Q&A on the News
Q: A huge turbine recently was shipped out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It was transported from a plant in Rome to the airport. How did they get it onto the plane? What’s the heaviest item shipped by air?
—Roger King, Atlanta
A: A rail line and two cranes were used to move the 105-ton turbine from a 17-axle, 75-wheel tractor-trailer into the hold of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane on Dec. 12.
Workers built the rail line to extend “about 30 yards” from the plane, airport spokesman Andrew Gobeil told Q&A on the News in an email.
“The turbine, hoisted by two cranes, was then placed onto the rail line, and with counterweights and cables, slowly pulled into the aircraft and secured,” he wrote.
The operation lasted 12 hours. It’s the heaviest item transported from Hartsfield.
The turbine, which was driven to the airport from the General Electric plant in Rome, was delivered to Argentina.
A 189-ton generator is considered the heaviest single item transported by airplane, an editor with Air Cargo News told Q&A on the News in an email.
That turbine was flown to Armenia by the An-225, a larger version of the An-124, in August 2009.
Q: I want to know what happened to Scott Light and Stephany Fisher?
—Bob Riser, Oxford
A: Light joined WBNS-10TV, a CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, in August, two months after he was let go by CBS46.
He is an anchor and a political reporter for the station.
Fisher left CBS46 when her contract was up at the end of last June.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
