Wednesday 18 July 2012

Jumbo Jet Junkyard: The Scrapping Of A Boeing 747


There comes a time in every commercial airliner's life where it's just too old to keep flying. Boeing's famous 747 jumbo jet, the workhorse of the aviation industry, has been transporting passengers around the world since its first commercial flight in 1970.

A recent BBC documentary called Engineering Giants took a close look at the process of a 747 refit, and also at what happens when one of these jumbos reaches the end of its working life, which could be after 25 years or so.

3 comment(s):

Funny pictures said...

This is spectacular!

Gareth said...

I love the idea that the guy says that 100 tonnes of aircraft has very little value because it's only the metal. It would be mostly aluminium alloys right? The last I heard aluminium alloy cuttings had a scrap value of £8-900 per tonne.

So £90,000 is of very little value? Makes you wonder what they make from the rest of the plane.

Anonymous said...

They make the rest of the plane out of ideas Gareth, that's the expensive bit.