G-111 Albatross info

There have been lots of questions posted on other seaplane sites recently regarding the G-111 version of the Albatross. FYI, here is some relevant and interesting info that was posted elsewhere:
Grumman built 13 examples and all are still registered, but most have been in storage at Marana, AZ for years. Most have also recently been bought up by Marsh Aviation of Mesa, AZ. I'm guessing that they have a new turbine conversion fire bomber project in the works (NOTE: they in fact do; it's called the model G-111AT "Wildfire") It's strange to me that they neglected to snatch up N42MY and Billabong's N121FB. N42MY was the very last G-64/HU-16 that Grumman built (actually as a model UF-2) and its advertised price was recently dropped from $995,000 to only $795,000. Might be that there's some corrosion issues with it. It has been operated in South Florida for quite a while now; I think it went to Mirabella Yachts from Paragon Ranch in Colorado (when it was N26PR) in the early to mid-1990's.
From the TC (A22SO):
Type Certificate Holder:
Amphibian Aircraft International, Inc.
c/o Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, PLLC
199 Liberty Street, SW
Leesburg, Virginia 20175
Type Certificate Holder of record Flying Boat, Inc. transferred (i.e. sold) the type certificate to Amphibian Aircraft International, Inc. on July 1, 2010.
Serial Numbers Eligible:
Under Production Certificate No. 23:
148325
148327
148328*
148329
Under Production Certificate No. 1050:
51-7243
51-7244
51-7249
51-7168
137901
141282
148326
9304
9308
*Life-limited to 8,900 “flight” hours because it retained its original 7075-T6 wing center section spar caps instead of being upgraded to titanium. See NOTE 3.
Now, my question is, did they literally mean “flight time” or should it have been Time in Service? Usually pilots are concerned with logging flight time and aircraft maintenance is governed by TIS.
In any case, that’s a total of 13 aircraft that were converted and re-certified.
Certification Basis:
FAR 21.27, effective February 1, 1965; CAR 4b, effective December 31, 1953, including amendments 1 and 2; FAR 36, effective December 1, 1969, including amendments 1 through 3; and most importantly FAR 25.2 for Transport category operations.
Although it is no longer noted on the current revision to the TC (rev. 7), older versions of the TC (such as rev. 5, dated April 15, 1984) contained the following additional information:
Production Basis:
Production Certificate Number 23 issued to Grumman Aerospace Corp, Stuart, Florida, under licensing agreement, dated 9 March 1978.
Production Certificate Number 1050 issued to Grumman St. Augustine Corp, St. Augustine, Florida, under licensing agreement dated 22 December 1981.
The other thing that is f#$ked up about this TC is that all of the aircraft were identified by their former military serial numbers (a mix of USAF, USN, and USCG serial numbers) which actually changed over time as the aircraft were transferred from one branch of the service to another. They were not (and probably should have been) identified by either their original and theoretically “constant” Grumman civil serial or "construction" numbers - or better yet, since they were officially rebuilt and re-certified under FAR 25, with completely new serial numbers unique to the G-111 series.
Serial No. / Built for/model/service serial no. / Grumman c/n / Registration
148325 / USN UF-2 (148325) contract for JMSDF (9052) / G-460 / N116FB
148327 / USN UF-2 (148327) contract for JMSDF (9054) / G-462 / N115FB*
148328 / USN UF-2 (148328) contract for JMSDF (9055) / G-463 / N112FB
148329 / USN UF-2 (148329) contract for JMSDF (9056) / G-464 / N42MY
51-7243 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7243) / G-331 / N120FB
51-7244 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7244) / G-332 / N113FB*
51-7249 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7249) / G-339 / N121FB
51-7168 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E* / G-218 / N122FB*
137901 / USN UF-1 (137901) / G-374 / N51ZD
141282 / USN UF-1 (141282) / USCG HU-16E* / G-432 / N125FB*
148326 / USN UF-2 (148326) contract for JMSDF (9053) / G-461 / N117FB*
9304 / RCAF CSR-110 (9304) / G-452 / N118FB
9308 / RCAF CSR-110 (9308) / G-456 / N119FB
*These aircraft are currently (but incorrectly) registered as Grumman models “HU-16E” – while it may be that they each did in fact do service for the USCG as such models, that is technically incorrect; according to FAA TC A22SO, they are correctly identified only as Grumman models G-111.
