Spirit Airlines ceased operations abruptly last week after two bankruptcies, high fuel prices, and a government bailout that failed to go through. Within a near instant, some 17,000 people were out of a job, thousands of flights were canceled, travelers were stranded, and Spirit’s fleet of bright yellow Airbus A320 series aircraft was grounded wherever they sat or landed. Spirit Airlines had 91 planes of its 114 aircraft at 26 airports. What does the future hold in store for these aircraft? Some of them have already begun their journeys to their next chapter of service.
Spirit Airlines had been struggling for years after failing to recover from the travel downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2024, Spirit became the first U.S.-based airline to file for bankruptcy since American Airlines filed in 2011. But unlike other airlines, Spirit did not emerge from its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy under totally clear skies, and eventually filed for a Chapter 11 a second time only months after emerging from the first. The government also blocked a planned merger between Spirit and JetBlue.
Just when Spirit thought its horizon was looking clearer, it was hit with a twist. In the time since the war in Iran started in February, the price of jet fuel has rocketed up about 70 percent, and Spirit Airlines didn’t have a buffer. The U.S. government attempted to be Spirit’s savior in a deal that would have seen the American government owning 90 percent of the airline. May 1 was a tumultuous day for Spirit Airlines, as rescue packages had fallen through and the airline began preparations to wind its operations down. As I reported then, some of Spirit’s fellow airlines didn’t think that the airline would survive the weekend. It was worse than that, as the airline didn’t even survive the night.
According to Spirit Airlines, the flight that ended its 34 years of airline operations was Flight NK1833, which departed Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan, to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas. The flight departed Michigan around 10 p.m. and touched down in Texas just after midnight. By 3:00 a.m., Spirit said, its operations were wrapped up.
Chaos has ensued in the days since the failure of Spirit Airlines. The most immediate concern was that there were stranded passengers and former employees scattered all over America, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Now-former Spirit flight attendants and pilots had to fly back to their bases aboard other airlines’ aircraft, while passengers had to figure out another way to get to where they needed to go. CNN reports that other airlines tried to help by offering limited-time discounted rates for stranded Spirit passengers. Since its closure, Spirit Airlines claims that most customers who purchased tickets with a credit or debit card have been refunded.
The situation is sad all around. In one story, Spirit captain Jon Jackson was supposed to fly one last Spirit Airbus A320 from Fort Lauderdale to Baltimore on Saturday morning and then enjoy retirement. But this flight never happened, as Spirit shuttered even earlier that morning. His son Chris Jackson, a pilot whom Jon taught how to fly, was to ride in the airliner for his father’s last ride. Instead, they both found themselves aboard Southwest Airlines Flight 1450 bound for Baltimore. A pilot on that flight heard the story and thought that Jon deserved a better end to his career.
Upon landing, Southwest gave Jon a water cannon salute, champagne, and even a cheering crowd. A hero’s welcome, for sure.
Where Spirit’s Aircraft Are Going
When Spirit Airlines shut down, it had a fleet of 114 aircraft. These planes were Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 variants configured for 176 and 229 passengers, respectively. Of those aircraft, 91 were parked at 26 airports far and wide. Spirit was reducing its fleet size as part of its reorganizations. In February, the fleet was at 125 planes, down from a high of 220 aircraft before its restructuring.
The Associated Press reports that, of Spirit’s fleet, 66 aircraft were leased and 28 planes were owned by Spirit. Another 20 planes were owned by Spirit, but were already set to be sold as part of a separate court deal. In addition to the aircraft, Spirit also has 18 spare engines, maintenance facilities, an office building in Florida, gate positions at several major international airports, and landing slots at those same airports. As NPR reports, Spirit even held some coveted takeoff and landing slots at LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
All of these and more are up for grabs as Spirit is being liquidated, and there should be some interest in some of these gates, slots, and aircraft. Airbus is currently churning through a backlog of over 8,000 orders for aircraft, most of which are A220 and A320-family airliners. An airline that doesn’t want to wait years for its order to be fulfilled might be looking at some of Spirit’s yellow planes as a shortcut to getting some planes sooner.
But these aircraft have to be removed from where they’re currently sitting. A timer technically started the moment Spirit’s crews walked away from these machines. Airports charge airlines for aircraft parking, and those fees stack up. So, it’s imperative to ferry those aircraft somewhere else as soon as possible. Of course, the roughly one dozen owners of those 66 leased Spirit aircraft also want their planes back, too.
