Bleriot Monoplane. The oldest plane still flying in the world is the Bleriot XI. And it's not even close! Where generations of aircraft have been built and retired in its wake, the Bleriot XI, one of the first planes ever, built in 1909, still flies in Hudson Valley, New York.
14 – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Shuttleworth Collection in Old Warden, Bedfordshire. Built in 1909 and now with the British civil registration G-AANG, this is the world's oldest airworthy aircraft. It is powered by a three-cylinder "W form" Anzani engine.
The oldest active 747 aircraft today
The aircraft built on 13th June 1973 and is 49.81 years old at the time of writing. The oldest passenger aircraft in commercial operation is Boeing 747-400 EP-MEE (SN 24383) operated by Mahan Air, a privately owned Iranian airline.
The last Boeing 737-200 was delivered in 1988, meaning the youngest aircraft is now 35 years old. There are currently less than 30 of the classic version of the narrowbody still listed as active. Another 17 of the "combi" variations are also still flying.
For individual aircraft, the oldest active military transport aircraft, when defined by the date of its first flight, is a B707-300C registered FAC904. It first took to the skies on September 13th, 1965, for LAN Chile and has been flying with the Air Force since 1995.
On average, an aircraft is operable for about 30 years before it has to be retired. A Boeing 747 can endure about 35,000 pressurization cycles and flights—roughly 135,000 to 165,000 flight hours—before metal fatigue sets in. 747s are retired after approximately 27 years of service.
After the Ethiopian Airlines crash, China and most other civil aviation authorities grounded the airliner over safety concerns. Other jurisdictions, including the U.S., followed suit as new evidence revealed similarities between both crashes.
DGCA had banned the plane's operations since March 2019 after two fatal accidents killed 346 people. In October 2018, 737 Max, the newest member of Boeing's 737 narrow-body family crashed in the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
While they are still reasonably old aircraft, there are significantly more Boeing 737 classic aircraft still in circulation. Indeed, 357 are stored, with 600 in service. This gives a total fleet of 957 aircraft. 814 of these are in the hands of airlines, with 553 in use.
There were 444 Boeing 747 aircraft in active airline service as of June 2023, comprising 0 747-100s, 4 747SPs, 19 747-200s, 4 747-300s, 263 747-400s, and 154 747-8s. These aircraft are listed by airline operators and variant in the following table.
The first Queen of the Skies was built for Pan Am, taking its maiden commercial flight over 52 years ago in 1970. Despite its popularity among customers, most airlines have retired the 747 in favor of more fuel-efficient planes.
SEATTLE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Boeing (BA. N) bid farewell to the iconic 747, delivering the final plane to Atlas Air on Tuesday afternoon and marking an end of an era when the first-ever "jumbo jet" ruled the skies.
North Korea is also one of the last bastions of rarer aircraft, with the national carrier Air Koryo still flying Antonov An-148, An-26, Ilyushin Il-18, IL-62, Tupolev Tu-134, Tu-154 and Tu-204 in its fleet. These are only available through organised tours, which have not been occurring since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
In April 1964, a DC-4 plane bound for Los Angeles from Wake Island disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Nine people, including two children, were aboard and presumed killed.
Two hours after a Douglas C-54D airplane took off from Elmendorf Air Force Base on January 26, 1950, it disappeared without a trace. Experts investigate whether an inter-dimensional portal in the Alaska Triangle led to the disappearance of the plane carrying 44 military personnel.
Utilizing the International Civil Aviation Organization safety occurrence data, from 2008 to 2019, these aircraft were compared in terms of occurrence type, occurrence category, phase of flight, injury level, and fatalities. It was found that Boeing had more accidents than expected, while Airbus had less (p = 0.015).
The pilot, Mark Forkner, was the only person to face criminal charges for flaws that resulted in two fatal crashes of one of Boeing's most important planes. A jury in Texas on Wednesday acquitted a former Boeing technical pilot, Mark A.
As of March 2023, there have been a total of 503 aviation accidents and incidents involving all 737 aircraft, including 219 hull losses resulting in a total of 5,717 fatalities. The 737 first entered airline service in February 1968; the 10,000th aircraft entered service in March 2018.
The ultimate Boeing 737 MAX question is always, 'is it safe now? '. The answer to that is a resounding yes. The plane has been described as one of the most scrutinized aircraft in aviation history, with authorities like the FAA, EASA, and many more taking a very close look at the plane.
The Boeing 737 series, with a safety record of 0.07 fatal accidents per million departures, has solidified its status as one of the world's safest airplane models. Being one of the most widely used aircraft for commercial flights, it's reassuring to know that its safety mechanisms are top-notch.
As of September 2021, the 777 had been involved in 31 aviation accidents and incidents, including 8 hull losses (5 during flight and 3 on the ground) with 541 fatalities, and 3 hijackings.
Aircraft age is not a safety factor. However, if the aircraft is older and hasn't been refurbished properly, it may cause flyers some inconvenience such as overheating, faulty air conditioning, or faulty plumbing in the lavatory.
Unlike cars and houses, airplanes are inspected annually and maintained to a high standard. As long as the pilot puts the time and money into it, and takes it to a mechanic experienced in the peculiarities of the type, it is indeed safe to fly a 40-year-old airplane.
"Ability to travel is not a function of age," says Schaefer, who writes a blog about senior travel. "It's determined by your physical and mental fitness."