The same thing happened here: FedEx Donates Boeing 727 to PAI - Plattsburgh Aeronautical Institute's Benefactors - CV-TEC - Career & Technical Education - Champlain Valley Educational Services - CEWW BOCES - Plattsburgh, NY 12901 Do you think that Fred would do this if not for the tax write-off?
That would b such a slap in the face if I worked there. Oh wait, if I were an "independent contractor" there.
It's all about the $$, nothing more nothing less. If you can write off a million dollar(or whatever amount) aircraft as a donation Fred Will.
If UPS could do it, it would. The 727 is a popular training aircraft. Passenger 727 were widely flown until the mid-2000s, and the plane is still popular among freight carriers. Meanwhile, UPS is paying storage fees on aircraft it retired during the downturn -- DC-8 and classic 747. Passenger DC-8 flights pretty much ended in the 1980s (and nearly all remaining freighters were retired with fuel stored) -- because of this, it's seen as an old aircraft and nobody wants them. And the 747 is just too huge to be a training aircraft most places.
It's absolutely about the tax write-off for Fred, but that doesn't mean the technical schools don't profit handsomely.
Hard to believe Fred would leave himself open to any liability, why wouldn't UPS take the same precautions?
The value of a 727, DC-8 or classic 747 is less than that of a typical suburban house. Given the storage fees UPS is paying on its retired aircraft, I'd imagine it'd donate the aircraft if it could. I suspect the biggest problem is that nobody wants them. The DC-8 is truly a vintage jet (mostly out of passenger service by the 1980s) and the stretch versions that UPS operated aren't exactly small, either -- comparable in size to the 757-300, which United and Delta operate on their highest capacity routes. Hard to give something away when nobody wants them, especially with many classic 737 up for grabs.
