Boeing 727 Will Be Melted Down

Imagine giant metal jaws crunching into an airplane. No, it’s not the latest sci-fi or action film; it’s the deliberate destruction of a 1960s-era Boeing 727.

The aircraft belongs to Purdue University's Department of Aviation Technology... but a recycling company is tearing apart the 200,000-pound aircraft, because the university says it now costs too much to maintain.

The Lafeyette Journal and Dispatch reports it may take up to 10 days to shred the plane for scrap.

"We've worked on that thing for four or five years and now we get to watch it be destroyed," said Brandon Williams, a senior aeronautical technology major. "That's pretty cool."

Tom Hagovsky, a professor of aviation technology, says the demolition is bittersweet -- adding, "You understand what's going on../ but you try so hard to keep them together that you hate to watch it come apart like that."

The Boeing 727 was donated to the lab by United Airlines... and it hasn't been flown since it was delivered to Purdue on April 2, 1993 by a group of pilots -- including Purdue alumnus and former astronaut Neil Armstrong.

The 727 served as a hands-on lab for teaching professional flight majors how to operate controls; aviation management students learned the pieces and parts of a plane on board; and the school’s maintenance and manufacturing students actually worked on the aircraft.

Now, in less than two weeks, the 727 will be reduced to nothing more than about 200,000 pounds of melted aluminum. So remember... that next Pepsi can you hold... may actually be a piece of aviation history.

FMI: www.purdue.edu