A: We’re all flying from Dulles on a 777 headed for Asia.
Washington, DC’s fifth most famous resident (the first four are named Obama) is leaving the US after spending his first four years at the National Zoo. Tai Shan was born in 2005 and we’ve watched him grow from an adorable little ball of fluff to an adorably awkward adolescent.
Along with Mei Lan, a three year old panda from the Atlanta Zoo, Tai Shan will be heading moving to Chengdu, China as part of an agreement with the Chinese government which loaned the parents of each Panda to the United states.
Okay, I’ll concede some itinerary differences here. I’m only flying 1/3 of the way to Singapore on a 777-200ER with United (then switching in London to the A380). Whereas my furry DC compatriot and his friend from Georgia are flying direct for 14 and a half hours on a -200LRF to Chengdu. I’m flying economy, they’re flying in a specially designed cargo containers.
On February 4th, a specially painted FedEx 777-200LRF (N850FD) designated “The Panda Express” will take the pair from Dulles to Chengdu on their 6,645nm ride to the land of their parents.
Interestingly enough, Boeing’s Randy Tinseth predicted this entire turn of events almost exactly one year ago.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.