BOEING 747SP IN THUNDER BAY!
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Familiar 747 plane awaits servicing
By The Chronicle-Journal
Dec 31, 2005, 00:23
The Boeing 747 jet that was an object of curiosity at the Thunder Bay airport this summer is reportedly in northern Mexico, awaiting some tender loving care.
According to various sources, the Global Peace Ambassadors jumbo left Thunder Bay on Dec. 16 and arrived in Tijuana, Mexico to undergo servicing at a heavy maintenance facility.
The contract pilot who flew the plane into Thunder Bay and oversaw its journey to Mexico said the 94-seat aircraft will receive a tune-up.
“The plane, as you know by now, is basking in the warmth in Mexico. It is at a maintenance facility where it will get the loving care that it deserves,” Capt. Ron Greene told The Chronicle-Journal by e-mail correspondence.
He’s out on assignment elsewhere for the next few weeks and unavailable for further comment.
The 23-year-old refurbished 747-SP jet is operated by Global Peace Initiative, a Houston, Tex.-based humanitarian relief organization. In the wake of the December 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, the aircraft was dispatched to India with American aid workers to help with relief efforts. However, a news report said the flight left a week late due to funding woes and a fuel system problem with the jet.
Since then, the plane — dubbed Global Peace One — has been the subject of controversy.
A Los Angeles-area Jewish group filed a $9-million lawsuit in June, alleging it had arrangements with GPI to use the aircraft to get to Israel, following a stopover in Krakow, Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
They contend their trip was cancelled when the passengers arrived at the airport, and that their $800,000 up-front payment was not refunded.
The lawsuit by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces names evangelist K.A. Paul and his Gospel to the Unreached Millions as defendants.
None of the allegations have yet been proven in court.
The jet, a “Special Performance” model that can take off and land on shorter runways, was flown into Thunder Bay on July 13 from Cincinnati.
In an earlier interview, Greene said he recommended Thunder Bay to GPI officials as a place where they could “park the aircraft in a quiet place for a period of time.” He is originally from Wisconsin and was familiar with Canadian customs and immigration issues.
Shortly after it landed, though, a former flight attendant told The Chronicle-Journal the reason the plane had to be flown out of the U.S. was to “avoid having it seized.”
Five days after landing in Thunder Bay, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration suspended the aircraft’s operating certificate on several grounds, including allegations it was not maintained properly.
The plane finally left Thunder Bay five months later.
Tijuana is a resort city of 1.3 million people on the Baja peninsula, a 20-minute drive south of San Diego, Calif. Tijuana International Airport is located right across the street from a fence that separates Mexico and the United States.
By The Chronicle-Journal
Dec 31, 2005, 00:23
The Boeing 747 jet that was an object of curiosity at the Thunder Bay airport this summer is reportedly in northern Mexico, awaiting some tender loving care.
According to various sources, the Global Peace Ambassadors jumbo left Thunder Bay on Dec. 16 and arrived in Tijuana, Mexico to undergo servicing at a heavy maintenance facility.
The contract pilot who flew the plane into Thunder Bay and oversaw its journey to Mexico said the 94-seat aircraft will receive a tune-up.
“The plane, as you know by now, is basking in the warmth in Mexico. It is at a maintenance facility where it will get the loving care that it deserves,” Capt. Ron Greene told The Chronicle-Journal by e-mail correspondence.
He’s out on assignment elsewhere for the next few weeks and unavailable for further comment.
The 23-year-old refurbished 747-SP jet is operated by Global Peace Initiative, a Houston, Tex.-based humanitarian relief organization. In the wake of the December 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, the aircraft was dispatched to India with American aid workers to help with relief efforts. However, a news report said the flight left a week late due to funding woes and a fuel system problem with the jet.
Since then, the plane — dubbed Global Peace One — has been the subject of controversy.
A Los Angeles-area Jewish group filed a $9-million lawsuit in June, alleging it had arrangements with GPI to use the aircraft to get to Israel, following a stopover in Krakow, Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
They contend their trip was cancelled when the passengers arrived at the airport, and that their $800,000 up-front payment was not refunded.
The lawsuit by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces names evangelist K.A. Paul and his Gospel to the Unreached Millions as defendants.
None of the allegations have yet been proven in court.
The jet, a “Special Performance” model that can take off and land on shorter runways, was flown into Thunder Bay on July 13 from Cincinnati.
In an earlier interview, Greene said he recommended Thunder Bay to GPI officials as a place where they could “park the aircraft in a quiet place for a period of time.” He is originally from Wisconsin and was familiar with Canadian customs and immigration issues.
Shortly after it landed, though, a former flight attendant told The Chronicle-Journal the reason the plane had to be flown out of the U.S. was to “avoid having it seized.”
Five days after landing in Thunder Bay, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration suspended the aircraft’s operating certificate on several grounds, including allegations it was not maintained properly.
The plane finally left Thunder Bay five months later.
Tijuana is a resort city of 1.3 million people on the Baja peninsula, a 20-minute drive south of San Diego, Calif. Tijuana International Airport is located right across the street from a fence that separates Mexico and the United States.
