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A Forum for those interest in vintage NON-military aircraft
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Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:54 pm

In order to operate the airplane under the airline FARs it needed to be rebuilt to 100% operational. The pressurized cabin was a major expense. The corrosion issues were major...but not 100m major. Internal issues aside, Lufthansa will evaluate the situation and do the right thing for their company.

Jim

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:34 pm

Lot's of people here are involved with restorations, including me -- I've run them, done them, and I fly the airplanes.

One thing I have learned is that if you want to know what's really going on, what decisions have actually been made and why, there are only 3 people who can tell you: the Owner, the CEO, and the Director of Maintenance.

Everyone else just talks hearsay.

I over-reacted to the $200M quote on another forum. (It was an astounding number to me.) Has anyone got a link to a news release from LH that mentions that number as hard data?

Are we all blowing the same smoke around?

Dave

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:40 pm

A lot of speculation, other than the listed article I can't find anything to supplement the connie website...I talked to some of the people at the facility a few years ago and the number being thrown around was $60m...which seemed exorbitant. I can see $10-15m as a realistic final cost but 1-200m??

Run this through google translate.
https://www.flugrevue.de/zivilluftfahrt ... and/750350

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:28 pm

From the local paper in Maine:
http://www.sunjournal.com/lufthansa-to- ... o-germany/
http://www.sunjournal.com/auburn-lewist ... lufthansa/
http://www.sunjournal.com/judge-rules-f ... mechanics/
http://www.sunjournal.com/federal-judge ... y-lawsuit/
http://www.sunjournal.com/restoring-sup ... ellations/
and
http://superstar.lufthansa.com/en/home.html

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:55 pm

Just learned that Lufthansa is thinking about moving the Constellation back to Germany to finish. The reason behind this is they say it’s too complex to finish the restoration here. For more information please go to http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-connie_news.htm#APR08

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:05 pm

Covered here a few weeks ago: time for a thread merge?

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:08 am

Dave Hadfield wrote:Lot's of people here are involved with restorations, including me -- I've run them, done them, and I fly the airplanes.

One thing I have learned is that if you want to know what's really going on, what decisions have actually been made and why, there are only 3 people who can tell you: the Owner, the CEO, and the Director of Maintenance.

Everyone else just talks hearsay.

I over-reacted to the $200M quote on another forum. (It was an astounding number to me.) Has anyone got a link to a news release from LH that mentions that number as hard data?

Are we all blowing the same smoke around?

Dave


$200M over 10 years, or $20 million average expenses per year? Why is there any scoff at that number? The project had employed as much as 300 people at one point. Salaries and benefits for paid employees eat up a lot of money for a non revenue generating project. That many employees over a 10 year period the number sounds right.

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:22 pm

But... why?

What responsible Board Of Directors is going to sign off on that -- a $200M cost -- and then later explain it as a reasonable decision?

The purpose of an airline is profit. Not History.

It's very nice when they DO acknowledge history -- my own airline has a Lockheed 10. But it was rebuilt by the airline's AMEs during their own time, as unpaid volunteers, in the main maintenance hangar in Winnipeg, and was done in a cost-efficient manner.

I believe Lufthansa became a private enterprise in 1994. So, shareholders are certain to be asking awkward questions at the AGM.

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Thu Jun 07, 2018 1:17 pm

I noticed in the B-52 move thread this was noted on the linked page

[As an FYI, this is the same problem I (we) am facing moving two L-1649 Constellations in Maine this summer - one to Germany and one to JFK Airport in NYC. That airplane has no center wing section - instead, it has two wings with a Butt Line Zero splice join. In those cases, we will probably fabricate an artificial steel center wing box to keep the fuselage from buckling around the opening.]

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:54 am

This Connie will never fly. Maybe i will go on display somewhere in Germany

Re: Lufthansa L-1649A Starliner Restoration Project

Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:20 pm

According to Kermit Weeks in one of his recent vids....when Lufthansa pulled the plug on the Connie a lot of rare parts got thrown out in the trash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezDhBHIiyLM

Even better is listening to him explain how he ended up with the title to his L-1649 for about $12,000 total cost.
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