Plane stuck on TPE
LOOK Ma, it's a plane!
An airplane mounted on a trailer was stranded on the Tampines
Expressway for more than an hour on Monday morning, unable to pass
under an overhead pedestrian bridge.
The Boeing 737-300, which weighs more than 56,000kg, or nine
adult elephants, with its wings and nose removed, was being moved
from Seletar Airport to the airport emergency services training
ground of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) in Upper
Changi Road.
The trailer, bearing its gigantic cargo, was trundling down the
extreme left lane of the expressway at about 1am when it came to
the bridge. It had to slow down and stop.
Tampines resident Jackie Ong, 24, who lives in Block 492C in
Tampines Street 45, just off the highway, said, 'The trailer moved
back and forth but it wasn't able to pass under the bridge with the
plane on it.'
Finally, some air was let out of the tyres of the trailer to
lower its height. The trailer then passed under the bridge, but on
the extreme right lane, where the bridge is slightly higher off the
ground than the other sections.
All three lanes of the affected section of the TPE had to be
closed during this manoeuvre, which stranded about 15 cars on the
highway.
Mr Ong, a director of a food and beverage company, said he was
for a while worried that the plane might not be cleared out of the
way by the following morning, which would cause traffic to back up
during the morning rush hour.
The trailer and airplane was escorted by security officers
during its entire journey.
