What to do with old aircraft.

My reaction was "hmm, interesting, that's cool, wow, hmm..." until I got to the Lockheed Constellation perched on sticks. Then I thought "hey, that's just not right!" :icon_lol:
 
At Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island, there is an entire nose/cockpit section of of a Martin Mars sitting on it's back in the weeds up behind the base complex. I thought it may have been salvaged from the plane that was wrecked in a wind storm at Pat Bay back in the fifties. Apparently not, it was from an uncompleted aircraft, surplus when the wartime construction contract was cancelled.

I always thought it would make a neat treehouse for the kids. Beyond that, I hope that nose section ends up in a museum one day. It's a stunning bit of metal work, aviation sculpture art at it's finest.

Interesting idea, living in a plane. I wonder about engineering one on a pivoting pylon so it would constantly weathervane into the wind....

Thanks for the link.
 
Ahh, Dark Roasted Blend, one of the best sites on the net, always full of interesting things to browse.

The recycled airplane library concept is fantastic. I was completely smitten with it when that article was first posted, what a great piece of architecture it would be if it ever saw the light of day.
 
I guess there's nothing wrong with novelty, and if can certainly attract business for restaurants and hotels.

However, from a practical standpoint, airplanes make poor shelters. The aluminum has to be light, not particularly durable. That's why aircraft ideally are kept in hangars, especially during storms.

Aircraft have poor insulation properties, so heating and air conditioning are more difficult. Because of this, they do not keep out sounds nearly as well as a normal house.

Aircraft are far less durable against the elements. Aircraft left outside corrode fairly quickly, certainly far faster than a normal house deteriorates, and the amount of preventative maintenance needed to keep the aircraft's surface in good shape is vastly more than for a house.

Like I said, pure novelty items. If there are enough flying and in museums to keep the aircraft's legacy alive, then I have no concerns. But, I would hate to see rare aircraft fall apart because they were being used as homes.

Cheers,

Ken
 
Some day I swear to St. Greshelschtupp that I will make a pilgrimage to a place where I can get an entire cockpit or panel and set it up in my house!!! I will have the coolest view out my window!
 
I would love to save a newly scrapped 737 or 757 or even a 747 and make that into a remote forest cabin. How awesome would that be.

Use the wings as the car park area. Put FS in the panel controls, lol... If one had a huge lower cargo deck, you could have extra rooms placed down in there.
 
The Viscount is in Hannover (not Langenhagen though, somewhere in the south eatern part of the city), but I never got around dining there. Might do so next time I'm there.
 
DC-3 Weathervane

magoo said:
I wonder about engineering one on a pivoting pylon so it would constantly weathervane into the wind....
Click to expand...

There is a DC-3 weathervane at the airport in Whitehorse, Yukon. It is quite the thing. I wasn't aware it was a weathervane when I was there until the second day when it was 180 deg from it's position the day before. I thought it was the hangover til I wandered over and read the plaque.

http://explorenorth.com/library/aviation/cf-cpy.html

Regards, Rob:ernae:
 
Seems like a waste of a DC-3 to me. Of course, the airframe could be so far gone that making it airworthy again would be cost prohibitive, but a nice static display in a museum someplace would be a better use for the plane...one of the most beautiful aircraft of all time (in my opinion anyhow).

OBIO
 
There is no such thing as wasting a DC-3. There always working, be it a weather vain or hauling Cargo and passengers. Now what's a waste is a DC3 Falling apart and wasting in the Desert/Jungle/Temperate climates.
 
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