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After donating the VC10 to The Brooklands Museum, the Sultan used two Boeing 747SP-27s for his long-range transportation needs. Recognize the paint scheme? Of these A4O-SP was taken out of service in 2004 and is currently stored at Roswell, New Mexico awaiting a buyer, but A4O-SO still flies on in the Sultan's fleet.
As written on the page about G-ASIX/A4O-AB the Omani registration was removed from the VC10 in December 1991. This was because the Sultan wanted to be able to use it on another aircraft. It turned up on a newly aquired Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream IV as shown on the photos below.
Another interesting aircraft which currently flies in these colours is Airbus A320 A4O-AA, which fits nicely with the ex-VC10 registration now in use by the Gulfstream pictured above. With these three types I would say that most of the transportation needs would be catered for. I only discovered recently that between 1984(?) and 1992(?) there was also a DC-8 registered A4O-HMQ flying in the Omani house colours. This aircraft was a Super 73 conversion sporting CFM56-2 engines similar to those found on re-engined 707s. With this modification it was probably certified to Stage III levels making it a quite useful type. I guess that in the end the 747s were adequate for the job and because of this the DC-8 moved on to carrying cargo for Southern Air. A shame really as it would have kept another classic design flying in this special role.
So what does a Sultan's aircraft look like inside? Although unverified,
the layout below is what the Boeing 747SP might look like. Some
features:
Key to the drawing:
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