Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Russian truck transports plane through St. Petersburg streets
I just know there is a "In Russia...." joke to be made here. The photo shows the elaborate transport of a U.S. owned Eclipse private jet. The plane was being transported from the airport to a convention center where it was scheduled to be put on display.
According to the story, during transport, the truck hit the nose of the plane which messed up the entire plan. Originally, the plane was supposed to be driven several miles to a river, and be barged up the river to the convention center. But because of the damage, the truck was delayed, and the barge left, forcing the truck to make its delivery entirely by road.
The plane is an Eclipse 500, one of the products of the Eclipse Aviation company, which went bankrupt in 2008. More photos of the plane in question (without a broken nose) can be found here.
Gallery: Russian plane transport
[Story/photos from: English Russia]
Filed under: Europe, Russian Federation
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rob Jan 25th 2011 8:16PM
The newest Russian Aircraft Carrier!
Nona Jan 25th 2011 9:05PM
That is just whacked. Why couldn't the plane taxi to the convention center, flanked by police? How stupid to drive the thing on a flatbed, sideways, down city streets!
Lita Jan 25th 2011 10:55PM
It could be because the wingspan is greater than the length of the aircraft, dear. While there may be enough room on the street shown here, who knows how narrow other streets they had to travel over to get to their destination? Also, have you heard? Jet engines have hot, high-speed output from the rear. Geez....
Nona Jan 26th 2011 5:03AM
Oh - so you assume that the plane's engines were running while it was being transported, dear? Wake up.
BTDT Jan 25th 2011 10:57PM
Note to Ruskies, the wings come off.
Next time, hire a mechanic.
f9f9 Jan 26th 2011 1:12AM
Well, here's another weird but true story about a jet plane suddenly appearing on a road. It was about 30 years ago outside of Visalia, Calif., in farm and ranch country, and I was driving on the road. I approached a four-way stop amidst orange groves, and in disbelief I saw coming from my left a U.S. Navy A-4 Skyhawk attack jet being towed along the road by a pick-up truck! If you're not familiar with this type of jet, they are about 45 feet long, have a narrow wingspan; and is a compact, single-seat bomber. Let me tell you, it was a weird sight to see a Navy jet being towed on a single-lane road surrounded by orange groves on a quiet morning in the middle of nowhere, miles from any air field! I learned later that it was occasionally towed to public events as a recruiting tool.
Stephen Fisher Jan 26th 2011 1:27AM
When I hired into Douglas Aircraft in the shipping department, my job description included, being able to pack an entire aircraft on a flatbed truck. I never did but I saw one that had crashed packed that way.
NN Jan 27th 2011 6:08AM
Hi everybody!
Pictures of the damaged plane were published after XII Economic Forum in St.Pete.
At the Expo nodody had seen the damage, becuase it was brilliantly repaired and masked. Why I teill you this - I'm the one who arranged transportation. I've got a lot of other interesting pictures, more exiting than published. Regards.
Ivan "Busy Man" Feb 1st 2011 8:57AM
So this is just what I thought then - it was back in 2008, so we haven't had a lot of them Eclipses going around Russian streets for a while.