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Condor- D-ABOJ",{"amount":300,"currencyCode":253},55.95,{"url":302,"alt":298},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.shopify.com\u002Fs\u002Ffiles\u002F1\u002F0550\u002F2186\u002F3048\u002Ffiles\u002FpfcoasterD-ABOJCondorwhiteorange.jpg?v=1779375342",[304,368,569],{"id":305,"title":306,"body":307,"date":355,"description":356,"extension":357,"image":139,"meta":358,"navigation":359,"path":360,"productHandle":361,"registration":139,"seo":362,"stem":363,"tags":364,"__hash__":367},"stories_en\u002Fwhere-airliners-go-to-die.md","What actually happens to a retired airliner",{"type":308,"value":309,"toc":348},"minimark",[310,314,319,322,326,329,333,341,345],[311,312,313],"p",{},"An airliner is almost never retired because it is worn out. It is retired because the arithmetic changed.",[315,316,318],"h2",{"id":317},"the-economics-come-first","The economics come first",[311,320,321],{},"Airframes are certified for a design service life measured in pressurisation cycles - every climb and descent flexes the fuselage a little. But most aircraft leave service long before they approach that limit. A newer type burns less fuel, a heavy maintenance check comes due, a lease ends, or demand on a route collapses. At some point the cost of another year exceeds the value of another year, and the aircraft flies to a teardown facility.",[315,323,325],{"id":324},"teardown-not-scrapping","Teardown, not scrapping",[311,327,328],{},"What follows is disassembly, not demolition. A modern airliner contains thousands of serialised components with their own logbooks and their own remaining life: engines, auxiliary power units, landing gear, avionics, actuators, seats. These are removed, inspected, recertified and returned to service on other aircraft. A retired airframe keeps a fleet flying for years.",[315,330,332],{"id":331},"then-the-structure","Then the structure",[311,334,335,336,340],{},"Only when the valuable, traceable components are gone does the structure itself get addressed - wings, empennage, and the fuselage with the airline's livery still on it. Most of that aluminium is recycled as raw metal, which is the point at which the paint, the rivet lines and everything else that made it ",[337,338,339],"em",{},"that"," aircraft stops existing.",[315,342,344],{"id":343},"which-is-where-we-come-in","Which is where we come in",[311,346,347],{},"The skin is the only part that carried the aircraft's identity in the open, for its whole working life, visible from the ground. Once it is melted down, it is stock aluminium. Cutting pieces from it before that happens is the whole idea.",{"title":349,"searchDepth":30,"depth":24,"links":350},"",[351,352,353,354],{"id":317,"depth":30,"text":318},{"id":324,"depth":30,"text":325},{"id":331,"depth":30,"text":332},{"id":343,"depth":30,"text":344},"2026-06-22","Retirement is a teardown, not a scrapyard. Here is the sequence.","md",{},true,"\u002Fwhere-airliners-go-to-die","md-88-iberia-ec-foz",{"title":306,"description":356},"where-airliners-go-to-die",[365,366],"teardown","lifecycle","Ii_JNEAQeMGIicZRSbqzvt6pHtJCbDRyu3fsOpFtH3w",{"id":369,"title":370,"body":371,"date":558,"description":559,"extension":357,"image":139,"meta":560,"navigation":359,"path":561,"productHandle":562,"registration":139,"seo":563,"stem":564,"tags":565,"__hash__":568},"stories_en\u002Fhow-to-read-a-registration.md","How to read an aircraft registration",{"type":308,"value":372,"toc":552},[373,386,390,397,401,404,504,515,519,539,543,546],[311,374,375,379,380,379,382,385],{},[376,377,378],"code",{},"G-BYGD",". ",[376,381,180],{},[376,383,384],{},"9V-SMW",". Those are not model numbers or serial numbers. They are registrations - the aviation equivalent of a licence plate, and the single most useful thing to know about an