John Travolta is donating a Boeing 747 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society and preparations are taking shape.
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Meetings are under way with Shellharbour City Council, on the NSW south coast, to plan events around the arrival of John Travolta and the Boeing 707 he is donating to the
November is still the estimated time of arrival for the aircraft after the HARS team responsible for flying it to Australia make good headway.
Project manager Maureen Massey and three others have just returned from a trip to Georgia to assess what maintenance and paperwork is still required.
Ms Massey, HARS president Bob De La Hunty, and engineers Jim Marshall and Wayne Studdert spent almost a week checking out the plane and talking to authorities from the maintenance organisation in the USA as well as CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) in Australia.
She said they determined there are no major operational impediments with the aircraft that is still on schedule to arrive with John Travolta on board in November.
"This is the second step in the program," Ms Massey said.
"The first was talking to CASA and the second was meeting with Stambaugh Aviation at Brunswick. It went very well. We had successful meetings with them and they are very happy to help us out. We are presently working out which parts of the maintenance they will do and which part we will do.
"It is basically all paperwork. It is the things that have been outstanding on the aircraft since Travolta had it. And it is up to us, because we want to fly it home, to make sure these are all carried out.
"We are in the process now of negotiating with Stambaugh about what is done and what is not done.
"It was a very successful meeting and we are very happy".
Ms Massey said there will be one more trip to the USA by HARS engineers who will be working on the aircraft. The following trip will involve a crew travelling to Georgia for the 707's flight to Albion Park via Europe and Asia.
"We did a full engine run during this last trip and number two engine blew a hydraulic line," Ms Massey said.
"You will find that with an aircraft that hasn't been flown for a while. So we will have to replace hydraulic lines on all four engines. And we expect there will be a few more things like that. All donations to help us will be gratefully received".
Ms Massey said the ongoing meetings with CASA were very productive.
"They are very happy with what is happening. They were very happy to get the report on our last trip from Stambaugh. So it is all green lights so far".
