Iron Maiden Ed Force One plane has accident in Chile
14 March 2016
Newsdesk
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Iron Maiden's Ed Force One tour jet has been involved in a serious accident in Chile. The undercarriage of the Boeing 747 was badly damaged during a collision on the ground in Santiago Airport in Chile.
Two people were taken to hospital but we now understand that they are both confirmed as 'not serious'.
“Ed Force One was this morning tethered to a tow truck to be taken for refuelling prior to flying over the Andes to Cordoba for the next show. On moving the steering pin that is part of the mechanism that connects the ground tug to the aircraft seemingly fell out. On making a turn the aircraft had no steering and collided with the ground tug badly damaging the undercarriage, two of the aircrafts engines and injuring two ground tug operators, both of whom have been taken to hospital. We hope of course that they make a full and speedy recovery and we will be closely monitoring their progress. The flight engineers are on site and evaluating the damage, but their initial report is that the engines have suffered large damage and will require an extended period of maintenance and possibly two new engines”.
Later an update reported, “We are happy to tell our fans in Cordoba that our Killer Krew has sorted out all logistics for us to be there with our full show for you all tomorrow. We expect no disruption to the tour in any way and are looking for a replacement 747 Ed Force One while our current beauty is healed. More news on that later. Until then, believe me, we will get to you all on this tour one way or another wherever you are.
“We are also delighted to say that we have been officially informed that the two Chilean airport staff who were injured following the malfunction of the tow truck connecting bolt will make a complete recovery. Best wishes to them and their families.
“Up the Irons! See you soon. And thanks Chile, what an amazing reaction and show.”
The band is at the start of their massive Books of Souls Tour and played in Santiago on Friday night and are to play in Cordoba next.
The 70-date tour will take them across four continents between February 24 and August 4.
