8 Fokker F27 aircraft at Cologne Airport, Germany

In September 2008 AELS acquired a total of eight Fokker F27 aircraft. The aircraft formally operated by WDL- Aviation were parked at the Cologne Airport for many years.  AELS was approached by WDL to find an environmental friendly and sustainable solution for these old and retired aircraft.

In the months following the purchase of the aircraft, AELS searched for new users who had the intention to use the aircraft for none-flying purposes only. A special focus was placed on technical training schools in the MRO business across Europe, in an attempt to address their increasing need to acquire training equipment for educational purposes. AELS provided the new owners with the company's services in disassembly and transport of the aircraft.
Work commenced on the 6th of October 2008 on the first aircraft at Cologne airport with an experienced and enthusiastic crew. This first aircraft needed a F27 Colognethorough cleaning job before starting the disassembly process.
The aircraft used to fly under registration D-AELC but was renamed to D-AELS for the time being.
After 3 weeks of hard work the first aircraft was fully disassembled into transportable pieces. All disassembly activities during this project were executed by AELS in cooperation with experienced F27 engineers from Qualitair.
After the disassembly of the first aircraft, the focus was placed on the disassembly of specific segments. In total five nacelle sections (a nacelle with an engine, propeller and landing gear) along with one cockpit section were disassembled from the aircraft. Three of these nacelle sections were acquired by Lufthansa Technical Training as an addition to their equipment for training their students on their location in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Erfurt.
Trainico, an EASA part 147 approved technical training school located at the Lufthansa training centre in Berlin and the Dutch educational institution ROC Tilburg also acquired a nacelle section. The Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, located in the Netherlands acquired the cockpit section which now serves as a study object for the students.
Also a few parts were donated by AELS to the Dutch aviation museum, the Aviodrome, to support their F27 PH-FHF which will hopefully take the sky again in the near future.
The transport of all the parts to their new locations in the Netherlands and Germany was executed in accordance with van Tiel Logistics.
During February of 2009, in only 5 days, AELS dismantled the remaining airframes in cooperation with the company GJ Kamphuis. During this period also the nacelles and the cockpit section was removed.
The final step was the collection, transport and recycling of the remaining metals from the dismantled airframes. The metal has been recycled by HKS Metals.
In the end one aircraft was saved of the claws of the scrapper because it was purchased by Chevron Technical Services Ltd in the United Kingdom. Chevron will ferry the aircraft to the UK where it will be used as an addition to their technical training capabilities.