QuickCheck: Has a retired Malaysian Airlines 737 been repurposed for special ops training?

LIKE all things, airliners become obsolete and when they do, it is time for their retirement.

Some wind up as artificial reefs, some get cut up for their aluminium and other metals to be salvaged and repurposed and some wind up being used on the ground for training emergency services, law enforcement and even military units.

It has been said over the years – most recently on the True Malaysia Airline Fans Facebook group – that one Boeing 737 wound up being used for training by the United Kingdom’s Special Air Service (SAS), one of the world’s most elite and secretive special operations units.

Is this true?

VERDICT:

TRUE

Yes, this is in fact true as the Boeing 737 that once soared through Southeast Asian skies for Malaysian Airlines under the registration of 9M-MMI is now being used for static training by the SAS.

According to the online database www.airfleets.net, 9M-MMI is a 737-400 which entered MAS service on Nov 23, 1992 and was used as an airliner until it was then retired from service and stored in October 2012.

Airfleets.net then states that it was preserved in February 2013 as a static training aid for the SAS in Herefordshire, England.

With that said – and bearing in mind that one of the key roles of the SAS is counter-terrorism, including hostage rescues – it is definitely something to note that this once-MAS airliner is presumably providing sterling service in training troopers in how to clear hijacked aircraft.