Can you imagine spending the rest of your life on a plane? Not flying, not going from one destination to another, but living inside it. Day after day. Like a real home, with all that implies. As CNBC points out, this was Bruce Campbell’s dream, a retired electrical engineer who currently lives in a Boeing 727 In the middle of a forest on the outskirts of Portland, in Oregon, United States.
When a commercial plane reaches the end of its useful life, it is likely to end up dismantled. The most valuable components – like engines, airplane systems or landing train – usually recover, but fuselage can be abandoned for years in one of the large cemeteries of aircraft in the world, although there are recycling initiatives for aluminum and titanium parts.
Bruce Campbell was not convinced by the idea that structures as complex and sophisticated as commercial aircraft ended up unscathed and forgotten in a desert corner. He thought that if they could no longer fly, at least they could remain useful in another way: as habitable spaces. With that idea in mind, in 1999 he bought the fuselage of a retired passenger plane, along with several of its internal components. According to USA Today, he paid for everything $ 100,000 (about 190,000 to the current change).
A BOEING 757 converted at home
But buying the plane was just the beginning. The next challenge was to move it to its new destination. To do so, the aircraft had to be partially disassembled and transported in truck to its farm on the outskirts of Portland. Once there, between trees and vegetation, piece by piece was assembled again. Today it rests on a support structure that connects with the landing train and wings.
Bruce has maintained much of the original plane design, including some higher seats and compartments. Visitors access one of the emergency doors and, when touring the central hall, they find an inhabited space, full of everyday objects: a microwave, a table, a refrigerator and several computers. One of them especially attracts attention: a Apple Macintosh SE From the end of the 80s, where visitors can leave a message.
One of the spaces that most attract attention is the command cabin, where several of the original controls used by pilots to keep the plane in the air are still preserved. The thrust levers, the controls and much of the instrument panel remain in place, almost as if the plane were ready to take off. In the rest of the interior, wiring and electrical systems are completely in sight, a detail that fits with the mentality of Bruce Campbell, an electrical engineer of training.
Far from reserving its unique housing as a personal refuge, Campbell has more than two decades receiving visitors. To those who approach with curiosity, it offers a small tour inside the plane turned into the house, where he shares his vision and his way of life.
It should be remembered that we talked about a Boeing 727, a narrow fuselage aircraft whose production was extended between 1962 and 1984. It was widely used in medium -range domestic and international routes – with an autonomy of up to 4,720 km in its most advanced versions – and became one of the most popular models of its time. More than 1,800 units were manufactured, although many were removed in the 90s, when airlines began to replace them with more efficient models.
Images | Airplanehome/Bruce Campbell
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