Boeing has hit the headlines around the world and for something other than its battle with Airbus for supremacy in the skies.
The US Air Force has used a Boeing C-17 Globemaster to transport a most unusual cargo - Keiko, the 10,000lb (4,500kg) Orca star of the box office smash Free Willy.
Keiko was made famous by the Warner Brothers film but subsequently his health failed because of the inadequate conditions in which he was being kept in Mexico.
Location
Following a flood of public sentiment, Warner Brothers took action and began looking for a suitable location for the movie-star orca - actually a member of the dolphin family and not a whale.
Earlier this week Keiko was flown from the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport where he has been kept since 1996 to his new Icelandic home.
The total cargo weight ruled out almost any aircraft other than the C-17 and the short-field landing requirements confirmed that it was the only aircraft for the job.
Herring
The 85,000lb (38,000kg) cargo included a transport tank with 3,200gal (14,500 litres) of water, 3,000lb (1,300kg) of frozen herring for in-flight snacks, a ton of ice and two dozen handlers.
Commander for the mission was Air Force Major Tim Harris.
Says Harris of the successful mission: "This is what the aeroplane is built to do - take a large amount of cargo into a small place over a great distance.
"As far as the load is concerned, it was just another typical load for the C-17- it just happened to be a big whale."
Source: Flight Daily News
