The Philippine Mars water bomber is on the move again after spending a few weeks in the Saanich Inlet.
The Philippine left Sproat Lake in mid-December, on its way to an aviation museum in the United States. But engine trouble forced it to land in Pat Bay as a precaution.
Now, the plane owned by Coulson Aviation is getting help from its sister plane, the Hawaii Mars, which recently became an exhibit at the nearby B.C. Aviation Museum.
The museum's president Steve Nichol says the Hawaii Mars has become an “organ donor.”
"Part of our agreement with Coulson, because we support them, is they could come and take a good engine off our Hawaii Mars and put it on the Philippine Mars so they can get it airborne and get it back to Sprout Lake, do some more tests and inspections on it, so it will be fully ready for its second attempt to fly down to Arizona," says Nichol.
On Monday the Philippine was towed to Cowichan Bay where the engine swap will occur.
On Tuesday, the good engine from the Hawaii Mars was removed. Nichol says it will be replaced by the failed engine. "It doesn't have to be a working engine. It will never be started again."
In fact, it's not the first time these two planes traded parts. Coulson Aviation already swapped one engine.
"They've taken four propellers, now two engines, some APU's, batteries and instruments," says Nichol.
He says the agreement states the swapped parts need to look aesthetically the same, so people coming to see the Hawaii Mars shouldn't notice a difference.