A Legacy 600 belonging to his Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, governor of Rivers State, Nigeria, took off from Germany at the end of September having been out of service for almost a decade. Now it is back in the air and has successfully completed its first flight from Oberpfaffenhofen airport near Munich.

After nearly 10 years without a flight, extensive and complex work was needed to make the Nigerian government aircraft airworthy again.

Business jet specialists from authorised Embraer service centre facility General Atomics AeroTec Systems (GA-ATS) completed a scope of work that was exceptional both in volume and in expertise.

Due to the long downtime, heavy scheduled base maintenance and customised service tasks for return to service had to be carried out. GA-ATS conducted a landing gear overhaul, an engine shop overhaul and an APU shop overhaul, as well as various other modifications, upgrades and rectifications.

“We are pleased to successfully complete this major project and hand over the Legacy 600 to our customer, his Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. It is a pleasure to see the aircraft now back in service after such a long time. The entire team involved has done an excellent job,” says GA-ATS managing director Florian Rohe.

Together with project partner AeroVisto, a complete cabin overhaul was realised. Among other things, high quality carpets and seats were installed. In addition, the Legacy 600 aircraft received an exterior painting in the GA-ATS VIP paint shop.

Having been in an uncontrolled environment for so long, the work required to bring it back was considerable. Passenger seats and divan upholstery were recovered with stay-clean leather technology plus a special screen printing of the state coat of arms on the headrest. All wooden parts were tinted and revarnished and other features were replated, the carpet, curtains and mirrors were replaced throughout, and the headliner, windowliner, valance panels, dado panels and sideledge upholstery were refurbished.

At the end of September, the aircraft was transferred from Oberpfaffenhofen to Nigeria, where the arrival was covered by a regional television station.