The last airworthy Martin Mars water bomber is expected to make its final flight, a journey to the U.S., today, a few days later than expected.
Philippine Mars was originally scheduled to depart from Sproat Lake on Wednesday, but ran into “maintenance issues,” said plane owners Coulson Aviation.
However, the plane is now deemed flight-ready and has been scheduled for a departure from Sproat Lake at 10 a.m. Its final destination is the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
Pilots are expected to conduct a flyover in Port Alberni and head out of the west coast on the Alberni Inlet before turning southward for the first stop in San Francisco, where the plane will clear customs and then fly on to San Diego for a brief layover for some media attention before turning toward Arizona.
Those looking to trace the Philippine Mars flight path can follow along through airplane tracking software provided by Skytrac Systems at shorturl.at/AyesS. The login ID for the software is Merry and the password is XMAS.
