times, the Delta 777, vanishes from the skies, and she'll never come back.

And, assumed that this thursday would be a day with normal aviation, like a normal thursday back then in 2019, what would such a man do today?

I always have a German Flight Captain in mind, and his decision was, not to take over the 747 longhaul fleet as a fleet chief, but to take over the whole airline, at the age of ... 47, definitely not yet 48 . Again, congratulations, for a little bit more than 40 years on this planet...

PS: Again, I assume that not all experienced Flight Captains have such options. So what can you do as an ex Delta 777. Learn a completely new a/c type, and then fly for Mr Biden?
Good question, but I have heard that they prefer pilots who know Mr Bidens a/c type since 6 or 7 years (or more).

[LH-B744]

Holy christmas. Never during the past 40 years was I searching for a name so urgently. From this moment on, he definitely belongs to my evening prayer.

Let's take this as an early Christmas quiz.

Experienced B777 Flight Captain, now retired. So, ex 777 Flight Captain, with more than 30 years of aviation experience, and ex jetphotos senior (!) .

In case of men, who more than once a year appear on German TV, I should be allowed to mention the name. Nevertheless, I'll delete the name at once, upon request.

He is not Flight Captain John M. Cox .

[LH-B744]

Is this the happy new Year which all of us need so very urgently?

At least until today nobody requested that I should delete the name out of my #4 here in this topic. Which is always possible, also for names which appear more than once a year on German TV.
My wishes for the new Year have been exactly zero. Very humble. So, probably the fact that nobody until today requested that I should alter my #4 here in this topic is already a good thing for the beginning of this year.

The solution for the early Christmas quiz in #4 is another name. If I had to say it, not on German TV so very often. But he calls himself Aviation Analyst, with a background as Flight Captain (retired) on type 777 for a major american airline. Is it possible to say "his airline"? After all those years, that should be possible. So, "his airline" still owns a fleet of B773ER jets .
Les Abend. What would possibly be his opinion here in this topic.

My impression is, the Delta 777s didn't have to leave the Delta fleet because the Delta 777 fleet chief was bored and somehow he had looked for a different a/c type. I'm a rather young guy to answer questions about really long marriages. But I can say, since at least 25 years, I would not choose another a/c type for my jetphotos avatar!

[gilmar]

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