KLM Airlines transports special cargo ~ T Reg

How often do you fly ? ~ how many baggage do you carry ? and what else !

Air France–KLM incorporated under French law has its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. KLM Airlines web states that a small cat or dog can be taken into the economy class cabin of most KLM flights, and in Business Class on most KLM flights within Europe.  There culd be some restrictions such as that kennel should comply with IATA rules; total l weight of  pet and kennel combined may be max. 75 kg (165 lbs).  They accept a max of 3 pets per passenger as check-in passage ~ above that to be shipped as cargo. 

I somehow did not relish the much acclaimed sci-fi ‘Jurassic Park’ directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton.  The film was set on the fictional Isla Nublar, an islet located off Central America's Pacific Coast, near Costa Rica, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of cloned dinosaurs.

Of the many Jurassic animals was ‘Tyrannosaurus’ meaning "tyrant lizard",  a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning "king" in Latin), is one of the most well-represented of the large theropods. 

Tyrannosaurus lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs that ever lived. Everything about this ferocious predator, from its thick, heavy skull to its 4-foot-long (1.2-meter-long) jaw, was designed for maximum bone-crushing action. Scientists believe this powerful predator could eat up to 500 pounds (230 kilograms) of meat in one bite. Tyrannosaurus rex lived in forested river valleys in North America during the late Cretaceous period. It became extinct about 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction.

More than 50 specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. The feeding habits, physiology and potential speed of Tyrannosaurus rex are a few subjects of debate. This post is not about the dinosaurs or about the film ! ~ but about the cargo – an unusual one in a trans-Atlantic flight - a 6-tonne, 43-foot-long, 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex holding a joke Dutch passport.

MailONline reports that the fossil - one of the best-preserved dinosaur skeletons in the world - was transported from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport by Dutch national airline KLM. The female T-Rex, nicknamed 'Trix', was hauled onto the Boeing 747 after she was excavated in the US state of Montana by a team from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Dutch city of Leiden.

Perhaps the most unusual cargo ever to be transported on a plane, it shared the remarkable flight with some 250 ordinary passengers.  The Executive VP of KLM Cargo said it was a great honour to transport 'the historic queen of dinosaurs' as the fearsome creature which featured in the Jurassic Park hit film franchise was even given a brand-new passport by the Dutch authorities.

Trix lived some 66 million years ago in what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. It is one of the biggest predators to have ever walked the earth. Dr Anne Schulp, head of the Tyrannosaurus Rex research department at Naturalis which excavated the site in Montana, welcomed the  skeleton to the Dutch city of Leiden. She said: 'When we started the search for a Tyrannosaurus Rex, I could not have imagined us finding such a remarkable and distinctive individual.'

The dinosaur's trip was not just by air, with a specially decorated truck also helping out.  With almost 80 percent of her bones found and their unique quality, she is said to rank in the top-three of best Tyrannosaurus skeletons in the world. The skeleton will be ready for public viewing at the end of 2018 in the new dinosaur hall of the museum in Leiden.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th Aug 2016.