The company hired by six of the owners of Spirit’s Airbus to ferry these aircraft away from airports is the Nomadic Aviation Group. Founded in 2021 by two aircraft leasing and ferry-flight veterans, Nomadic Aviation specializes in flying planes for aircraft lessors. Nomadic says it performs “aircraft delivery & re-delivery flights, returns, change-of-operator check flights, and repossessions.” The company’s pilots also reposition aircraft for its clients or help its clients take aircraft out of or into storage.
In this case, Nomadic sees itself as repossessing the aircraft that were leased to Spirit. Immediately following the closure of Spirit, Nomadic says it hired at least 20 Spirit pilots to fly the A320s and A321s to desert storage facilities at Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR) in Arizona and Pinal Airpark (MZJ), which is also in Arizona. There, the aircraft can be stored until their owners figure out what to do with them. Storing aircraft in the desert is ideal due to the low humidity, low precipitation, and minimal corrosion that occurs out there.
Hiring Spirit’s former pilots to fly these ferry missions is done for two reasons. These pilots are immediately available for one, and these pilots are grateful to get some paying work right now. As a bonus, it also gives some sentimental Spirit pilots one last chance to fly the yellow jets they used to. Here’s a YouTube video of a Spirit Airbus landing at its new temporary home in Goodyear:
As NPR reported, repossessing airplanes from international airports is sometimes easier said than done. Nomadic’s pilots are dressed in plain clothes and inform airport staff that they’re there to take the planes. The airport staff have no idea what’s going on, and sometimes, they react by calling the police or airport managers. To the airport workers, it probably seems like random people are trying to steal a plane.
Despite weird situations like that, Nomadic’s pilots have been putting in some work. On May 4, at least three Spirit A321s were moved from Houston, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami to Goodyear and Pinal. Yesterday, another six Spirit planes were sent to desert storage. As I write this, Nomadic Aviation Flight 203 is ferrying a Spirit aircraft from New Orleans to the Pinal Airpark. Goodyear Airport was already housing a few dozen stored Spirit airliners before more were added.
You Might Fly On A Spirit Plane Again
Planes awaiting new assignments get their engines, windows, and ports covered up. Then, they wait for the new owner or lessee to whisk them away. Many of these planes will get new paint schemes, new interiors, and a whole different livery to suit the airlines operating them. The average age of Spirit’s fleet was around seven years old, so the aircraft still have plenty of life left in them. Sadly, some of the planes will reportedly have their engines removed or otherwise be parted out.
Spirit’s creditors may encounter another roadblock in trying to get these aircraft to new airlines. As NPR notes, the same high fuel prices that drove Spirit to throw in the towel also make acquiring a former Spirit airliner unappealing. Sure, Airbus might have a large backlog of aircraft, and some of those airlines might want to get an existing plane sooner. However, they have to decide if adding planes is the right choice right now, given fuel prices.
Thankfully, it’s believed that Spirit and its creditors will move the aircraft, but it might take a while.
I should note that desert storage isn’t the only disposition for the aircraft of a shuttered airline. If the airline closed after being acquired by another airline, as was the case with icons like Trans World Airlines and Northwest Airlines, planes that don’t end up sold or stored can keep flying, and gates can stay open, but they’ll eventually fly under the livery of the purchasing airline.
So, if you go to an airport in the near future and see one of Spirit’s distinctive jets taking off, know that it’s almost certainly empty and is on its way to the desert. One day, you might even fly on a Spirit airliner again, but it’ll have new paint and a new name. If you’re a former employee of Spirit, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you, like your former aircraft, will also be flying again soon.
Top graphic image: Spirit Airlines
No mention of the problem they had with the GTF
Holy crap, this comment thread is gold. I nominate it for the Bestest Thread Of The Day or BTOFD. Can that be a thing?
I have an idea… If no existing airline wants them, someone can scoop these airplanes for cheap, start a new airline called “Spiri”… and keep the yellow paint job… just paint over the ‘t’ for cheap in that same yellow.
And voila… a new discount airline just like Spirit, but without being bankrupt!
“The U.S. government attempted to be Spirit’s savior in a deal that would have seen the American government owning 90 percent of the airline.”
Our country owning 90% of one of the worst airlines in the world is peak 2026. Spirit only existed because of their “super cheap fare showing up online that doesn’t actually represent to cost of the flight” business model that was always dead once people (like me) were burned the first time. Oh yeah, everyone also started doing the same thing.
This is a pretty cynical take. Spirit really did improve a whole lot over the years and made air travel available to more people, especially those who might have been excluded from air travel with the more premium airlines.
