OT: Home, Home on a Plane!

[Tuckerfan]

Beats the heck out of a McMansion, I think.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I paid $100K for the aircraft. But I think retired 727-200's are significantly lees expensive now. The costs of staging site rent, wing and tail removal, moving, and other logistics will total slightly over another $100K. So the project total will be a bit over $200K.

A project like this doesn't need to be that expensive. I wanted the landing gear, all the passenger and emergency exit doors, all the flight control surfaces, and all the interior and exterior lights, so that I could rebuild the aircraft such that it will look fully operational from the outside when the project is complete, except that if one orients herself for a view through the center of the engine cowlings it'll be apparent that the engines are missing. The landing gear are expensive and aren't necessarily required, although they are wonderful as earthquake damage prevention elements. (Click here to see why this is a critical concern where I live.) The doors and emergency exits could be reproduced well and cheaply with fiberglass - a hot tub fabricator with slow sales could do this (perhaps my doors and exits could be used as the originals to make the molds). Or you could use polycarbonate (plexiglass) panels to turn these openings into very nice windows. (On the Boeing 727, you'd still have the built in rear airstairs for access.) You can also eliminate the wings and thus the flight control surfaces. A basic fuselage could be acquired for very roughly $15K or $20K, or quite possibly much less, since scrap metal prices are currently quite low. And the basic fuselage still provides the fundamental attributes needed to make an aerospace quality home, assuming that you can provide door and emergency exit fills. But you may not need to settle for just the basic fuselage even if you are on a tight budget. 727-200 Airliners are being retired at such a pace that the value of their parts is dropping substantially. My timing wasn't great - but yours could be.</font>

IIRC, there was a woman who did something similar and set hers up in a trailer park in Florida. She'd shaved the wings off, so it didn't look like it could fly anymore, but it's still a pretty nifty idea.

[Rex]

Wow, I like that.

1000 sf is a little tight though.

[BillH]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Rex:
Wow, I like that.

1000 sf is a little tight though.

</font>

I bet you could find a DC10 or L10-11 thats not too expensive for what it is.

[darryl]

Beats the heck out of living in a bus.

[BillH]

Gotta be careful though, in a hurricane your house may take off. Would be cool if the flight controls still worked and the CG was ok.

[Wirecutter]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by darryl:
Beats the heck out of living in a bus. </font>

Well, it's bigger anyway. But buses usually have windows that actually open.

Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a dwelling, IMHO. It certainly passes the weirdness test...

[darryl]

The weirdness test, yeah. Oh, I've been wondering, if a guy could get hold of a large culvert-

[Tuckerfan]

These guys are planning on building one that turns into the wind if the breeze is high enough: http://maxpoweraero.com/ACHomes.htm

[abn]

Home Shop Machinist's should be especially wary of choosing this type of lodging...it starts with canabalizing the hydraulic shafting for projects, then you need a little aluminum sheet here and there, then it's the landing gear for machine rollers...next thing you know your homeless, in the rain and cold, surrounded by half finished projects!!

[darryl]

Thanks for the warning, abn.

The culvert idea is starting to look better. There's no flat metal on it anywhere, so it's probably safe from scrounging. Of course, someone might try scraping the zinc off to make castings. Hmm. Maybe not such a good idea after all.