Pump the brakes I know that aircraft, it was known as ZK-NQC back when It flew it for Air New Zealand, we said it was the hardest working aircraft in NZ it flew passengers by day and cargo by night. Lots of fond memories of it, she was the first aircraft I flew as a captain back in 1993. We used to just hand fly it all the time and not bother with the autopilot, but if a far cry from today because you actually had to fly it haha. It was fun, easy to fly and tough as nails she’ll serve Buffalo very well I’m sure.

737 mech of twenty years here. The reason so many 200s are cut up is they've flown the crap out of them. After so many cycles the skins start to crack and the service bulletin directed by an airworthiness directive to repair the skins is not cheap or quick to accomplish.

It's awesome seeing buffalo still going from strength to strength

Nice to see B737-219QC ex ZK-NQC lives on. Fixed her then flew her for years down under. Look after her, she is an awesome machine. Recall seeing her being delivered, doing the first configuration changes pax to cargo and back. She arrived at 2000 converted to cargo took 1:30 and did one or two AKL-CHC returns the converted back to pax for the day’s scheduled pax flying by 0700. Sweet operation.

Leave it black and put white buffalo decals on it! Its a beauty!

Your video brings back a lot of memories.  I worked on the gravel kit at Boeing  back in the 60's.  It was a real panic program to get it out on time.  We had a gravel kit for the 727 already which was very simple.  It was thought that the 737 gravel kit would be just as straight forward, but it proved to be much more difficult.  The nose gear stirred up the gravel and propeled it right toward the engine inlets and the circular brushes used on the NG tires of te 727 kit actually made things worse.  The test 737 was fitted with screens over the engine inlets so various potential solutions could be tried.  We actually built a temporary gravel runway at Boeing field for quicker testing.  Very high speed cameras were used to understand the path of the stirred up gravel.  I don't remember how long it took to come up with the ski approach, but it was the only one that actually worked.  
There is a very good video made by Boeing showing the whole gravel kit development - don't know if Boeing makes this available or not.
The vortex dissipator below and in front of the engine inlets was needed to dissipate the vortex that forms right in front of the inlet and will suck gravel off the ground and into the inlet.  I've seen video where you can actually see this happening.
Great to see these gravel ski airplanes still operating.
The target type thrust reverser on the JT8D is very efficient - something like 40% efficient as far as I can recall.  Much more efficient than the ones fitted on high bypass engines that only reverse the fan flow.

Did you realize that small Parker actuator on the gravel ski is also the same actuator used as the auxiliary rudder actuator? If you run into any issues with parts or components that require repairs I specialize in that area as an FAA DER. We also have an FAA Repair Station that can execute any developed repairs necessary.

What an absolute diamond of a jet!!  Amazing how the more modern and efficient and sterile we get, the more we appreciate when jets were loud and smoky and oily - what I love about Buffalo is that they keep the dinosaurs alive when the rest of the industry forgets them. Congrats on TVO she’s truly gorgeous!

Mikey, I loved Ice Pilots. I also couldn't wait to watch every episode of Plane Savers. The DTD rebuild was awesome! I wish you all could start posting Buffalo Air content regularly again.

I got to work on this airplane at one point in it's life. I knew she was special then and I'm thrilled to see she's still loved. Safe journeys!!!❤❤❤

Hey Mikey, get this channel active again. Even just the day to day operations of Buffalo will bring in views and we'd all love to see it.

4:30 There is another 737-200 with the same hush kit, the OM-RAN. It's stored at Bucharest in Romania.

Well done Mikey on getting a 737-200 with the gravel kit.

It started its life in New Zealand, so be prepared for the Bring Our Birds Home group might want it in the future as they are building up a collection of airliners that are significant to the history of airlines in New Zealand.

When I was in the USAF, I flew on Wein Air Alaska 737-200 QCs with gravel kits, from Anchorage to Galena (PAGA now but was GAL when I was there). During my year-long assignment, I made a mid-tour trip to Anchorage, so basically, I made two round trips. These flights always had a stop in McGrath, AK (PAMC). Their longest runway, 16/34, is almost 6,000 feet long and is now covered in grooved asphalt. But in 1979/1980, it was very obviously a  gravel runway. As a young airman, I didn’t know boo squat about gravel kits, but I did know that rocks and jet engines don’t play well together! I remember looking out the window and being amazed about how it was even possible for us to be there.
    Congratulations to Buffalo for your acquisition of this fine aircraft. And thanks for the tour.

Side eye from rhe DC-3. Congratulations on the acquisition.

I'm so glad to know that Buffalo will keep the 737-200 flying. Those high engines make it perfect for those northern gravel runways . I swear they love to torture themselves with the DC-3s, Electras, and classic 737s, but they are beautiful planes and super workhorses.

Congrats Mikey! Could not be happier for all of Buffalo! Those old 200 combo freighter/passenger/gravel proof 200's are a real classic workhorse. You guys having one just fits perfectly!  We all might be interested in, if you can, the date of manufacture, total cycles and air-frame time and any other history you might be able to share. The old DC 3 in the hangar was telling the 737; "Hey look, one day when you reach my age you'll get to stay full time in a warm hangar too...."

Glad it has -17 engines. As a retired A&P for UAL we had hundreds of these 200. Keep a few cases of oil in the cargo pit you will be doing frequent servicing. Also carry a tool for start valve override it will get you out of town. Good luck with this classic.

So stoked to see you get a 737-200.  Love that version with the gravel kit. So happy to see it staying in revenue service.  The two 737 sisters look so good side by side. Congrats to the Buffalo crew!

Congratulations Buffalo. I worked for Boeing for 36 years, and I recall always being impressed with the perfect, durable components. I was proud to be an employee, involved in various graphics oriented jobs.  I recall one request, to get detailed photos of a 737 QC. The planes were making round trips from SEA to LAX, carrying cargo south and passengers north. We only had a half hour or so in the middle of the night to get our photos. The seats were mounted on cargo pallets, something like four or six rows, six seats wide. The huge cargo door was opened, and a box truck with a scissor lift bed would back up to the plane. The box would be lifted to match the plane's floor elevation, and the seat pallets would be rolled out of the truck racks into the plane, rolled forward or aft into position, and locked down. As I recall, one box truck could carry enough seat pallets for the entire plane. Our shot was to show the overhead bins lowered into position for passenger use, and retracted to the ceiling for cargo. Since the plane was dark inside, the photographer had set up a monster wide angle flash. As the ground guy slammed the bins up, the photographer fired his camera, the flash gave off it's bright light and POW sound. The poor ground guy leaped aside, believing the wires to the bins had shorted, and he'd been electrocuted. We had to get him calmed down before he would touch the bins again.