AIRBUS BELUGA MAKES UNEXPECTED LANDING

USPA NEWS - An Airbus Beluga, one of the aviation world’s most uniquely designed aircraft, has landed at JA Douglas McCurdy Airport in Sydney, Cape Breton. The massive cargo aircraft, diverted from its planned route to St. John’s, NL, after departing the Azores earlier in the day.

The reason for the unexpected diversion of this huge aircraft remains unclear. There is a very good chance that weather could have been the culprit. The Airbus Beluga, was nicknamed for its resemblance to the white beluga whale. Very rarely seen in this region, the Beluga created a stirr among local aviation buffs and curious residents of the surrounding area, which made it an unusual sight at the small airport.

Sydney Airport CEO Myles Tuttle said, "The plane got quite a greeting when it landed around 5 p.m. There was a traffic jam down the whole Grand Lake Road and the traffic jam kept going up to Airport Road, I was amazed at the amount of community interest.... It was pretty cool."

Tuttle went on to say, "There are only a handful of the planes operating, and aviation enthusiasts around the world follow their every move. Sydney airport has a runway that's 7,070 feet long and 200 feet wide with pavement rated for the weight, emergency response equipment and personnel, and everything else needed to accommodate the large cargo plane."

For us, it was a brush-up of our skills that proved to some of the new team members that we can accommodate that kind of activity, and it just demonstrated to our community that we're capable of handling whatever challenges fall out of the sky."

Tuttle ended by indicating that the Airbus Beluga departed Monday morning and the airport got top marks from the crew of this unusual aircraft.