By João Machado
Written-Off Fokker 100 to Become a Pan Am-Themed Restaurant
On March 28, 2014, a Fokker 100 operated by Avianca Brasil executed an emergency landing in Brasília, Brazil, after a hydraulic failure impeded the nose landing gear to be put down. Following appropriate procedures by the crew, PR-OAF managed to land with its nose on the runway. All 44 passengers and five crew members left the aircraft unharmed with some passengers even succeeded in not missing their connections.
The fate of the aircraft, however, was not as good. Manufactured in 1992, PR-OAF was written off Avianca Brasil’s fleet, remaining in Brasília before being scrapped to provide parts to the remaining Fokkers of the fleet.
At some point in time before its demise in 2019, Avianca Brasil sold the fuselage carcass to an unknown third party, and the Fokker was kept in a Brasília hangar, where the aircraft was forgotten for a long time. It was not until June 18, 2020, when AeroJota, an aviation classifieds website, published an advertisement on its website saying the fuselage was on sale.
Alô amigos seguidores do site de Classificados AeroJota, temos para venda a fuselagem desse Fokker 100 para vc deixar em…
Posted by AeroJota on Thursday, June 18, 2020
The customer who bought the aircraft after the advertisement emerged, it was later discovered, was a project called “PanAm Experience Brazil”, also from Brasília. Last week, a convoy of trucks took the fuselage of PR-OAF to the parking lot of the city’s Central Baptist Church, where the project is located.
Just as its American counterpart, Pan Am Experience Brazil aims to bring guests back to a golden era of aviation that is immediately connected to the world-famous Pan American World Airways, better known as Pan Am.
And much to the surprise of enthusiasts and aviation geeks alike, the aircraft will now be the headquarters of this project, which is expected to even have the Fokker painted in full Pan Am colors. Behind the venture in Brazil is Ricardo Espindola, 50, whose passion for aviation comes “since always.” AirlineGeeks had the chance to discuss the project with Espindola.
The Brasília entrepreneur, who is a Pastor at the Baptist Church and also a chef, has its own cooking TV show in a local station. He tells that the project was born after a church fair, where he mixed his two passions: cooking and aviation. “A group reunited to mount a stand and it decided to mount an airplane mockup. Project done. After the party, no one wanted to dismount it, and it [was] decided to expand it.”
Since then, the project grew, and the mockup gained on the structure. Pan Am Experience Brazil became a real gastronomic experience that merges itself with the aircraft as if it was a real flight. “Boarding passes, check-in, media system, equipment that made the ‘aircraft’ vibrate,” Espindola lists as features of the mockup.
The tribute to Pan Am, says Ricardo, comes because the “Brazilian classics” all have naming owners, making the licensing a “complex process”.
“Pan Am is the precursor of every model used in aviation today,” he mentions, adding that a piece of sentimentality comes along with it since one of his aunts was a flight attendant for the airline, “which brings [me] a lot of memories.” He says today the Pan Am brand is theirs in Brazil, counting with registering in the National Registry of Legal Entities.
In one year of the first mockup, says the chef, the project has attended 1000 “passengers”, in a space that had 20 seats. Besides paying customers, this included students from low-income public schools, groups of elderly and members of Abrace – an acronym for the Brazilian Association of Assistance to Families of Children with Cancer and Hemopathies. And profits are reverted to these social attendances, says the project’s Captain.
With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting Brazil and before the arrival of the Fokker, in July the first mockup was removed. But why the project chose a Fokker if Pan Am never operated this aircraft model? Espindola says it was a “casual” choice. “It was not a goal nor an objective.”
“Casually we saw an article in a social network that talked about the equipment [PR-OAF]. So we went after [it] and it was available,” he says. “What we thought sometimes [to have] would be a [Boeing] 737-200 but in opportunity, the Fokker came in handy”, the now-businessman adds. “The fact it was being scrapped in Brasília facilitated it all.”
With the aircraft in new hands, the project finishes its plans of what to do next, since the Fokker was empty on the inside. On the inside, part of the structure of the first mockup will be used in the old Alpha Fox, and the cabin is expected to count with two “classes.” Parallelly, the outside of the aircraft will be completely repainted in the last colors of Pan Am. And because several parts of the outer fuselage were missing, Pan Am Experience will use wither fiber or metal cuts to complete the missing ones.
Espindola expects the aircraft to be ready for service already in 2021. “[To] make everything work, [to] serve the community regarding the social service”, the hopeful Pastor-chef looks forward, also dreaming somewhat. “In ‘long term’ lies expanding the service model. But what if Pan Am someday returns to service under our wings?”
Despite the very difficult times Brazil and the world are facing, he remains hopeful. “Although we are not operating, the crisis has not affected us, since we have no costs. Getting the plane in the middle of the crisis shows that, despite it, with faith and vision dreams are possible to be accomplished”. He emphasizes that “planning before execution is fundamental. And a step at a time.”
João has loved aviation since he was six-years-old when he started visiting his home airport in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. As he always loved writing, in 2011, at age 10 he started his very own aviation blog. Many things have happened since then, and now he is putting all his efforts into being an airline executive in the future.
