Historic Plane Makes Its Way to Aviation Museum in N.C.

Fri June 17, 2011 - Northeast Edition
Brenda Ruggiero

A piece of history recently made its way down the east coast from Harrison, N.J., to its final resting place at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C.

The cargo was Flight 1549, the A-320 Airbus that was safely landed by Captain “Sully” Sullenberger in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009.

The transport was handled by J. Supor & Son Trucking & Rigging Co. Inc. of Kearny, N.J., which is the same company that originally pulled the plane from the Hudson.

“This has truly been a miracle from start to finish,” said Joseph Supor III, president of J. Supor & Son. “I am ecstatic that my company was afforded the privilege to transport ’The Miracle on the Hudson’ to the Carolinas Aviation Museum.”

Supor offered thanks to all the state’s DOT’s and engineers, each police department, state trooper, county official, and all the town mayors who helped in navigating the truck through the permitted route.

“If not for the combined effort of all, this move could not have been accomplished,” Supor said. “The outpouring of support throughout the country has been overwhelming and I’m reminded again why I’m so proud to be an American.”

Doug Filos, operations and logistics coordinator of J. Supor & Son, reported that the transport was done with a Kenworth T800 four-axle truck and a 65-ton (59 t) perimeter six-axle steerable trailer, resulting in a total of 10 axles.

The plane was loaded onto the trailer by two hydraulic cranes owned by J. Supor with the assistance of Kevlar straps in the storage facility in Harrison. The wings, which are still in storage, will be transported with stretch flatbed trailers at a later date.

According to Filos, the most challenging part of the move was “finding the most advantageous route that would keep the amount of turns down to a minimum due to the length and height of the load.”

The journey, which took a total of seven days, involved one tractor, one steerman, a high pole and a project supervisor.

Despite the challenges, the outcome was a success.

“Actually, it was seamless and safe,” Filos said.

CEG

Brenda Ruggiero

Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.

Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.

Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.

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