A B747-300 passenger aircraft is back in the sky flying after spending over 5 years in maintenance! Can you believe it? Here is the story:
On 15th October 2015, one of their B747-300s, EP-MNE, was involved in an incident on flight 1095 from Tehran to Bandar Abbas.
While climbing through 7500 feet, the no.3 GE CF6-50E2 engine suffered an uncontained failure. Some parts of the engine detached and struck engine no. 4, as well as damaged the aircraft structure. An emergency landing was declared. The plane was able to land safely and was carrying 441 passengers and crew.
Surprisingly, this 747-300 EP-MNE didn't get written off! Mahan Air put in 5 years of work in maintenance on her and she recently completed a heavy C-check. They managed to transfer 2 engines from a retired sister ship, EP-MND, and got this B747-300 back flying in the sky once again. Mahan Air B747-300 is now the world's last and oldest B747 passenger currently flying.
I flew on Mahan Air B747-300 domestically in Iran a few years ago. I was very lucky to fly on the upper deck of the 747 classic. This video shows my flight experience on now the world’s oldest and last active Passenger B747 from Tehran to Mashhad. With most of the 747 retired and killed by the pandemic, it is definitely good news to see a B747-300 back in the sky flying.
