Orbis flying eye hospital DC-10, retiring to Tucson

[MikeD]

The Pima Air and Space Museum on Monday, Nov. 7, will add to its collection of planes with the Orbis DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital.

The plane is scheduled to arrive at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Monday. It will then be towed to the nearby museum, where it eventually will go on public display.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring this significant aircraft to the museum, the Tucson community and Arizona in general,” said Scott Marchand, museum executive director, in a news release. “We are honored to be selected by Orbis to be the custodian of this very unique aircraft.”

The newly retired aircraft served as an airborne eye hospital for Orbis International, which works to fight blindness around the world by helping countries establish the resources to provide eye care to their citizens. It served as an ophthalmic teaching facility throughout the world.

On its final flight to Tucson, the plane will be flown by the longest serving Orbis volunteer pilot, Capt. William Willson, a retired United Airlines pilot.

The DC-10 was purchased by Orbis in 1992 and after two years of outfitting it became a flying eye hospital. Its first mission was to Beijing, China.

During the next 22 years, the plane completed 299 missions and visited 78 countries. The nonprofit retired the plane in June after putting its new MD-10 into service.

http://tucson.com/news/local/pima-s...cle_7651166f-95aa-5025-9b26-4ab1e1545161.html

 

[FlyingAccountant]

Pima is a fantastic facility. It’ll look great parked next to the 787 they have. They’ve got just about every military aircraft imaginable, it’ll be nice to see them get more civilian aircraft.

 

[Nark]

I can't tell which one is which, but they, Orbis, have one sitting at LAX. I'm assuming it's the MD10 being retro-fitted.

Cool concept.

 

[poser765]

I can't tell which one is which, but they, Orbis, have one sitting at LAX. I'm assuming it's the MD10 being retro-fitted.

Cool concept.

Yeah I've seen it in LA parked out on the west side of the field. Never realized it was an ACTUAL eye care thing...I always just thought the livery was some sort of strange advertising.

 

[MikeD]

Pima is a fantastic facility. It’ll look great parked next to the 787 they have. They’ve got just about every military aircraft imaginable, it’ll be nice to see them get more civilian aircraft.

Only thing I don't like is that planes like the 787 are sitting out there getting sandblasted. You look at it up close, and it's beautiful.....clean landing gear struts, no grease/hydro leaks anywhere, but plastic and glass beginning to get sanded pretty good, and sand/rocks pebbles in the intakes. They do a good job of keeping up on the jets, it just seems some planes like the 787 could've found a nicer venue, to keep them looking new.

 

[Adler]

I can't tell which one is which, but they, Orbis, have one sitting at LAX. I'm assuming it's the MD10 being retro-fitted.

Cool concept.

HAD one. There was a MD10 there, they gave it to Orbis, Orbis flew in the DC10, bother were there for a while. The MD10 left months ago, and the DC19 just flew out on it's way to Pima.

 

[WestIndian425]

Only thing I don't like is that planes like the 787 are sitting out there getting sandblasted. You look at it up close, and it's beautiful.....clean landing gear struts, no grease/hydro leaks anywhere, but plastic and glass beginning to get sanded pretty good, and sand/rocks pebbles in the intakes. They do a good job of keeping up on the jets, it just seems some planes like the 787 could've found a nicer venue, to keep them looking new.

Wait... why is there a 787 in a museum already?


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[MikeD]

Wait... why is there a 787 in a museum already?

Was the second one. Was donated.

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/boeing-787-8-za002-arrives-kdma.216423/#post-2419927

 

[Tyler Pinkerton]

Wait... why is there a 787 in a museum already?


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There are three 787's in museums with Line 4 and 5 likely to be donated as well. The first six were all extremely modified in testing. Lines 1-3 were written off as unsellable with 4-6 slated for VIP/future testing. 4 had been being used by Boeing, Line 5 was being prepped for VIP but the customer backed out for a newer frame and Line 6 was able to retrofitted and is now the Mexican AF1.

 

[Tyler Pinkerton]

I thought it was a sick joke at first when I saw the picture in the first post. With the lighting on the fuselage on the underside especially around the cockpit, it makes it look like your seeing double.

 

[WestIndian425]

There are three 787's in museums with Line 4 and 5 likely to be donated as well. The first six were all extremely modified in testing. Lines 1-3 were written off as unsellable with 4-6 slated for VIP/future testing. 4 had been being used by Boeing, Line 5 was being prepped for VIP but the customer backed out for a newer frame and Line 6 was able to retrofitted and is now the Mexican AF1.

I had no idea! Wow!


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[WestIndian425]

Was the second one. Was donated.

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/boeing-787-8-za002-arrives-kdma.216423/#post-2419927

Wow!


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[Tyler Pinkerton]

I had no idea! Wow!


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There are still 5 other "terrible teens" to be finished that have been in various stages of production since September 2009, lines 10, 16, 17, 18 and 19.

10/16/18 will go to Ethiopian Airlines
17 is becoming a VIP for Crystal Airlines, though there is rumor this has been canceled
19 has no buyer, so it could join the fate of 4/5, but is less likely to do so.

These planes were all rejected by their initial buyers and some were even reject by a secondary buyer.

 

[MikeD]

There are three 787's in museums with Line 4 and 5 likely to be donated as well. The first six were all extremely modified in testing. Lines 1-3 were written off as unsellable with 4-6 slated for VIP/future testing. 4 had been being used by Boeing, Line 5 was being prepped for VIP but the customer backed out for a newer frame and Line 6 was able to retrofitted and is now the Mexican AF1.

#2 at Pima looks sharp on the outside, but has no interior on the inside.

 

[WestIndian425]

#2 at Pima looks sharp on the outside, but has no interior on the inside.

No interior? Guess there will be no inside looks then.


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[MikeD]

No interior? Guess there will be no inside looks then.

There generally aren't with the planes at Pima. They are all outside looks only. Can walk all around them, but none are open to climb into.

 

[WestIndian425]

There generally aren't with the planes at Pima. They are all outside looks only. Can walk all around them, but none are open to climb into.

Gotcha. I do remember visiting years ago, but I wasn't sure if anything had changed.

Speaking of planes in Tucson, did the L1011 leave yet?


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[trafficinsight]

I can't tell which one is which, but they, Orbis, have one sitting at LAX. I'm assuming it's the MD10 being retro-fitted.

Cool concept.

I think the only way to tell is the DC-10 has a flight engineer panel blocking the right aft cockpit window.

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[Screaming_Emu]

There generally aren't with the planes at Pima. They are all outside looks only. Can walk all around them, but none are open to climb into.

I think that sucks. Udvar Hazy is the same way. For aviation buffs it's awesome to walk around and see everything they have, but if you bring a non flyer with you they'll get bored quickly without some sort of interaction.

 

[MikeD]

I think that sucks. Udvar Hazy is the same way. For aviation buffs it's awesome to walk around and see everything they have, but if you bring a non flyer with you they'll get bored quickly without some sort of interaction.

I agree. There are a few planes you can see a bit of the inside of that are on indoor display that have an open door you can peer through, but none that you can actually go inside. Used to have the VC-118 (DC-6) that was one of the former Air Force One planes that they had a walk-thru tour of, and it was still complete inside, but they've stopped that and its sealed up also. At least something like opening up a couple planes a month or something.......would be cool to walk up into/through the C-124 or have a platform up to the open canopies of the B-58.