I’ve flown with them many times and I always got what I paid for. Less competition is bad for all of us.
Spirit Airlines got competitioned to death. You can’t bemoan “less competition” without accepting the ultimate outcome of said competition. They could not run a profitable business in a competitive market.
They could not run a profitable business in a landscape the forbids mergers and also starts unnecessary wars that send shocks through fuel markets. Airlines are no regular business and they shouldn’t be treated as such.
I’m sorry you got burned.
For me, even with baggage costs factored in, I saved 60-70% per flight.
If you could get away with the small personal item allowance and no checked bag, you would be flying for 25-40% of the cost of other airlines.
The bigger picture? 20,000 people lost their jobs. Because of the war in Iran and the fuel costs it has caused. Of course none of this was necessary. All in the name of a putrid husk of a man who won’t go the fuck away
Spirit had already gone bankrupt twice in a year and tried to sell itself. The Iran Special Military Contingency Operation was the immediate cause of their sudden shutdown, but it wasn’t exactly a given that Sprit would have survived regardless. Most likely, they would have exited bankruptcy in a severely downsized and weakened state, then immediately thrown full energies into trying to work out another takeover deal with somebody
It’s worth noting that that both bankruptcies occurred only after the Biden administration denied Spirit’s bid to join with Frontier airlines. While the Biden administration was rightly concerned with loss of competition, they did not fully appreciate the risks of not allowing the merger.
Spirit’s yellow blood is on the hands of two administration.
JetBlue outbid Frontier for a merger with Spirit and it was ultimately THAT merger that was prevented. “The Biden Administration” had nothing to do with a Spirit/Frontier merger.
Also… many experts feel that had the Spirit/JetBlue merger been approved, *that* company would be the one going bankrupt right now.
I have my facts slightly wrong. After the failed Frontier-Spirit merger, Spirit and Jet Blue attempted to merged. It was approved by the board and the Biden DOJ blocked it. There are also experts that believe that it would have saved the airline and made it more competitive in a landscape where the premium airlines were starting to offer extreme economy fares as well.
Spirit’s yellow blood is on the hands of Spirit itself.
They over expanded into certain markets where the load factors couldn’t justify filling the seats,bought too many planes and had too much debt!
Even airlines have to live within their means!
So, how long until we see the article where Mercedes has bought one?
Good riddance to those plastic seated sky school busses.
I hope the non reclining plastic buckets get burned someplace.
I may literally be the only person on the planet who found Spirit seats comfortable, I’m learning. Generally I’ve found larger airline seats to not have much lumbar support so I feel slouched the entire trip.
I bet someone can scoop these airplanes for cheap, start a new airline called “Spiri”… and keep the yellow paint job… just paint over the ‘t’ for cheap in that same yellow.
And voila… a new discount airline just like Spirit, but without being bankrupt!
Conspicuously absent from the Spirit timeline in this article is the fact that the Biden DOJ blocked the 2024 merger of Spirit and Jet Blue, touting it as a win for the flying public.
How’s that working out?
Pretty good. Spirit sucked and they failed because they sucked. See, in a free market you don’t prop up losers and reduce competition, you let the clowns die. Spirit was a clown operation.
What does that have to do with Trump starting a pointless war that nearly doubled the cost of jet fuel?
In magic moron maga land does the merger somehow lower the cost of fuel?
Crystal balls are in short supply. I’m glad Biden had one.
I don’t know but fuck Trump.
Spirit had lost money every year since 2019. They were gonna die, merger or not. JetBlue isn’t in much better shape.
Yeah, the current oil price spike just meant they died in early 2026 instead of late 2026 or 2027, it condensed their timeliness but didn’t necessarily create a new outcome, they were essentially a dead airline flying for some time
Then they would have add to the story how if the merger went through all indications are THAT company would have been the company going bankrupt.
Conspicuously absent from your comment is the fact that the DOJ itself cannot block such a merger; a judge must make that decision based on antitrust laws, and the judge who did so is a Republican nominated to the bench by Reagan.
How dare you do research and write the facts. Real Americans want to blame someone right away so we don’t have to think. Sir Raoul: off with their heads. /s
JetBlue lives to fly another day because they’re not burdened with the debt of acquiring Spirit?
Nomadic (@CockpitCasual) has one of the most fascinating channels on YouTube. Amazing jazz soundtracks as well.
Agreed. Bob and Steve produce great videos, and seem like really fun guys.
