AP-AYW purchased by Evergreen

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:39 am

I received following information from my friend Alexandre Avrane (ATDB):

Evergreen International of United States has purchased Boeing 747-282B (registration AP-AYW) from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The aircraft was re-registered as N559EV on September 19, 2005.

A recent photo of AP-AYW taken by Saad Asad Cheema (forum member AirBlue) at Lahore Airport:

AP-AYW at Lahore Airport on June 29, 2005.

AP-AYW was the very first Boeing 747 to arrive in Pakistan in PIA colours. This one is my personal favourite photo of AP-AYW:

Copyright PIA.

mohammed younis · Post by **mohammed younis** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:58 am

Indeed that is great picture of the old colours

Lovely photo Abbas thanks for sharing it with us

AirBlue · Post by **AirBlue** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:26 am

Amazing shot in old colours....loved it

AP-BGL · Post by **AP-BGL** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:32 am

It seems as the shot is taken while standing right infront of the a/c, looking superb... Abbas Bhai, do you have any idea when is this plane going to the concerned party?

AirBlue · Post by **AirBlue** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:12 am

and if some one can let us know how much it was sold for ? and what is teh position on BCL?

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:50 pm

I visited Lahore Airport today. AP-AYW was not present at the airport. Looks like it has left Pakistan to join Evergreen's fleet.

AP-BCL is parked near PSO facilities. PIA logo from tail of AP-BCL is removed and now it is sporting all-green tail. Pakistan titles and PIA Urdu logo are present on its fuselage. Someone was inspecting engine# 1 of AP-BCL.

Air Universal Boeing 747 (JY-AUA) was also present at the airport.

PK777 · Post by **PK777** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:23 pm

Interesting info Abbas. Would you know what they plan to do with a full passenger aircraft considering they are a cargo based airline ?

Some pics of the airline;

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.s ... entry=true

Thanks

CoyBoy · Post by **CoyBoy** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:42 pm

I used to have a post card of the gold green livey photo posted above.

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:52 pm

CoyBoy wrote:I used to have a post card of the gold green livey photo posted above.

Yes, that's scanned from a postcard issued by PIA. PIA also used to have huge window size posters of exactly this photo on display in its offices in 1980s. I wish I could have one of them in my collection. This photo was also extensively used in PIA ads of early 1980s.

AP-AYW sale update: The aircraft was purchased by Evergreen Aircraft Sales & Leasing Co and re-registered as N559EV on September 19, 2005.

Here's link to their website:
Link to Evergreen Aircraft Sales & Leasing Co. website

Evergreen also uses Boeing 747 as Supertanker. See details on this link:
http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/index.html

nutsforplanes · Post by **nutsforplanes** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:23 pm

The departure of AP-AYW has brought nostalgia and sadness to my heart. Long since I remember the arrival of this beauty in the gold-green colors in 1976. I was at Karachi Int'l Airport to greet this gentle giant. Capt Shaukat Khan, at that time the senior most Capt. in PIA gently glided this behemoth on 25R. After backtracking, the plane stood at the end of the taxiway as photgraphers scurried everywhere to shoot photos from all angles. After about ten minutes the plane slowly made its way towards the parking. I was a small kid then, my heart beating faster as the plane got nearer.

My late father was one of the sixteen Capt's who went to United Airlines Training Center in Denver, Colorado for the B747 training in early 1976. It was a proud moment for these pilots. They were more excited about the transition from DC-10 to B747 then from B707 to DC-10. Flying the 747 was the most prestigious thing for a pilot at that time.

In 1976-77 PIA 747 cockpit crews were based in Paris for a period of 3 months at a time. The crew would fly between Paris-NY, Paris-Cairo etc. They had a permanent room in Paris Hilton. The rooms balcony opened towards the Eiefel Tower.

During the aftermath of 1977 election rigging, schools were closed for a long while in Karachi. I got a chance to spend three months in Paris. Flying with my father to NY and Cairo all the time.
I left Karachi to join him. He was going to take over the flight from Cairo( you know the bus route KHI-DXB-CAI-FRA-PAR-JFK). The No.4 engine of the 747 developed problems in DXB and we were delayed for 32 hrs. Passengers were taken to hotels, but there weren't not too many rooms avaliable in Dubai in those days. I asked the Late Capt. Fazle Nasir ( junior to my father) if I could sleep in the plane. He agrreed and the next 8-10 hours were the most memorable in my life. I had the upperdeck of the 747 all to myself. Tried all the seats of the cockpit, touched all the buttons, throttle, yoke. Flew all the way to NY while sitting in DXB. Then slept on the upper deck (lounge) sofas.

I will miss AYV,AYW

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:19 pm

Thank you so much nutsforplanes for sharing your fond memories of AP-AYW and PIA. I read your post with great interest and found it very interesting and informative.

raihans · Post by **raihans** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:35 pm

Thanks nutsforplanes for sharing your great memories. Are you also a Pilot?

Nasir · Post by **Nasir** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:47 pm

nutsforplanes wrote:They had a permanent room in Paris Hilton. The rooms balcony opened towards the Eiefel Tower.

Hey it would seem that you were there when we were there. Do you remember the model of an Air-France Concorde in the main lobby?

Amaad Lone · Post by **Amaad Lone** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:55 am

Hi nutsforplanes

Great story. I actually flew on the bus route in 1982. Boarded a PIA DC-10 in New York, and flew into Karachi in around 24 hours.

As for AP-AYW, I think it will be broken up for spare parts.

iqbal · Post by **iqbal** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:24 am

sad to see it leave