aircraft.",[315,387,389],{"id":388},"one-airframe-one-registration","One airframe, one registration",[311,391,392,393,396],{},"A registration identifies exactly one airframe anywhere in the world. Type tells you what an aircraft is; the registration tells you ",[337,394,395],{},"which"," one. Two Boeing 747s built in the same month on the same line are different machines with different histories, and the registration is what separates them.",[315,398,400],{"id":399},"the-prefix-is-the-country","The prefix is the country",[311,402,403],{},"The part before the hyphen is the nationality mark, allocated by the International Telecommunication Union and administered by each country's civil aviation authority.",[405,406,407,420],"table",{},[408,409,410],"thead",{},[411,412,413,417],"tr",{},[414,415,416],"th",{},"Prefix",[414,418,419],{},"Country",[421,422,423,434,444,454,464,474,484,494],"tbody",{},[411,424,425,431],{},[426,427,428],"td",{},[376,429,430],{},"D-",[426,432,433],{},"Germany",[411,435,436,441],{},[426,437,438],{},[376,439,440],{},"G-",[426,442,443],{},"United Kingdom",[411,445,446,451],{},[426,447,448],{},[376,449,450],{},"EC-",[426,452,453],{},"Spain",[411,455,456,461],{},[426,457,458],{},[376,459,460],{},"OE-",[426,462,463],{},"Austria",[411,465,466,471],{},[426,467,468],{},[376,469,470],{},"HB-",[426,472,473],{},"Switzerland",[411,475,476,481],{},[426,477,478],{},[376,479,480],{},"PH-",[426,482,483],{},"Netherlands",[411,485,486,491],{},[426,487,488],{},[376,489,490],{},"9V-",[426,492,493],{},"Singapore",[411,495,496,501],{},[426,497,498],{},[376,499,500],{},"N",[426,502,503],{},"United States",[311,505,506,507,510,511,514],{},"The United States is the exception that trips people up: American registrations have no hyphen and mix letters with digits - ",[376,508,509],{},"N104UA",", ",[376,512,513],{},"N941NA",".",[315,516,518],{"id":517},"china-uses-numbers","China uses numbers",[311,520,521,522,525,526,510,529,532,533,535,536,514],{},"Chinese registrations take the form ",[376,523,524],{},"B-"," followed by four digits: ",[376,527,528],{},"B-5216",[376,530,531],{},"B-2917",". The same ",[376,534,524],{}," prefix covers Hong Kong and Macau, where the suffix is letters instead - ",[376,537,538],{},"B-HSI",[315,540,542],{"id":541},"what-changes-and-what-does-not","What changes, and what does not",[311,544,545],{},"Registrations are reassigned when an aircraft changes country or operator. A jet can wear three or four different registrations across its life while remaining the same airframe. What never changes is the manufacturer's serial number - the MSN - which is the truly permanent identifier.",[311,547,548,549,514],{},"That is why our records list both where we have them: the registration is what was painted on the aircraft, and the MSN is what the aircraft ",[337,550,551],{},"is",{"title":349,"searchDepth":30,"depth":24,"links":553},[554,555,556,557],{"id":388,"depth":30,"text":389},{"id":399,"depth":30,"text":400},{"id":517,"depth":30,"text":518},{"id":541,"depth":30,"text":542},"2026-04-09","Every airliner carries a unique identifier painted on its fuselage. Here is how to decode it.",{},"\u002Fhow-to-read-a-registration","aircrafttag-registration-cut-black-white",{"title":370,"description":559},"how-to-read-a-registration",[566,567],"registrations","reference","SASPW2XO0-wboaYnJh1vFM-ZppF8ysbdwCmEGSxIjT0",{"id":570,"title":571,"body":572,"date":671,"description":672,"extension":357,"image":139,"meta":673,"navigation":359,"path":674,"productHandle":675,"registration":139,"seo":676,"stem":677,"tags":678,"__hash__":681},"stories_en\u002Fwhat-heavy-means.md","What pilots mean when they say \"heavy\"",{"type":308,"value":573,"toc":666},[574,581,585,588,591,595,656,659,663],[311,575,576,577,580],{},"Listen to any approach frequency and you will hear it: ",[337,578,579],{},"\"Speedbird nine-two heavy, descend flight level one hundred.