Grumman built 13 examples and all are still registered, but most have been in storage at Marana, AZ for years. Most have also recently been bought up by Marsh Aviation of Mesa, AZ. I'm guessing that they have a new turbine conversion fire bomber project in the works (NOTE: they in fact do; it's called the model G-111AT "Wildfire") It's strange to me that they neglected to snatch up N42MY and Billabong's N121FB. N42MY was the very last G-64/HU-16 that Grumman built (actually as a model UF-2) and its advertised price was recently dropped from $995,000 to only $795,000. Might be that there's some corrosion issues with it. It has been operated in South Florida for quite a while now; I think it went to Mirabella Yachts from Paragon Ranch in Colorado (when it was N26PR) in the early to mid-1990's.
From the TC (A22SO):
Type Certificate Holder:
Amphibian Aircraft International, Inc.
c/o Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, PLLC
199 Liberty Street, SW
Leesburg, Virginia 20175
Type Certificate Holder of record Flying Boat, Inc. transferred (i.e. sold) the type certificate to Amphibian Aircraft International, Inc. on July 1, 2010.
Serial Numbers Eligible:
Under Production Certificate No. 23:
148325
148327
148328*
148329
Under Production Certificate No. 1050:
51-7243
51-7244
51-7249
51-7168
137901
141282
148326
9304
9308
*Life-limited to 8,900 “flight” hours because it retained its original 7075-T6 wing center section spar caps instead of being upgraded to titanium. See NOTE 3.
Now, my question is, did they literally mean “flight time” or should it have been Time in Service? Usually pilots are concerned with logging flight time and aircraft maintenance is governed by TIS.
In any case, that’s a total of 13 aircraft that were converted and re-certified.
Certification Basis:
FAR 21.27, effective February 1, 1965; CAR 4b, effective December 31, 1953, including amendments 1 and 2; FAR 36, effective December 1, 1969, including amendments 1 through 3; and most importantly FAR 25.2 for Transport category operations.
Although it is no longer noted on the current revision to the TC (rev. 7), older versions of the TC (such as rev. 5, dated April 15, 1984) contained the following additional information:
Production Basis:
Production Certificate Number 23 issued to Grumman Aerospace Corp, Stuart, Florida, under licensing agreement, dated 9 March 1978.
Production Certificate Number 1050 issued to Grumman St. Augustine Corp, St. Augustine, Florida, under licensing agreement dated 22 December 1981.
The other thing that is f#$ked up about this TC is that all of the aircraft were identified by their former military serial numbers (a mix of USAF, USN, and USCG serial numbers) which actually changed over time as the aircraft were transferred from one branch of the service to another. They were not (and probably should have been) identified by either their original and theoretically “constant” Grumman civil serial or "construction" numbers - or better yet, since they were officially rebuilt and re-certified under FAR 25, with completely new serial numbers unique to the G-111 series.
Serial No. / Built for/model/service serial no. / Grumman c/n / Registration
148325 / USN UF-2 (148325) contract for JMSDF (9052) / G-460 / N116FB
148327 / USN UF-2 (148327) contract for JMSDF (9054) / G-462 / N115FB*
148328 / USN UF-2 (148328) contract for JMSDF (9055) / G-463 / N112FB
148329 / USN UF-2 (148329) contract for JMSDF (9056) / G-464 / N42MY
51-7243 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7243) / G-331 / N120FB
51-7244 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7244) / G-332 / N113FB*
51-7249 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E (7249) / G-339 / N121FB
51-7168 / USAF SA-16B / USCG HU-16E* / G-218 / N122FB*
137901 / USN UF-1 (137901) / G-374 / N51ZD
141282 / USN UF-1 (141282) / USCG HU-16E* / G-432 / N125FB*
148326 / USN UF-2 (148326) contract for JMSDF (9053) / G-461 / N117FB*
9304 / RCAF CSR-110 (9304) / G-452 / N118FB
9308 / RCAF CSR-110 (9308) / G-456 / N119FB
*These aircraft are currently (but incorrectly) registered as Grumman models “HU-16E” – while it may be that they each did in fact do service for the USCG as such models, that is technically incorrect; according to FAA TC A22SO, they are correctly identified only as Grumman models G-111.