A new freighter takes shape

Note: The following article is excerpted from the current issue of Cargo Facts. We encourage those of you who do not already subscribe to the monthly printed Cargo Facts newsletter, and its companion the weekly Cargo Facts Update, to click here for more information.

New life for a venerable airplane type: Aeronautical Engineers Inc has begun to cut metal on the conformity aircraft in its MD-80 passenger-to-freighter  conversion program. The aircraft is ex-American Airlines unit 48470, a Pratt-powered 1987-build MD-82. The touch labor is being done at Commercial Jet’s Miami facility.

AEI tells us that first flight is expected early in the fourth quarter of this year, with certification (if all goes according to plan) by year-end.

(And as an editorial note, we encourage any of you out there who have interesting pictures of conversion work in progress to post them on cargofacts.net   It’s a subject most of us are fascinated by.)