The Philippine Mars will soon be leaving the Alberni Valley — the final Martin Mars waterbomber that has had a presence at Sproat Lake for decades.
"Philippine is nearing its final days in Port Alberni and in the next couple of weeks, our goal is to depart out of here," said Britt Coulson, president and chief operating officer for the Coulson Group, which owns the Philippine Mars.
Transport Canada has granted Coulson Aviation the necessary permits to fly the Philippine Mars for check flights. Plans are in place to then ferry the aircraft down the west coast before heading inland to Arizona.
Coulson said Friday the Mars could fly as early as Nov. 30 or Dec. 1, after the AV News' print edition went to press.
The flight and ground crews have taken the Philippine Mars on several high-speed taxis on Sproat Lake since it went back in the water Nov. 7. A crack was discovered in one of the four engines; maintenance crews decided to swap it with one of the engines from the Hawaii Mars, which were still in working order from their flight in August. The engine was trucked up from Victoria and quickly replaced.
"We were using the Philippine's original engines. They had been inhibited and protected, but obviously there had been some damage at some point," Coulson said. The Philippine Mars hasn't flown since 2007, when Coulson Aviation bought it and the Hawaii Mars from TimberWest timber company. The Hawaii Mars was flown to Victoria in August to the B.C. Aviation Museum.
The flight crew for the Philippine's final flight will be Captain Pete Killin, who flew the Hawaii Mars for the last time, and Todd Davis, Coulson's U.S. division chief pilot. "He's very familiar with large, four-engine airplanes. He's a C-130 pilot instructor and he's got a lot of time in the U.S. airspace," Coulson said. "Having him will be a huge benefit...on the U.S. side."
When the Philippine Mars is ready to leave, the crew will fly it down the west coast of the United States to San Francisco, where it will clear customs and overnight. Then they will fly to San Diego for a couple of days of media attention and air-to-air videography before turning inland toward Tucson, Arizona.
Once it arrives in Arizona "it will get disassembled at all of its factory production joints and then it will ultimately be trucked to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson," Coulson said.
There has been much speculation from aviation enthusiasts about which lake in Arizona the Philippine Mars will land. Coulson said the Pima Air and Space Museum has asked them to not disclose the location. "(They're) concerned with the amount of people that will be there."
Coulson said there won't be as much fanfare when the Philippine Mars flies out of the Alberni Valley, like there was when the Hawaii Mars left in August for the B.C. Aviation Museum in Victoria. Some of that has to do with the weather, which is unpredictable at this time of year.
"We will let everybody know when it's ready to leave. We will probably end up doing another fly-by of the Harbour Quay area because that was great (in August) and nice for everybody.
"It won't be an Island tour like what Hawaii Mars was."
Because of unpredictable weather and operations (the Philippine hadn't yet flown by presstime), Coulson wasn't prepared on Friday to name a departure date or time.
