Plane from Machado era is still flying

The Ford three-engine plane that inaugurated air service between  Havana and Santiago de Cuba in 1929 is taking passengers for 15-minute nostalgic flights over Grand Rapids, Mich., at $50 a passenger, The Grand Rapids Press reported Tuesday. The aluminum craft, which carries 10 passengers and a two-person crew, "is in tip-top shape, perhaps better than the day it came out of the factory," Dick Foster of the Experimental Aircraft Association told The Press. The group bought the plane in 1973 and spent 12 years restoring it; it now makes it available for special events. Built in 1929, the plane (then called the Ford Tri-Motor) was leased to Cubana de Aviación. After World War II, it was sold to the Dominican Republic to be used as the presidential plane. Technical details: Normal cruising speed, 80-100 mph; fuel capacity, 231 gallons; range before refueling, 570 miles.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.