Conquering an ‘impossible job’

Flying an L-1011 Tri-Star aircraft at 30,000 feet in the air appears to be quite easy, but taking that same aircraft apart and transporting it from Piarco to the Chaguaramas museum was “real hell,” according to a statement yesterday from the museum. Officials at the Chaguaramas Military History and Aerospace Museum yesterday told of the problems encountered in dis-assembling and moving the cannibalised Lock-heed L1011 Tristar 9YTGN after it was donated to the museum’s collection by BWIA International. The aircraft, which had flown in BWIA’s fleet for two decades, covering hundreds of thousands of miles, weighed over 300,000 pounds, was 165 feet long and the same distance across.

To conquer the enormous problem of disassembly, the museum formed a special team of enthusiasts who called themselves the IMF —  the Impossible Mission Force. The IMF included MIC trainees, ably facilitated by BWIA’s chief engineer and two retired mechanics. They laboured non-stop for four weeks on the project and conquered a job that even officials from the Lockheed Corporation had said was impossible. Then came the gigantic job of moving the huge wide-bodied machine from Piarco to Chagua-ramas. Here, the goodwill of corporate Trinidad came to the fore.  The lifting, loading and transport was accomplished by Pres T Con, Highway Transport, Seemungal’s Transport, Jusamco, PCR Services, Inter Isle Construction, Phoenix Marine, Faizal Ali, Dale De Nobriga, Douglas Skinner, KKRV Consolidated and other willing supporters.

It took two Sundays to accomplish the movement, so it became D-Day One, and D-Day Two. To accomplish the feat, the museum was supported by Highway Patrol police cars and a team of police motorcyclists who moved the most ungainly convoy in Trinidad’s history to the museum. The museum team is currently hard at work reassembling the wide-bodied aircraft in the Chaguaramas compound, where it will become a major aviation attraction, highlighting the history of BWIA and people from our islands to the world of aviation. The aircraft had flown regularly across the Atlantic to London, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Stock-holm and Manchester, as well as New York, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington, and Miami. It also flew to Quito, Caracas, Margarita and most of the Caribbean islands. This type of aircraft was much loved by the airline’s flight and ground crews, and served in BWIA’s fleet for longer than any other type in the airline’s history.