If the issue was not the holding of the Argentine Grand Prix, the rest of our aerial soap opera would almost be amusing, it is so picturesque...
We stayed with the Boeing 747-222B(SF) of the Aerostan company based in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, which had broken down in Mombasa, after having delivered a first load to Tucuman and returned to Lombok to pick up a second one.
Having landed broken down on Wednesday at 21:30 p.m., Thursday was rather intense…
First of all, the fault had to be diagnosed, in this case a feed valve of one of the Rolls-Royce reactors of the venerable 35-year-old Jumbo Jet, plus various small components. The pieces are found and purchased in Britain and France.
While couriers undertake the London-Mombasa and Paris-Mombasa journey by airliner, mechanics begin Thursday afternoon to dismantle a valve from one of the three other engines to validate the repair in Kenya. It works, that was the problem!
London flight BA 65 first lands in Nairobi at 20:40 p.m., AF814 from Paris at 21:00 p.m. The parts are then loaded onto the last Nairobi-Mombasa flight operated by Kenya Airlines scheduled to depart at 23:45 p.m.
The flight was delayed but the Kenyan Embraer 90 finally took off and, after 45 minutes of flight, landed in Mombasa.
There, we are not idle: the parts are assembled and the Boeing 747 finally takes off at 6:41 a.m. this morning, heading to Lagos in Nigeria where, as we publish these lines, it has just landed after a 4h44 flight.
Fly little plane, fly, with your holds full of motorcycles and equipment!
But there are two stages left, Lagos – Salvador (Brazil) in 6 hours, then Salvador – Tucuman (Argentina) in 4 hours. It's far from a foregone conclusion if you add in the refueling and operations required each time: a 35-year-old Jumbo Jet can't be handled like a motorcycle...
So at best, the 747 will arrive late in the afternoon in Tucuman. The best.
Obviously, the spectators have already arrived at Termas de Rio Hondo and the Grand Prix authorities are already considering the worst: several solutions are being considered if the 747 does not arrive on time but talking about it now could bring bad luck!
Fly little plane, fly, with your holds full of motorcycles and equipment!
The suspense continues…
We thank the Argentine spotters from Tucuman for the pictures
