Is it possible that N106US might be used again?

DeltaAVL

New Member
Is it possible that N106US might fly again?

Seems far-fetched, but after looking at some of these photos, the frame seems pretty intact. Would it be economical to fix it up and get her back in the sky?

080117-plane-hmed-10p.rp600x350.jpg
 
Could it be put back into service? Probably. With adequate repair. Worse shape planes have flown again.

Will it? I highly doubt it. The cost to return that plane to service would be pretty high.
 
Not a chance in heck that it will fly again. There is just too much damage, and the salvageable parts (and scrap metal) will be more than worth it to the insurance company. Plus its not like the QANTAS 747 that they repaired to keep their "no hull loss" streak. There insn;t any pride associated with repairing the airplane.

You also have to remember that the area of the Hudson that it was in is not fresh water. Salt water corrosion alone will write off the airplane.
 
1) New Engines
2) Redo the entire electrical system (how many miles of wire are in an Airbus wiring bus?)
3) New Avionics
4) New interior
5) Body work - lots of Bondo
6) New Paint

That is just what I could think of off the top of my head. What is the value of a used Airbus as far as hull value vs. the rough estimate of repair? My guess is the restoration would cost more than this number - and that doesn't count the damage to the structure that may have occured during ditching, or the structural damage that occured when hoisting it up onto the barges (which may have caused more structural damage than the ditching).
 
Maybe the guy from "Family Airlines" will buy it and use it to attract more resumes after it's prettied up.
 
So it's been lingering in your esophagus for twenty years? Oh man, that's gotta reek! :)
 
It's probably owned by ILFC so my guess, and it's not even an educated one, is that it'll either end up at the Smithsonian or parted out.

Most everyone's airplanes are leased anyway! Gotta watch that odometer!
 
The salt water issue is the key, it will never regain an airworthiness cert. It's probably destined to become a cabin trainer, FTD, or maybe a sim.
 
Maybe the guy from "Family Airlines" will buy it and use it to attract more resumes after it's prettied up.

I hear that. No need to wash it either. It may be their cleanest looking one. It's still all shiny and gleaming. They sure could get piles of resumes at a good price for this one.
 
1. JC Users Purchase an unairworthy Airbus A-320.
2. ????????
3. JC Users Wildly Profit.

Hmmm....
 
Besides everything else, the simple act of routing a tow cable through the forward main and galley doors and then pulling it would cause it to be a hull loss. Once you invoke stresses on the structure that the plane was not designed to tolerate causes a total loss. All sorts of bad things happen to the super-structure when an aircraft is lifted improperly.

many years ago in some town in Mexico a Continental 737 taxied into some mud and could not get out on its own. The Mexicans (and their infinite wisdom) decided to get a crane and routed a steel cable through the side cockpit windows to lift the nose out of the mud. Total hull loss because of that.
 
Seems far-fetched, but after looking at some of these photos, the frame seems pretty intact. Would it be economical to fix it up and get her back in the sky?

All depends on the number of cycles, some of the US Air Airbus aircraft have high cycles, so, no, I doubt it very much.

If anything, they will clean it up & scrap it for pieces, unless, US Air would donate the aircraft to a school...
 
The caption for one of those photos said that the aircraft is estimated to weigh one million pounds. Uhh... it's an A320, not a fully-loaded 747. I don't get it.

Was probably the estimated weight of the aircraft with all of the water inside;)

Shortly afterwards, Flight 1549 touched down in the icy Hudson waters - just five minutes after the flight took off. And only two days later, cranes lifted the estimated one million pound aircraft.
 
I hear you can't re-skin an Airbus. Anyone know if that's true?
 
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