Here’s to hoping Delta secures a chunk of A320s and cancels their MAX orders.
Yes!! I really prefer the interiors of the A320s anyway.
My mom is a fan of Embraers because she says they don’t make her feel as claustrophobic…I guess it’s the smaller overhead bins on some models?
There were a large number of NK flights to VCV throughout the second half of April. Unsure if those were leased jets or if they were also stashing some there.
I guess there were a lot of people who took the “if it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going” rule to heart.
Spirit’s creditors decided an asset strip would bring a better return than allowing Spirit to continue under public ownership. Harsh, but probably correct. If the ultra low cost model had already failed I doubt that anyone thought you could somehow move Spirit upmarket a little to compete with the big dogs.
Well it certainly feels like the big dogs are stopping down to the Spirit level of fees/service. At least the true ULCC like Spirit provided a floor for service but now the big dogs will just feel more emboldened to get away with even more highway robbery and worse service.
I never thought I’d see the day Spirit improved their customer service.
Even after death they’ll still try to charge you for your hand bag…..
So if Spirit owned 114 planes and 91 were parked at airports, where does that leave the 23 survivors? Fleeing for their yellow-bellied lives? Circling the North Pole and claiming sovereignty from the rules?
Probably full of deportees in some jurisdiction that doesn’t have radar or GPS.
LOL! Sadly, reality is far more boring. It looks like some Spirit aircraft were already stored and thus, not stuck at an airport somewhere.
Parked next to Mercedes’ fleet of Smart Cars.
Next week’s stories:
“Giving a yellow bird some love” by SWG
“I traded my yellow school bus for a yellow Airbus” by Mercedes
“I got a screaming deal on an A310–but it’s not an Alpine” by David Tracy
“The delivery guys crashed another yellow taxi into my tree and now we have to live in a dank RV” by Torch
“yellow-bellied lives?”
“NOBODY…calls me yella belly!”
-Marty McFly
“Upon landing, Southwest gave Jon a water cannon salute, champagne, and even a cheering crowd.”
OK, that’s *classy* and makes me respect SWA.
feels like a pre-Elliott/old-Southwest move, very nice of them to make it happen
I flew on several jets with Berlin Air livery long after they went belly up. Some budget Euro airlines scooped them up some of their old jets and never bothered to change them.
That’s really cool of South West to give that pilot a proper sendoff! Glad to see there’s still good people in the world.
It’s so strange when that happens. I’ve flown a domestic flight in South Africa on a Belavia (Belarusian airline) livery plane.
Even more strange, a FlyOne (Moldovan airline) from Vietnam to Cambodia. This one even had FlyOne crew, and hilariously, Frontier branded catering carts/organizers.
Carnival Cruise Lines uses a variant of the old Canadian Pacific funnel livery because it saved them a few bucks off a total repaint of their first ship back in the early ’70s
I flew on Ryanair last year from CPH to VIE on a plane with Lauda Air livery. It seems a little complicated, but apparently the Lauda Air brand ceased around 2013.
I never flew Spirit, and haven’t flown Frontier either. Are their planes similar? (Style of seats in the cabin, number of passengers, etc.) I wonder if Frontier would pick up any of Spirit’s planes, routes, etc.
They’re roughly similar inside (extremely basic, not very comfortable, even a seat pocket is a luxury), but Spirit took it to the next level by splashing yellow here and there.
Add Allegiant to your comparison. Very much the same as Spirit aircraft although I have read the pitch of Allegiant seats is 30” v. Spirit seats 28”. Allegiant seats do not recline at all, I cannot recall if those on Spirit reclined. Seat comfort on either airline was / is horrible and would have your butt complaining toward the end of a 2.5 hour flight. Aside from that, I have always found the crews of both airlines to be outgoing and accommodating and do hope they all find themselves in a better place soon.
Gosh, I’m dating myself. I haven’t flown on allegiant since they were all DC-9 / MD-80.
Nowadays, it looks like A320s, some A319s!, and moving more and more to the budget version 737 MAX 8-200.
The ground crew at the regional airport I was flying to wore lots of hats. They’d take your tickets and then run out and load luggage.
Like Aldi’s then
I only flew a Spirit itinerary once–Bush Intercontinental to Toluca and back. The line at the counter to check in at IAH was scarily long. Maybe because people were trying to figure out which add-ons they wanted/could afford? (I just checked my calendar and that was almost 11 years ago!) I made it there. My bag made it there. And we all got back. The flights were so short that all I cared about was me and my luggage. It was fine. My only option now would be to fly to Mexico City and take a bus out to Toluca. Or fly to Monterrey and a puddle jumper to Toluca.
