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N836D . . . photo Tomas Posch/Airliners.net
Head to Fairbanks- you’ll see the old birds still working everyday
My research indicates that there is only 1 DC-7 operating in Alaska. It is operated by Brooks Fuel. See ptialaska.net/~brksfuel/dc7.html for a picture.
Of the 71 DC-7s still on the US registry, the majority come with a note indicating that the may not be suitable for operation.
Thanks Dave- but you didn’t need to look it up. You can take my word, I use to live in Fairbanks for 6 years. I was almost run over by a DC-7 3 times when I was driving a C207.
They are pretty cool Airplanes, and they Burn 2 gal of fuel for ever gallon they deliver to the Villages.
There are quite a few aircraft regularly flying in Alaska that come with similar caveats on their registry and can only be flown by government agencies under “special” permits.
when they burn up an engiene they pull one out of the boneyard, swap Data plates and away they go.
I know that. The C-133s that were operated in Alaska were a good example of this. However, I’m not talking about aircraft in general but the DC-7. I say there is only 1 currently operational in Alaska: the Brooks Fuel aircraft.
Of the 71 DC-7s on the registry, most are not operational. In fact, one source indicates only 4aircraft are operational.
Many are used for parts. Several are registered to companies no longer in existence (e.g. Airlift International, Modern Air Transport). A few are displayed in museums.
Sources:
registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry … 7&PageNo=1
ruudleeuw.com/guestphotos-2.htm
ruudleeuw.com/dc7.htm
internationalairresponse.com/dc-7.asp
aerotransport.org
The Brooks Fuel DC-7C N90251 has been parked for years. If that’s the aircraft you’re referring to? It suffered an engine fire that burned into the wing and won’t be going anywhere soon. Before its grounding N90251 did make a trip to eastern Russia on a charter in 1997 or 1998. Its been parked since 1999 I believe?
Ive flown with the owner of Brooks Fuel on their DC-4 over the years hauling gas and diesel to villages and mines in western Alaska and the north slope.
Thanks for the info. Guess Brooks needs to update their web page. It still shows N90251. I also just noticed that the page is dated 2/97.
ptialaska.net/~brksfuel/
Everything is old around Brooks Fuel! Those were just old stock photos someone used for the web-site. The silver DC-4 on the homepage was written off at Gaines Creek, AK in a ground fire in the late 90s.
Brooks Fuel also operated a very rare Douglas Carvair until it was written off in a landing accident in 2007. It was one of two in the US flying, now we have none. The other Carvair is mothballed in north Texas.
As for other 7s Carlos Gomez the spearhead behind the EAL 7 operates N381AA when its not down for maint. I believe that Butler Aviation also known as TBM of Redmond, OR has one our two DC-7 firebombers left? They may have been parked for parts.
Fairbanks used to be a round engine lovers delight, since Northern Air Cargo has gone turbine and Everts has phased out most of its round engines its pretty quiet there. I used to love getting a room at Pikes Lodge with a runway view and watch C46s, DC4s and DC6s all day long.
Can’t find the reference now but Butler’s DC-7 are no longer usable as tankers.
No matter how many DC-7s, DC-6’s or DC-4’s are out there flying…I think its safe to say this one is by far the best looking. What a classic. The Red Bull one is ok (that’s a 4? I cant’ remember w/o looking) but back in the old EA colors! WOW!
It’s a DC-6, the second-to-last off the line.
I agree with you that the DC-7 in Eastern colors is a beautiful aircraft.
I think it’d be really neat to see a classic airliner fly-in. The various DC-3s (Ozark ,United, Piedmont, AA, etc) , the TWA Connie (although I’m not sure if it’s airworthy) , seems like there’s a TW Martin 404 out there, this DC-7, the KLM Connie.