Iron Maiden’s plane damaged in Chile

IRON MAIDEN’s plane has been damaged in a runway accident in Chile.

The incident occurred yesterday morning (March 12) when Ed Force One was being refuelled at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport just outside Santiago. According to reports, a steering pin that was connecting the plane to a ground tug came loose, causing the aircraft to collide with the ground tug, badly damaging its undercarriage, along with two engines Two ground tug operators were also taken to hospital as a result.

Pictures of the damage were soon posted to the Iron Maiden Facebook page, along with the following statement:

“The flight engineers are on site and evaluating the damage, but their initial report is that the engines have suffered large damage and will require an extended period of maintenance and possibly two new engines. We are currently making contingency arrangements to get to the show in Cordoba tomorrow with band, crew and equipment intact. Fortunately the 20 tons of equipment had not been loaded onto Ed Force One at the time of the accident. Although this is tragic for our beautiful plane, we do not expect this to affect our concert schedule including the next two shows in Cordoba and Buenos Aires. And we hope to find a new Ed Force One to continue this adventure with us in the near future. To finish on a high note, however, our visit to Chile was a huge success with 58,000 fans coming to the show as totally brilliant as ever in the Stadium Nacional last night. We love you guys!”

IRON MAIDEN are currently touring on The Book Of Souls World Tour, for their sixteenth album of the same name. For more information, including dates and tickets, see their website.