Typical wind down operation for an airline. I’ve known some pilots that got hired by the transport company collecting all the planes that have stayed busy with them for several months to over a year. Keeping them airworthy and ferrying them for work and prospective buyers.
Next season on Airplane Repo https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808720/
Ken Cage sneaks into Miami International Airport to take back a Spirit Jet
I’d forgotten all about that show – quality reality trash!!
Oh man, my Dad and I used to watch that all the time!
For Sale: 91 Airbus A320 (NOT 737 MAX!!1!) airliners, slightly used, many available, take your pick. All must go. Any color so long as it’s yellow.
You forgot, “no lowballers, I know what I got.”
I thought about that, but I’m also thinking Spirit’s desperate enough they’d take anything.
I’d think Spirit would appreciate low-ball offers
“Flew when parked.”
Spirit Shitbox Showdown:
Spirit Airbus vs. Dodge Spirit
I nominate the AMC Spirit.
Oh yeah, that’s way better! I miss AMC
IDK, a Dodge Spirit R/T with 224 horses is nothing to sneeze at!lol
Do aircraft such as these have “keys“, if not a literal key, but some kind of way to authorize or verify that someone who wants to fire it up and fly it away may do so? Honest question.
GA aircraft have keys. The startup procedure for a Jet is typically so complicated that you really have to know what you’re doing-and on the particular type, at that-to do it, so that’s typically the barrier to entry
I wonder how that dude who decided to steal a plane and fly around and do barrel rolls and whatnot until he crashed it on purpose knew how to start the plane and taxi it out and take off with no formal flight training. That was such a wild story
I think he worked at that airline in a ground crew role. If he was involved in repair or trouble shooting there could be a reason he would know the pre-flight and start-up procedures. Controls (I assume) could be learned on a simulator.
They have a door lock on the cockpit but normally left open when parked. Most of the commercial jets don’t have a door lock to the cabin but it’s common of private jets.
Commercial aircraft do not. I mean, you’ll probably need a key card just to open the door to the jet bridge. But the plane itself is secured by the fact that you have to know the right procedure to bring the aircraft online and then to start it.
For a fun fact: Most of the transit buses I’ve been in don’t have keys or a fuel gauge! My bus starts by turning a knob and then flicking a switch.
Also at both those boneyards, there’s no jetways to get to the door…Need one of those ladder trucks
You’re gonna get some hop-ons!
Unless you find a Boeing 727,McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80. Both types had rear airstairs!
I love that one of the most prolific writers on the site is out here responding to dorky questions like mine lol!
I’m disappointed to learn the RTS doesn’t have the same square ignition and round door/”trunk” keys with “GM Mark of Excellence” on them as a Chevette, a Cutlass Supreme, my dad’s old C10 and everything else the General made from 1968-1995 or so.
Commercial airliners? No. If you have access to them and know what you are doing, you can simply steal one and do a barrel roll.
Everyone wants to be like “Tex” Johnson!!lol
Reminds me of this bit by Jerry Seinfeld:
“So, I fly a lot. I like planes. I was on a plane the other day and I was wondering – are there keys to the plane? Do they need keys to start the plane? Maybe that’s what those delays on the ground are sometimes. When you’re just sitting there at the gate, maybe the pilot’s just up there in the cockpit going: “Oh, I don’t believe this. Oh my god…I did it again.” They tell you it’s something mechanical, because they don’t want to come on the PA system…”Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to be delayed here on the ground for a little while, I uh…Oh God, this is so embarrassing…I – I left the keys to the plane in my apartment.” You see the technicians all running underneath the plane; you think they’re servicing it, but they’re actually looking for the magnet “hide-a-key” under the wing…”maybe he left it up there somewhere…”
No keys, but if you are not properly trained good luck getting anything going. My friend flies A320 series and the flows are absurdly long to get it started, let alone fly. I asked would button mashing work? Eh no… If your really bored try the Flight Sim 2020 or FS2024 PMDG series or “study level” flight sim stuff, set to advanced mode, start from “dark” and it takes like a while to figure out. I wonder how long the batteries even last on these just sitting? As thats the first step to turn on batteries without ground power… oh yeah fuel, who knows how much fuel remains with them all abandoned in various parts of trips. Grossly, I wonder if catering or food carts just got left, or toilets tanks unemptied? Walk into a smelly hell…
I think Beau should buy it, paint it up in The Autopian livery, and let Mercedes fly it to plane fest this summer.
