Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Discuss issues and news related to PIA, Pakistani airlines and Pakistan's civil & military aviation.
User avatar
Ger
Registered Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:02 pm
Location: Amstelveen, The Netherlands

Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Ger »

USA start up International airline Baltia Air Lines is going to use this ex PIA Boeing 747-200 (AP-AYW) for there international services.
Check out this YouTube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BaltiaAirLines

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp ... id=8371614

Enjoy, Ger
User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

Very interesting news - thank you for sharing video links. Great to see her flying again :heart:

Amazing videos!

Getting fitted with engines.


Flying again!


The former PIA Boeing 747-282B (AP-AYW) was the first Boeing 747 to land in Pakistan in PIA livery in year 1976 and it unveiled green & gold PIA livery to public for the first time. This particular Boeing 747 i.e. construction number 21035 was built in 1975.

Initially AP-AYW and her sistership AP-AYV were on four year dry lease from TAP Portugal, both these Boeing 747s were purchased by PIA in 1980.

Image
Memorable photo of AP-AYW taken in 1976 at London-Heathrow Airport before it was flown to Pakistan for the first time.

It was sold to Evergreen Aircraft Sales & Leasing Co. in year 2005 after serving PIA for more than 29 years.

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
User avatar
Aer Pakistan
Registered Member
Posts: 661
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 4:03 am
Location: London - UK

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Aer Pakistan »

awesome great to see ex PK bird back in service. =D> :heart:
Muhammad Ali - London - UK

Always Pakistan First, Pakistan Zindabad
meekal ahmed
Registered Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:35 am

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by meekal ahmed »

Abbas,

I hope this is not some fake/fraud!

There is so much out there on the inter-net.

This aircraft is 30 years old. Time to put her to pasture gracefully, don't you think?

How much longer can she fly with a three-person cockpit without raising issues of crew costs, metal-fatigue, escalating maintenance costs, and especially, fuel costs?

If it is all true, it does bring a warm glow to my heart since she served PIA well for an incredible number of years. I flew in her many times. They never changed the EXIT sign. It said "SAIDA". They may have changed it later in a 'D' check.

Better to fly on that be scrapped in some Arizona desert.
User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

Meekal, actually this particular Boeing 747 (ex-AP-AYW) is now more than 35 years old. This Boeing 747 flew for the first time in February 1975.

Certainly it will be amazing and very much unbelievable to see a 35-year old Boeing 747 getting deployed as passenger aircraft for flights to/from USA where flight safety standards are kept very high.

It will be useful to know flight cycles accumulated by this Boeing 747 during its career with PIA.

Btw, information on Baltia Air Lines website www.baltia.com shows flights between New York and Russia planned by the airline only after getting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Carrier Certification.

I think people/companies dealing with Baltia Air Lines will have to be careful to avoid getting defrauded in anyway.

Btw, AP-AYW is the same PIA Boeing 747 which made belly landing due to cockpit crew error at Islamabad Airport in year 1986. The Boeing 747 was repaired under the supervision of Boeing Company and returned to service.

Image
AP-AYW at Islamabad Airport after making belly landing on February 4, 1986.

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

According to www.aerotransport.org, the aircraft was flown to Malaysia under US registration N705BL and since August 2010 there have been no new reports about its current status. 'BL' in registration N705BL apparently stands for Baltia Air Lines.

In 2005, it was registered in USA as N559EV when Evergreen Aircraft Sales & Leasing Co. purchased it from PIA. 'EV' in registration N559EV stands for Evergreen.

Since year 1989, Baltia Airlines have been issuing press releases and announcing plans to start flights between USA and Russia apparently with the aim of getting investors. In 1989 they had plans to use a former United Airlines Boeing 747-100 for their flights. Even after the passage of 21 years, the airline's plans to operate flights with Boeing 747 have failed to materialize.

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
meekal ahmed
Registered Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:35 am

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by meekal ahmed »

Seems suspicious to me!

I did not know this was YW which belly-landed at OPRN.

I think Abbas said that Capt. Johnny Sadik was on the team that investigated that belly-landing. I hope to buy his two books when I come to Pakistan this month.

But briefly, what was the conclusion? NO checklist used? What were the three cockpit crew members -- including a very senior captain -- doing?
User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

Yes Meekal, Capt. Johnny Sadiq was member of AP-AYW belly landing incident investigation team and details of the incident are given in Capt. Johnny's book.

* In short, the main reason for AP-AYW belly landing at Islamabad was that Master Warning circuit breaker was pulled out by cockpit crew during the flight - this step disabled cockpit warning alarms.

