A great project always starts with relevant ideas, a lot of energy and dedication together.
Restoring an almost derelict aircraft can be classified as a major project. It's not easy at all!
The very structure of the plane, with considerable size, makes everything more complex in the project, and because it is an old plane, which has not been manufactured for years, it can make the simple action of arranging new parts an ordeal. It's like trying to properly maintain a Fiat Marea these days.
However, I'm not here to talk about cars, but about an excellent project that is taking place in the Federal Capital.
Last Friday (28/08) we had the opportunity to visit the Fokker 100 project. This classic aircraft, in addition to helping build two Brazilian airlines, has a lot of history to tell with the PR-OAF fuselage.
But first, let's take a look at the history of the F-100 itself.
Operation of the Fokker 100 in Brazil
The Fokker 100 is not the most beloved aircraft in Brazil, but until 2019 it had a wide importance in Brazilian aviation. In fact, it continues to have this importance, despite the setbacks at Avianca Brasil.
Back in the 1990s, TAM was beginning to emerge as a jet operator, moving away from its regional beginnings to also serve connections between large capitals. There are those who point out that TAM and GOL, with their differentiated services, were responsible for bankrupting companies like Varig, Vasp and Transbrasil, but we don't want to get into this merit.
TAM's choice at the time was based on a modern aircraft: The Fokker 100. This Dutch plane was extremely modern, developed in partnership with the largest companies in the aeronautical sector, featuring a Glass Cockpit as early as 1983, along with two silent and economical Rolls engines -Royce Tay.
But at the time, the market did not have as much appetite for regional planes as it would start to have a few years later. As a result, Fokker spent a lot of money on a project that was only mildly successful, despite the number of planes ordered.
The Fokker 100 was also known in the industry for its complex maintenance and ease of piloting. It's like a beautiful French car!
Anyway… In Brazil, TAM grew through the Fokker 100, until years later it began to receive its first aircraft from Airbus, at that time a mixture of second-hand aircraft and new ones from the factory. The F-100 had its 'film burned' in Brazil through the wings of TAM, which operated with the aircraft until 2007.
Soon after, in 2006, a company that was emerging in the Brazilian market also turned its eyes to the Fokker 100. Avianca took a total of 15 Fokker 100 aircraft throughout its history, and operated with these until 2015. It was an important period airline growth.
The restored plane
After a lot of stalling, it's time to talk a little more about PR-OAF. The aircraft has operated at Avianca Brasil since 2006, when in 2014 it needed to land without the front landing gear at Brasília Airport.
At the time, Avianca Brasil was already in the process of thinking about the retirement of its Fokker 100 aircraft. So after the serious incident, which you can check more Clicking here, the aircraft stayed in a hangar at Brasília Airport.
Until the bankruptcy of the airline, in 2015, this F-100 still received some AVB crew, however, to carry out training only.
When Avianca went bankrupt, in 2019, the aircraft was abandoned at Brasília Airport, and was stopped for a year, getting rain, sun and wind.
So the former owners decided to dispose of the plane through a donation. In Brasilia, the Central Baptist Church, located at block 603 South, decided to house the aircraft, and most importantly, restore it to a noble project.
The Central Baptist Church in Brasilia is already known for having a mockup, in small dimensions, of a Boeing 737. Even flight attendants trained there, in addition to being a base for events.
The restoration process
During a visit to the Pan Am Experience, in Brasilia, we checked out more details of the restoration, and what steps are necessary for it to be carried out.
After Pan Am has received the fuselage and components, which you can see a little more about the transport process in the videos above, the first process to be started is component recognition.
At this stage, they had the help of a former Avianca Brasil mechanic, Rodrigo Siqueira, to select the good components, and what needed to be adapted.
After listing a few components they have already advanced a few steps, often simultaneously. The first is to clean the components, in fact, the F-100 was out of the hangar for more than a year, and exposed to the famous wind with earth in Brasilia (and red earth).
The second step is to start assembling the F-100 components, and making any necessary adaptations. When we carried out the visit, they were simultaneously cleaning some large components and installing interior finishes, since the interior required a significant amount of adaptations, despite the large amount of original components.
Talking to Ricardo, the person responsible for the project, he pointed out that the Fokker 100 was already donated without some components, such as the main landing gear, plugs and the electrical wiring that is connected to these plugs. For this reason, the F-100 needs several adaptations in the electrical part, and to indicate the presence of engines and landing gear (in this case they will need to recreate these components).
Inside, despite the original lack of electrical wiring, they are adapting wiring so that all the upper s, above each seat, have their functionality, both air conditioning and reading lights. Flight attendant notices should also work.
After this adaptation process, logically we have the assembly of components inside and outside the aircraft, including the 45 seats distributed in two classes. As the focus is on recreating the comfort of the Pan Am, the project's creators opted for a more comfortable interior.
In a conversation with Ricardo, he told us that he received 120 seats with the aircraft. These are properly stored and will be used in the project and to replace defective seats in the future.
Such a project, which we rarely see in Brazil, takes up to three months to be fully completed. At the moment, the Central Baptist Church of Brasilia has volunteers and its own employees working on this project, something that can reduce the cadence of activities, and provides more time for the project.
future use
Many of our followers have asked about the future use of this aircraft. By the way, in the explanation above we have already highlighted a little of how the interior of this plane will be.
Ricardo stressed at all times that the plane must primarily serve the church's social contexts, including raising money for social programs. In addition to aircraft, he is a big fan of cooking, and based on that, he must promote themed dinners, with the cuisine of specific countries on each day of the event.
Speaking of an event, that's right, each dinner the "enger" will be treated as in a flight, with boarding, with the uniformed "crew " as at the time of Pan Am, ticket and assigned seat. Dinner indicates the country of your age, and the type of cuisine that will be served on board.
In the end, the goal is to make the plane available by December of this year, and start using it by March 2021, due to the pandemic. , avoid agglomerations!
You can also check out daily updates about the project directly on the Pan Am Experience Instagram profile (Click Here to access the page).
View this photo on Instagram
We thank the entire Pan Am Experience team for their reception, especially the questions raised by Ricardo and Rodrigo Siqueira.
