By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2351) on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 1:42 pm: |
KLM has had a plane grounded now two days. Last night a huge jumbo jet, I think a 747 landed at 7 PM. Around 11 a huge engine was on the runway next to the broken one. I suspect the huge plane brought the new engine. Anyone know??
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #601) on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 6:28 pm: |
It was a Boeing "combie," from what I've heard-a plane that's half passenger/half cargo, sent with the new engine. Sounded like it was going to land on my house!
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By Dr. Director (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #236) on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 8:36 pm: |
In the early days of the 747 (all the way back in the early 1970s) the only way an airline could get a replacement engine to a remote location was to ferry it on the wing. This created the appearance of a 5-engine 747. Even today, that is an accepted way of bringing a replacement engine. Not saying that is what KLM did, because you can also transport the engine internally in the "combie" mode Ruth described.
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By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #18727) on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 8:57 pm: |
Dr. Director...PIA? Pain in the Ass airline? lol...I never thought about a major breakdown at the Bon airport...and having to fly a replacement engine in...guess some folks got an extra few days on Bonaire as a bonus!
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By michael gaynor (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2176) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 8:29 am: |
It was an engine fire that caused the problem. a passenger told me she saw the flames when they landed a few days ago. It appears that they have changed the engine.
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By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #18733) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:56 am: |
Now that's something you don't want to see as a passenger on a plane...
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By Dr. Director (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #237) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 12:28 pm: |
PIA = Pakistan (or Pakistani) International Airlines.
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By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #18742) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 12:47 pm: |
Dr...I don't think anyone thought it was the plane that flew it to Bon. I did see that website with all the photos though...very interesting!
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By Rosanne (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #419) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 12:56 pm: |
Whew! Ann you scared me with your headline, I thought a plane had crashed! I was happy to read on to find the details. PIA, scary airline, but good food.
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By Jerry Gauron (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1198) on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 1:21 pm: |
Welcome back Ruth.
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By Brigitte Kley - Coco Palm Garden (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #495) on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 10:02 pm: |
I heard the motor was overheated in Quito. I am not technical at all, but I will try to repeat what I heard .... Normally the MD11 can take a weight of 280.000 (kg ???), but because of the high altitude (thin air) in Quito they can take a max of 200.000 (kg???). This weight was exactly reached and the motor overheated at the start . So they had to change the motor in Bonaire. Was an enormous problem. The motor arrived on the Jumbo in the upper deck, but there is no crane at the airport on Bonaire for that height. I think on the end they found a crane at Bopec.... Talk is, if it would have been the tail motor, the plan would have returned empty to Amsterdam on the 2 wing motors.
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By Jeff Stine (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #106) on Sunday, July 30, 2006 - 8:56 am: |
We saw the plane sitting on the tarmac with the spare engine beside it. We wondered how the engine arrived. The night before we saw the engine off, we were eating dinner and we saw a KLM plane at not the usual time. I noticed that it had the landing gear down heading over Klein, so I figured that something was wrong. The plane turned and safely landed a few minutes later. Glad everything worked out ok.
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