[Today, a bit of (extra) deliberation and analysis interestingly proved to me that I must have flown (in RW) many times on the exact same A330-300 a/c (Reg. D-AIKL), which you see in my images below, and on which I'm myself in-command...🙂...here today...]
Two triggers for this post of mine...🙂...First, I just received my renewed passport (required only 15 mins of on-line filing and digital photograph upload followed by about a week or so more for it to be shipped). So, I was rather impressed...🙂...because a decade ago one would laboriously fill out forms with a pen or/and make an appointment and pay a visit to the (local) post-office etc. Anyway, I happened to then look into the packet of my old documents, papers, and expired passports. And therein, I found a few (Lufthansa airline) Boarding Pass Stubs from 15-20 years ago (yes, those were the days long before today's self-serve kiosks, electronic ticketing, advance check-in and digital Apps on your smart phone...🙂...) ...

Four Stubs especially caught my attention marked with flights DLH431/DLH433 (odd #s) for (KORD->EDDF) and DLH430/DLH432 (even #s) for (EDDF->KORD). The LH Aircraft operating these flights have surely changed over the decades, but, apparently, these flight numbers have remained the same. For example, today, FlightAware showed me data as follows:

• DLH431 (Operated by a B748 - Arrived at EDDF this week)
• DLH433 (Operated by an A346 - Arrived at EDDF this week)
• DLH430 (Operated by a B748 - Arrived at KORD this week)
• DLH432 (Operated by an A346 - Arrived at KORD this week)

I looked hard in there but, could not locate any A330s. So, the LH A330s (-200s and -300s), old and trusty friends of mine, that once used to routinely ply the transoceanic skies on such long-haul routes, have now gone silent (being eliminated by LH from service). Lufthansa had received the first A330 in 2004 and plans to retire all its A333-200s (and A340s) in the next couple of years. Their A330-300s (which you see in my images below) might stay around a little longer but eventually will be also eliminated in favor of the ubiquitous (modern) twinjets such as the A350s, B787s, and B779s. 

The historic fleet of the long-standing airlines have always fascinated me (much more so than their current fleet...🙂...). Here e.g. is an airline that was behind the launch of the (venerable) 737 lineage (that first ever successful twinjet (Joe Sutter) design with engines on-the-wings vs. engines-on-the tail). LH had also operated the very first 737 (the rare -100 variant) of which series we are all now flying the MAX...🙂...

On examination of Lufthansa's A330 Fleet details, one sees the following:
Current: 
A330-300s - Total 7 (No A330-200s...!)
Historic:
A330-200s - 5; A330-300s - 12; Total 17 (Note: A330-300 (D-AIKL) of my today's flight is listed in this (historic) lot of LH A330s)

There was a period of two decades (1995-2015) in my life, when I was most active as an international flyer with typically 2 roundtrips per year from U.S. to East/Far-East, implying a total of 8 long-haul legs per year. Speaking specifically of the LH A330s, which the airline acquired first in 2004, there was a period of 10 years (2005-2015), when I must have travelled many times on the LH A330s. Assuming equal distribution of long-haul a/c among (A330, A340, B747, B777), I must have travelled on the LH A330s alone about 20 times.

So, during those 10 years, on each outing, what was my probability of getting on board this (exact) same A330-300 (D-AIKL) ...🙂...that you see below...? Since we have a total of 24 A330s with 19 A333s and 5 A332s, recalling school-age statistics...🙂... (probability of picking a red ball from a group of 19 reds and 5 greens is 19/24 = 80%). This confirmed to me that just into my 2nd outing during those 10 years, I would have exceeded 100% probability of flying in this (exact) A330-300 (D-AIKL) ...🙂...It's indeed a wonderful feeling to be flying, in the SIM, the exact same Aircraft (variant and Reg. ID) on which I'd actually travelled (in the RW) many times, 15-20 years ago. That's why this A330 here today felt like (accidentally) meeting a dear old friend of mine...🙂...

For this post, I've replicated the FlightAware (KORD->EDDF) Flight DLH433 (RW) route, below, flown earlier this week with an A340-600 (I've entered the waypoints and airways manually into the A330-300 MCDU):

"RAYNR BRTMN TAAYZ TVC 4900N/08000W 5500N/07000W LAKES SAVRY 6100N/05000W 6200N/04000W 6100N/03000W 6000N/02000W 5900N/01500W ERAKA ETSOM FINDO ROBEM M982 ROKAN P1 GODOS AMGOD SOGPO DIXAT DIXAT1A"

The 2nd trigger for my today's flight was a (European) repaint pack for the iniBuilds A330, that I'd recently picked up in the (MSFS2024) Market place, which (fortuitously) included this (Old Color) Lufthansa livery of the A330-343 (with RR/Trent Engines and Reg. D-AIKL). Today's flight was long but satisfying, where, except for the customary 2X rate during the oceanic segment of the route, I've stayed true to the flight plan. The iniBuilds A330 (admirably) stood up to the challenge of this 4,000+ miles long-haul flight. The flight time is 8 hours, and Frankfurt being 7 hours ahead of Chicago time, as I depart KORD at 5:30am in the dawn light, I touch down into the ILS Runway 07R/EDDF in the dusk light at (local) 8:30pm. 

In my 100+ transits and arrivals via EDDF/Frankfurt, two landmarks, I would never forget to notice prior to each touchdown: (1) The Main River on the final Approach course and (2) The Lufthansa Technik Buildings on site at the airport; both of these landmarks can be seen in my images below (e.g., see an image of Lufthansa Technik in my last screenshot). 

Hope you enjoy this collection of my A330 images...of an a/c, type and ID, which had actually (and reliably) flown me across the oceans so many times...decades ago...good memories indeed... 

Thanks for viewing and happy flying...!

Edited May 2, 20251 yr by P_7878

Beautiful shots! 😉 

Fine set !

cheers 😉

21 hours ago, Alaska738 said:

Beautiful shots! 😉 

Thanks much, Will. Glad you liked this Airbus...🙂...

 

14 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Fine set !

cheers 😉

Appreciated the note, pmplayer. This A330 (D-AIKL) is nicknamed "Ingolstadt"...after one of your Bavarian cities...🙂...have never visited the city but have travelled on this "Ingolstadt" airplane...🙂...a few times...

This EDDF here is not a payware, but I was snooping around a bit more today...and found 2 other Lufthansa Technik buildings around there, rendered by (default) Gaya Simulations. Actually, the first one below is what I recall most being visible just before touchdown. And the 2nd one, I learned, is called "Butterfly Hangar" because of its looks...

Cheers...!