ZK-NBS’s Final Departure

Air New Zealand has begun the process of winding down its 747 operations. The airline has operated 747s since its first 747-200 entered service in 1981. The first of Air New Zealand’s eventual fleet of eight 747-400s was delivered in December 1989 and its five 747-200s were sold to Virgin Atlantic in 1999. The end of the -200’s service with the airline marked the end of the flight engineer role for aircraft operated by Air New Zealand.

In 2007, Air New Zealand decided to replace the 747-400 fleet with 777- 300ERs and the first of these is due to arrive at the end of 2010. The “winding down” of the 747-400 fleet began recently with the departure of ZK-NBS. This is the same aircraft that carried out Air New Zealand’s recent biofuel trials.

A number of options were considered for the disposal of ZK-NBS, including the possibility of breaking it up in Auckland. Eventually, the decision was made to fly the aircraft to Roswell, New Mexico, USA, where it would be stripped down for spare parts. The preparation for this final flight involved a significant amount of work for Air New Zealand engineering staff, including the removal of all the passenger seats and cabin equipment. For its final flight to Roswell, ballast had to be added to the stripped aircraft to compensate for the amount of weight removed.

Second Officer Andrew Hanley (Wide-body Fleet Support Pilot) was in charge of the ferry flight project. The rest of the crew comprised Captain Cliff Marchant, First Officer Neil Saunders and Second Officer Ian Allen. The flight was particularly special for Ian. His father, Peter Allen, was a former Chief Flight Engineer and was heavily involved in the introduction of the 747s into the Air New Zealand fleet and was on the acceptance and delivery flights of NBS. Ian clearly remembers going to Auckland Airport as a 12-year-old and seeing his father help bring ZK-NBS into Auckland under the command of Captain Neville Hay, assisted by Captains Ken Mulgrew, Ross Johnson and John Denton.

ZK-NBS departed Auckland for the final time on the evening of June 5. Because of its low weight, the aircraft was able to climb to an initial cruise altitude of 38,000ft; on a revenue service, this would normally be limited to around 32,000ft due to aircraft gross weight. The flight was conducted just like any normal revenue service, with the exception that the crew had to get their own food!

The aircraft made a brief stop at Los Angeles to clear US customs before departing for Roswell, which was only an hour and a half away. Cliff Marchant made the final take off and landing, after which NBS was parked in front of the hangar where the 1948 UFO was allegedly stored.

Roswell Airport contains around 170 large jets in varying degrees of storage. There are large numbers of MD80s of various versions, DC8s, A300s and 747 classics. Some of these aeroplanes are being stripped for parts, others are being completely scrapped while others are being stored as assets.

Roswell’s location makes it an ideal place for aircraft storage because of its low ambient humidity (around 30%), which is kind to stored airframes. With the many different customers utilising Roswell having numerous different requirements, there is even a group of workers whose sole job is to open and close aircraft doors all day

According to Air New Zealand’s current plans, it will end its 747 services in 2012, thus closing a lengthy and important chapter for both the airline and New Zealand aviation history.