Keiko Rides Home on Air Force Plane
August 29, 1998 - 0:0
WASHINGTON Keiko, the killer whale who stole children's hearts in the Free Willy movies, will fly home to Iceland September 9 aboard a U.S. air force plane, the Air Force said Thursday. The five-ton leviathan will be loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster in a tank filled will cold ocean water for the eight-hour flight from Newport, Oregon to Iceland, the Air Force said.
A special pen already has been prepared to receive Keiko in a sheltered bay in Iceland's Westman Islands, and the C-17 will land at an airstrip by the bay, the Air Force said. Flying Keiko home to Iceland demonstrates the ability of Air Force people and planes to accomplish any mission, any place, any time, boasted acting Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters. Keiko, which was captured in Icelandic waters in 1979, starred in the Free Willy 1" and Free Willy 2" movies about a troubled boy's friendship with the captured killer whale.
The Free Willy Keiko Foundation is picking up the tab for his trip home. (AFP)
A special pen already has been prepared to receive Keiko in a sheltered bay in Iceland's Westman Islands, and the C-17 will land at an airstrip by the bay, the Air Force said. Flying Keiko home to Iceland demonstrates the ability of Air Force people and planes to accomplish any mission, any place, any time, boasted acting Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters. Keiko, which was captured in Icelandic waters in 1979, starred in the Free Willy 1" and Free Willy 2" movies about a troubled boy's friendship with the captured killer whale.
The Free Willy Keiko Foundation is picking up the tab for his trip home. (AFP)