Wed, Aug 02, 2006
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.
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