The oldest airplane to circumnavigate the globe, the Breitling Douglas DC-3 was carrying valuable cargo of a limited edition of 500 watches by the Swiss watchmaker on board, which, like a good wine that ages in the cask, are gaining character and a story during their flight, to be told before being put them on the market.
Macau is one of the 55 cities to be included in the collection’s "passport".
Landing permits at airports have been a challenge for the pilots and organizers of the round-the-world tour of the Breitling DC-3, which visited Macau on April 24 before taking off the following day for Taipei.
"Macau was a great challenge, but we got the license, which is tremendous. It took months of work, but we got it and that's fantastic," said Swiss Airlines pilot Francisco Agullo. Having circumnavigated the world nine times, in 2008 he acquired the old Douglas DC-3, also known as a Dakota C-47, with the sponsorship of Swiss watchmaker Breitling.
"I am the owner of the plane and also the pilot. There are people who buy new cars, I bought an old plane," he told reporters at the event.
During the afternoon, 14 lucky VIP guests had the chance to go on a 15-minute flight over Macau at an altitude of 1,000 feet, or 800 meters.
Prior to that, Agullo explained that the stop in Macau was a way of ensuring that the plane included a landing in China near Hong Kong.
"We had to choose destinations. we couldn’t stop in all countries and Breitling, who is our main sponsor, also had a say in the decision. The other issue was fuel, we need a special fuel that is not available everywhere. It is not available in Macau, but we are able to refuel in the Philippines on route to Taiwan. For us it is also a way to ensure we are in this area, and close to Hong Kong," the pilot explained.
The 77-year-old Breitling DC-3 transported troops during World War II and passengers until 1988. It is "exactly the same" as it was when it made its maiden flight on March 9, 1940. The fuselage, wings, motors and propellers are all original pieces. The only modifications made were in the passenger cabin and in the cockpit, to upgrade the navigation and communication equipment.
On this six-month tour of 55 cities and 28 countries, which began on March 9, Agullo is joined by pilot and mechanic, Briton Paul Bazeley, and Swiss Daniel Meyer, responsible for the safety of the limited edition 500 Navitimer Breitling DC-3 watches, travelling aboard the plane. Each watch will have a certificate signed by Captain Agullo and Macau will appear in the respective "logbook" or travel diary.
The first flight by a DC-3 took place on December 17, 1935. During the Second World War the United States Government required Douglas, the DC-3 manufacturer, to build "as many aircrafts as possible" and 16,000 DC-3s were manufactured in the United States, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.
There are currently 150 DC-3 aircraft still flying, but this model is rarely used by commercial aviation companies.
"In Colombia they still use the DC-3 to fly into the jungle. This plane can carry 30 people and land on a dirt track or grass only 180 meters in length. There is no other plane that can do that today. That's why there are places where airlines still use this plane commercially," such as Colombia, Bolivia, Canada, Alaska and Africa, he explained.
For the Pacific crossing, seats needed to be removed and the cabin had to be adapted to place extra tanks of fuel inside the aircraft, which now has the capacity to fly 12 hours non-stop.
