Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Iron Maiden airborne again following emergency repairs to Ed Force One

By | Published on Wednesday 23 March 2016

Ed Force One

Iron Maiden are back in the air, after their 747 tour jet was grounded earlier this month following an accident that meant two of its engines had to be replaced.

As previously reported, the band rented their new Ed Force One plane in order to fly around the world on their latest tour, piloted by frontman Bruce Dickinson. However, the plane was damaged just a couple of weeks in, when a tow truck at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile malfunctioned, damaging the two engines and injuring two members of airport staff.

The tour was unaffected, but it took several days to transport new engines to Chile and fit them. This work now complete, the plane is airborne once again.

“The speed and thoroughness of this incredibly complex operation was stunning and we are so very pleased to get our plane back”, says Dickinson. “We would like to thank Air Atlanta and their terrific rescue team for a fantastic effort in achieving this in the time they did, and to Boeing, LAN Chile, ACS and Rock-It Cargo for all their invaluable support. We are sorry though for our fans in Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Rio and Belo Horizonte who missed out seeing the plane, but we hope they enjoyed the concerts as much as we did”.

He added: “We should also thank our Killer Krew who found themselves at lunchtime on the Saturday of the accident with over 20 tons of equipment at the airport in Santiago and over 60 people all to get to Cordoba for early the next day to set up the huge show we are carrying. The distance is ‘only’ 1000km, but with a small matter of the Andes in between! They did it, by the skin of the teeth, and all went very well for the show in Cordoba and the other cities EF1 just missed”.

The next stop on the tour will be Arena Castelão in Fortaleza, Brazil tomorrow.



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