Republica Argentina 757-23A, T-01 (c/n 25487/470), the country's former presidential transport aircraft from 1992 to 2015, left Argentina for the last time on 06Jun24, bound for Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Alabama, USA, via technical stops in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI), Manaus (MAO), Baranquilla (BAQ) and Opa Locka (OPF), Florida, finally arriving at Dothan on 08Jun24. Local sources indicated that T-01 flew the first leg of the journey with its undercarriage deployed (safety precaution due to no flying time over the previous nine years ?).
T-01 was delivered to Argentina fresh from the Boeing factory in 1992 where it flew extensively for Argentine presidents, ranging from Carlos Menem to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, until 2015 when the aircraft was parked indefinitely at El Palomar Air Force Base near Buenos Aires due to extensive maintenance requirements required for its airworthiness certificate, including a heavy C-Check on its airframe plus major work on its engines and landing gears and updating of avionics and other electronics that would have cost US$ 20 million to carry out, well above the value of the aircraft itself.
Although the airframe had only accumulated approx. 14,000 hours over 1,500 cycles (very low compared to 757's in regular commercial service, which typically accumulate 8-12 hours flying time per day) its estimated value was only some US$ 2 million due to the above-noted cost of the maintenance required for it to become airworthy again (T-01's airworthiness certificate expired in 2016), plus:
- A history of recurring mechanical issues, especially with its Rolls-Royce engines, the worst of which was an inflight engine fire, forcing an emergency landing at El Palomar minutes after taking off from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 19Oct04.
- An executive interior that, if sold for continued use in that role, would probably have entailed extensive and costly modifications to the new owner's tastes.
- Conversion to a cargo role would have been expensive with the addition of a cargo door.
- Significant modifications to the airframe might also have required costly system / equipment upgrades to be in compliance with 2015 safety standards.
T-01 remained forlornly on the ramp at El Palomar, when finally in late 2022 it was traded in towards the purchase of a replacement, 757-200, ARG-01 (c/n 29306/920) with a US$ 3 million credit towards the US$ 25 million purchase price of the new addition to the fleet, which arrived in Argentina on 25May23.
The plane's new owner, C&L Aviation Group of Bangor, Maine, USA, subsequently sold T-01 to Bischoff Aerospace of Hialeah, Florida, an aircraft parts dealer. In early 2024, the aircraft underwent extensive preparations for delivery to Bischoff in Dothan (DHN), wearing its new registration, N757CL, where it finally arrived on 08Jun24. The aircraft will presumably be broken up for spare parts.
Sources:
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