YES. I mean, I have only 40 hours in a Cessna, how hard could an A320 be? lol
You just hit the start button and autopilot does everything – right? Right? 🙂
My uncle was a captain for united. He used to tell me that landing a 172 like what I was learning in was more involved than the latest big jets. They literally fly, and land themselves. The pilots are backup.
OK, she’s good to go then
Beau, make the deal for a new company jet
Me: I can fly near Vne all the time, right?
As long as someone else is paying for the Jet-A, absolutely.
If they can’t make cars that handle it all by themselves I am leery of flying in a plane doing it
If you have flown in the past 60+ years, you have flown on airplanes that can fly themselves. And chances are excellent one that can land itself. Though it’s a lot more complicated than just pushing a “land now” button, and there has to be the right equipment at the airport too.
Planes have a lot fewer things to hit. Autopilot on an airplane is a much, much, much simpler thing than “full self driving” in a car. And even then – there are two trained pilots on most commercial airplanes who are much, much better at paying attention to what’s going on that the typical car driver. Usually anyway. Definitely have been incidents there too.
But fun fact – unlike self-driving cars, an airplane’s autopilot is completely blind to what is going on around it. It’s flying based on altitude (or attitude sometimes) and compass heading, radio beacons, or today, GPS.
Elon has got your back.
Which is why there is a knife sticking in it?
Brain flashed to Airplane! autopilot scene, but we probably shouldn’t go there.
Surely you jest…
And don’t call me Shirley. 🙂
Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?
I saw Angela Basset land one of these on the California freeway on 9-1-1. I’m sure you’ve got this. 🙂
You just need a few TV comedies and then a run of shows on HBO to become a 737 pilot. How hard could an A320 be?
(If you haven’t seen “The Rehearsal season 2” I can’t recommend it enough)
If I can do it in Flight Simulator 2024, you can too!
Just think of the Cessna as your Smart, and the A320 as your bus, and you’ll be on the right track.
I only need to learn how to takeoff!
Takeoffs are easy. Airplanes want to fly. Landings are a LOT harder. They don’t really want to stop flying.
I was quoting the terrorist trying to get into a school the subtle way.
If you’re taking off, you only need to hit open sky.
I never got the chance to land the plane I flew, but I’m certain I could.
Control is always key, of course.
True that.
I have about 20hrs logged flying with my pilot uncles. I’ve done it a few times, but only under pretty much ideal conditions in a fairly forgiving small airplane. And smooth they were not. But I didn’t break anything. 🙂 I also got to fly the Air Force C-5 simulator when I was in college with my uncle who flew them for 25 years. That big bird is a pussycat as long as the weather is nice and nothing is broken (everything working right on FRED was pretty much only in the simulator, per my uncle). Definitely a little easier under those perfect conditions than the Cessna, but everything happens a LOT faster. But once you are lined up and on the glideslope, incredibly stable. Fly it down and pull back when he told me to flare. Like buttah.
Doing a landing to minimums in the soup is when big bird pilots earn their pay.
Considering the A320 family uses side-stick controllers connected to fly-by-wire computers compared to the traditional steering yokes connected to pulleys and cables on more traditional aircraft-very! lol
I came here for this. Hear me out:
Buy or lease a complete running and certified plane, host trips to auto events around the world (or at least in flying range) with discounts for members. Showing up to a Le Mons in one of these would be so classy. Especially if it still had Spirit livery.
Or
Have David buy up the spares and scrapped parts and blog about building a full runner in time for next Easter. The content writes itself!
Also, I’d have no problem being on the first option with Mercedes as pilot. I think I’ve experienced much sketchier before…
Convert it to a car carrier and then make the outside look super, super classy. Lands at the fanciest airport in the country, back opens (slowly for effect) and out rolls…..a Murano, a Changli, and David pushing a busted, rusty Jeep.
And we can all fill it up with 25 year old unubtainiums from far away places
I believe the A320 has operating costs in the $5000/hr range, and that’s if they give us the plane and we have Mercedes fly it. We’d need another level beyond rich corinthian leather… probably a few levels…
David will somehow find an A320 with rotted floorpans.
They all turn into Spirit Halloween stores with less signage requirements?
Coming to a terminal near you soon! Duty-free Halloween costumes.
Hey, nice write up! As a guy employed in IFE, I’m looking forward to fulfilling some of our current customers new retrofit programs from their former Spirit acquisitions.
Hopefully we won’t be so dispirited in the future