* The check-list was not completed by crew for landing.

* Thirdly, when flaps of AP-AYW were lowered with retracted landing gear, aircraft's Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) which was independent of the Warning CB, started to howl but that warning was ignored by the crew.

Reasons why Master Warning circuit breaker was pulled out and why GPWS warning was ignored by the crew are described in Capt. Johnny Sadiq's book. The book should be in collection of every serious Pakistani aviation enthusiast.

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
User avatar
ConnieMan
Registered Member
Posts: 2060
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:22 pm
Location: Huttonville, Ontario. Canada

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by ConnieMan »

This is an excellent news, its been few years now when "I" was the one who said that there is life still left for this ex-PIA's B747 while looking at pictures of her during storage years!. I'm very happy that what i predicted about ex-AYM is becoming reality now. After spending so many years in storage, yet she flew out to Malaysia is it self shows how well these planes are built and kept and could very well be used again years later....In one of U tube videos while ex-AYM was being prepared for flying again at Evergreen's facility you can see B747SP besides it, that SP is now flying for Pratt & Whitney Canada as there new engine testbed aircraft. There original B720 has been retired and now is offered to Canadian Air & Space museum here in Toronto as it's final resting place.....
User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

ConnieMan wrote:i predicted about ex-AYM is becoming reality now. After spending so many years in storage, yet she flew out to Malaysia is it self shows how well these planes are built and kept and could very well be used again years later....In one of U tube videos while ex-AYM was being prepared for flying again
The Boeing 747 is ex-AP-AYW of PIA.

AP-AYM was a PIA McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30.

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
User avatar
ConnieMan
Registered Member
Posts: 2060
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:22 pm
Location: Huttonville, Ontario. Canada

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by ConnieMan »

Abbas Ali wrote:
ConnieMan wrote:i predicted about ex-AYM is becoming reality now. After spending so many years in storage, yet she flew out to Malaysia is it self shows how well these planes are built and kept and could very well be used again years later....In one of U tube videos while ex-AYM was being prepared for flying again
The Boeing 747 is ex-AP-AYW of PIA.

AP-AYM was a PIA McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30.

Abbas
Oh ok Abbas, thanks for correcting this, it's still early for me.
riz
Registered Member
Posts: 1346
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:31 pm
Location: 015- Kolachi.

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by riz »

Balti Air.

"YA ALLAH KHAIR".
R 1 z .

PK > EK. EI ED FZ WY B6 G9 EY NL QR GF TG PF.
User avatar
Huraiz
Registered Member
Posts: 439
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 2:07 am
Location: West Midlands

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Huraiz »

Its nice to see her flying again.Googled it and found these rather nice photos on flicker

User avatar
Abbas Ali
Site Admin
Posts: 54060
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Pakistan

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by Abbas Ali »

Here's the most iconic photo of PIA Boeing 747-282B (AP-AYW).

Image
PIA Boeing 747-200B postcard officially issued by the airline - P.K.Chai Collection

This photo of AP-AYW was widely used by PIA in its advertisements during early 1980s like in following example from 1984 featuring squash legend Jehangir Khan.

Image

Abbas
Dil Dil Pakistan... Jaan Jaan Pakistan

See you at:
Image
meekal ahmed
Registered Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:35 am

Re: Ex PIA 747 will fly for Baltia Air Lines

Post by meekal ahmed »

Thank you Abbas for your infinite font of knowledge of Pakistan aviation.

When throttles are closed at TOD, the landing-gear warning horn goes off. FE's lean forward and silence the horn, and the faster they can silence a "nuisance warning" the better they are judged to be! There is no reason to suggest that FE Rabbani whom I know personally, would not have been swift and energetic to turn the horn off to impress Capt. Siraj, a very senior pilot!

I did not think of the GPWS which should say "Too Low, Gear"!

Good point.

Why was that warning ignored? A very interesting question. Did Capt. Siraj with all his experience dismiss it as a false nuisance warning as some (most?) high-time pilot's do? Complacency. The real killer in commercial aviation.

Did he not look to his right, however briefly, and see the position of the gear handle?

Obviously he did not.

In some airlines, they make you touch the position of critical things as flaps and gear to make sure they are in the right detent.

I look forward to reading Capt. Sadik's account. But Capt. Sadik as far as I know is not a trained accident investigator. The Capt. on the AirBlue accident investigation team is in the same situation. He is not TRAINED as far as I know as an air accident investigator. He can bring intelligent insight to the investigation but that is about all.

I wish you all in Pakistan, a peaceful night.