Home, Home on a Plane!

[Tuckerfan]

Beats the heck out of a McMansion, I think.

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.

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.

[engineer_comp_geek]

I’ve seen a similar thing, except that the plane was on top of a pedestal and would rotate depending on the direction of the wind. There was a circular staircase you climbed in the pedestal part that took you into the plane. The cockpit still looked original. The rest of the plane had been remodeled into rooms, but they incorporated the windows and such of the plane into the design of each room. Was pretty neat looking. I recall something like a $150k price tag on the thing. Not sure if the wings were still attached or not but I think they were. I also don’t recall if it was also a 727 or some other model.

[Duckster]

It’s still there!

[engineer_comp_geek]

I found the one I was thinking of:
http://maxpoweraero.com/ACHomes.htm

[Tuckerfan]

@engineer_comp_geek

I found the one I was thinking of:
Web Page Under Construction

Doesn’t look like they’ve actually built one, though. Hey! They’re local! Wonder if they’re hiring?