FAA certifies Mammoth 777-200LRMF

Mammoth Freighters on April 7 received the STC from the FAA for its 777-200LRMF conversion, clearing the way for the type’s entry into service within weeks. Mammoth will now start the process of certifying the 777-200LRMF with the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, which will allow launch operator Qatar Airways to fly the type, Mammoth Chief Executive Bill Tarpley told Cargo Facts . [caption id="attachment_57296214" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Unit 29742 completed conversion in Fort Worth in 2025. (Courtesy/Mammoth Freighters)[/caption] Mammoth has also started the certification process with the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority, he said. Fortress backing Principally backed by Fortress Investment Group, Mammoth launched the conversion program in late 2020 after starting preliminary design work in 2019. The prototype aircraft (29742, ex-Delta Air Lines) made its first post-conversion flight in May 2025. It will be the first of five units to join Qatar Airways as part of a deal with Mammoth and Jetran , and is at Mammoth’s main conversion site at the Aspire MRO facility in Fort Worth, Texas (AFW). Fortress acquired the AFW site — previously operated by GDC Technics to service American Airlines widebodies — and set up Aspire to run it to house Mammoth’s cargo door assembly, logistics and kitting operations. Fortress also purchased ten 2008- to 2010-vintage, ex-Delta 777-200LRs as initial feedstock for Mammoth’s program. Seven more of those units (29740, 29741, 29739, 30440, 39091, 40559 and 40560) are in or awaiting conversion at AFW. One (32222) is nearing completion at the STS Aviation Services facility in Manchester, England (MAN), where Mammoth set up a conversion site in 2024. All of Mammoth’s supply chain for all its raw materials, components, sub-assembly parts, machine parts and local assembly is sourced from U.S. manufacturers, suppliers and labor, the company said. The program at Aspire will soon include more than 700 workers and generate about 1.4 million work hours annually, Mammoth added. Restricted autoland Mammoth’s cargo door, measuring 160 inches wide and 120 inches high, is almost 15 inches wider than that of Boeing’s production 777F. The 777-200LRMF will have its maximum landing weight restricted to the passenger 777-200LR’s original capability of 492,000 pounds and payload restricted to 185,000 pounds, or about 84 tonnes, if the autoland system is used for a Category IIIB landing, until the system is tested at Mammoth’s higher maximum zero fuel weight (MZFW) with stronger crosswinds and tailwinds, Tarpley said. If the operator is not using autoland, the maximum landing weight is 572,000 pounds, he said. The 777-200LRMF is structurally approved at an MZFW of 543,000 pounds, but Mammoth will need to complete flight tests with the FAA to certify Cat. IIIB autoland for the higher maximum landing weight of 572,000 pounds, Tarpley said. In comparison, the production 777 freighter’s MZFW is 547,000 pounds, and its maximum landing weight is 575,000 pounds, according to Boeing. Mammoth decided it was better to certify the aircraft with the lower MZFW first and follow up with an amendment to the STC, hopefully before this summer and before entry into service, Tarpley said. The company will use a feedstock aircraft provided by Jetran to carry out the flight tests with the FAA, he said. 777-300ERMF Mammoth expects to eventually convert almost all sixty-one 777-200LRs that Boeing has produced, the conversion company said. DHL announced in 2023 that it would source nine 777-200LRMFs from Jetran . Mammoth is also working on its 777-300ERMF conversion and plans to certify it as an amendment to the 777-200LRMF STC by the end of 2026, the company said With more than 820 passenger 777-300ERs produced, Mammoth predicts a total market of more than 250 units for the converted 777-300ER variant, it said. Mammoth’s 777-300ERMF prototype (35299, ex-Nordwind Airlines) had its large cargo door installed in the first quarter of 2025 at AFW after the conversion company cut metal on the prototype in August 2024. Mammoth is the second company to certify a 777 freighter conversion. IAI received an STC from the FAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel for its 777-300ERSF on Aug. 31, 2025, more than five years after launching the program. The inaugural Cargo Facts Routes and Airport Conference will take place April 27-28 in Brussels at the Marriott Hotel Grand Place, along with Cargo Facts EMEA 2026, taking place April 28-30. To see the agendas and register for the events, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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