\""," The word is not swagger. It is a safety instruction.",[315,582,584],{"id":583},"why-the-word-exists","Why the word exists",[311,586,587],{},"Every aircraft in flight trails two counter-rotating vortices from its wingtips. They are invisible, they sink, and they persist for minutes. A large aircraft generates vortices strong enough to roll a smaller one past the limit of its aileron authority - which is exactly what has happened, fatally, more than once.",[311,589,590],{},"Air traffic control therefore separates aircraft by how much wake they make, not by how big they look. The pilot appending \"heavy\" to the callsign is telling every controller and every other aircraft on frequency how much room to leave behind.",[315,592,594],{"id":593},"the-categories","The categories",[405,596,597,610],{},[408,598,599],{},[411,600,601,604,607],{},[414,602,603],{},"Category",[414,605,606],{},"Maximum take-off mass",[414,608,609],{},"Typical types",[421,611,612,623,634,645],{},[411,613,614,617,620],{},[426,615,616],{},"Light",[426,618,619],{},"up to 7 t",[426,621,622],{},"Small piston and turboprop aircraft",[411,624,625,628,631],{},[426,626,627],{},"Medium",[426,629,630],{},"7 t - 136 t",[426,632,633],{},"Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737",[411,635,636,639,642],{},[426,637,638],{},"Heavy",[426,640,641],{},"above 136 t",[426,643,644],{},"Airbus A330, Boeing 747, Boeing 777",[411,646,647,650,653],{},[426,648,649],{},"Super",[426,651,652],{},"-",[426,654,655],{},"Airbus A380, Antonov An-225",[311,657,658],{},"\"Super\" was added for the A380, whose wake was measured as substantially stronger than anything in the Heavy category. It is a category with almost no members.",[315,660,662],{"id":661},"why-it-matters-on-a-tag","Why it matters on a tag",[311,664,665],{},"The HEAVY edition takes its name from this. Those pieces are cut from overlapping fuselage panels - the doubled sections where two skin panels meet - which makes them roughly three times the thickness of a standard piece. The name is borrowed, but the weight in the hand is real.",{"title":349,"searchDepth":30,"depth":24,"links":667},[668,669,670],{"id":583,"depth":30,"text":584},{"id":593,"depth":30,"text":594},{"id":661,"depth":30,"text":662},"2026-02-18","Wake turbulence categories, why they exist, and why a 747 has to announce itself on every radio call.",{},"\u002Fwhat-heavy-means","boeing-747-virgin-atlantic-g-vbig",{"title":571,"description":672},"what-heavy-means",[679,680],"atc","terminology","XMRShVfOmDcuELkheubmSoPpEdmMdYn-xMD3D77PlUc",{"md-88-iberia-ec-foz":683,"aircrafttag-registration-cut-black-white":688,"boeing-747-virgin-atlantic-g-vbig":695},{"handle":361,"title":21,"registration":180,"image":684,"priceFrom":686,"availableForSale":359},{"url":20,"altText":21,"width":685,"height":685},2048,{"amount":687,"currencyCode":253},31.95,{"handle":562,"title":689,"registration":187,"image":690,"priceFrom":692,"availableForSale":694},"Boeing 747 Wamos Air - EC-KSM - pure white",{"url":691,"altText":689,"width":685,"height":685},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.shopify.com\u002Fs\u002Ffiles\u002F1\u002F0550\u002F2186\u002F3048\u002Fproducts\u002FECKSMWamosB747white_20a80a9d-46c6-4b05-b3c8-fa4938728ac8.jpg?v=1644271729",{"amount":693,"currencyCode":253},34.95,false,{"handle":675,"title":696,"registration":697,"image":698,"priceFrom":700,"availableForSale":694},"Boeing 747 - Virgin Atlantic - G-VBIG","G-VBIG",{"url":699,"altText":696,"width":685,"height":685},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.shopify.com\u002Fs\u002Ffiles\u002F1\u002F0550\u002F2186\u002F3048\u002Ffiles\u002FProduktfotoG-VBIGVirginatlanticB744red-white.jpg?v=1739518621",{"amount":701,"currencyCode":253},26.95,1789379526739]