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Convert a Boeing 727 Into a Home 155

Posted by Roblimo from the flights-of-fancy dept.
Numeric writes "Wired is reporting a story of a man who has converted a Boeing 727 into a home. The conversion project contains journal entries as well as some photos of his new home. Strangely, this will not be the first person who has moved into a converted airplane. Another company, Max Power Aerospace, has three Boeing 727s ready to be converted into two- or three-bedroom homes. The houses will sell for $290,000 and will include two bathrooms, a small kitchen and a large living area in the middle. So is that a starter home or what?"
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Convert a Boeing 727 Into a Home More

Convert a Boeing 727 Into a Home

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  • I would wonder about the maintenance costs. Aerospace aluminum alloys corrode. That "house" may be falling apart on him in 15 years if he doesn't keep a sharp eye out for corrosion and replace the structure as needed. I don't know if it will be any worse than a house rotting, but at least it is easier to hire a carpenter and buy wood than a machinist and expensive aluminum.

    (If you don't use the same materials for repair that was originally there (and you don't know what you are doing) you could set up galvanic corrosion that is much worse than the repair!
  • Personally I'd _want_ the plane to act as a big weathervane, and you'd better believe I'd keep the cockpit totally untouched- not even display screens. Well, maybe sit a CRT in front of the window and it'd be my desk :) *typing to slashdot as the huge jet slowly swoops around to a northeasterly heading* hey, I'd put it on a mountaintop, especially to get good winds :) and leave all the wings and stuff intact. It'd be a giant live-in artwork :) actually, a Lear would do as well. At the other extreme, imagine years from now when the 747s are all being decommissioned?
    The other point, brought up by a slashdot poster, about the missile silos, is very interesting. One wonders if there are any undeveloped silos around since that company seems hellbent on turning them into tatty redwood luxury homes ;) however, there are some _damn_ good reasons for building an underground house, and it doesn't have to withstand a nuclear hit for it to still be a good idea. Heating costs are incredibly cheap even in the harshest winter as the ambient temperature is a bit below 60, _always_. Same with summer- heat? What heat? And there's another thing- nothing gets through the earth. Not RF, not sound, nothing. So you run a wire if you want to use your TV- but if you want the total opposite of ambient noise, this is it- an underground house is so silent it can be disturbing, takes some getting used to. Think hobbit-hole for some of the positive aspects- also, there are some unusual building techniques that could be used in this situation. For more information on underground houses check out TAB book #1172 :)
    Thanks, Slashdot, this article kicks arse! :)
  • Bah... Largest plane on earth. Obviously you have not looked at military aircraft or for the commercial arena what about a 777. The engines are as big as a 727 fussilage.

    Try again.
  • ... I'd like pics of what the finished products look like, both in 747s and Missle Bases. Anyone know any links?


    Dijital
  • Its a bit pricey for my blood and looks like an awful lot of work.. But hey each to his/her own! :)
  • Folks,

    People have been converting old airplanes to living quarters for quite some time.

    I've read of DC-4/DC-6/DC-7 conversions to living space, along with some old 737's done the same way for a number of years.

  • Kind of reminds me of that guy in Contact before he moved into space station Mir...
  • Is there some sort of warrantee, or is it a fly-by-night operation?

    I dunno if I'd want to live in a converted jet or not, they seem to have enough troubles just being jets, and not houses...

    Dan
  • I'd worry about the day my 9-year-old kid hotwires it in the middle of the night, and the family and I wake up in Tokyo!
  • I have flown a 747 (and many 727 years ago), I know my planes buddy! 211 feet 5 inches for a 747! hah! you think anyone is going to beleive that rubbish? BTW - the 727 is the largest plane in existance. no doubt.

    I can not let crass stupidity like this go without comment! Even though I am probably just being sucked into playing this AC's little game.

    I appologise if this offends anyone, other than the AC it is directed to. I know my aircraft and have been an aviation enthusiast for most of my 31 years and just can't stand reading this sort of rubbish. There is too much ignorance about aviation in the community and misinformation in the trash mainstream media already without this sort of thing being spread about. It is especially galling to read it on a forum like /. where the users are supposed to be inteligent thinking people.

    -------------------------------

    When and where did you fly these aircraft and with what airline? (Microsoft flight sim does not count!) How many hours do you have? What endorsments do you have? While you are at it give us the details of your source of stats. If you have one!

    No pilot I know, and I fly myself, is stupid enough to even try to argue that the 727 is larger than the 747, even as a joke. All you have to do to know that the 747 is much larger is open your eyes and look. Take a trip to a major airport and have a look at the apron from the public viewing area.

    My guess is you are just a snotty nosed little pre pubescent jerk who made his own aircraft model for flight sim (727 with 8 engines) and you are arguing a stupid point for the sake of it. Sometimes this sort of thing is funny but in this case it is just plain nauseating.

    I guess that next you'll tell us the Cessna 152 is bigger than a DC3. As for the largest aircraft in existence, that honour goes to the Russian Antonov AN225 Mriya (Dream). A six engined monster brother to the AN124 freighter which, when introduced to service, took the crown from the USAF C-5 Galaxy.

    If you really did fly these aircraft and it was MANY years ago then perhaps we should forgive your crass stupidity. You can't do anything about senile dementure after all.

    Maybe you should reveal yourself COWARD. But after the crap you've posted I wouldn't want to either.

  • Look I'm an aircraft mechanic and i have worked on 747 and 727 and the 747 is the largest one any thing bigger is a military cargo jet or a airbus.
  • I know this house in an airplane idea isn't anything new, but it is still is exciting. With a little bit of innovation here there could be some truly magnificent uses of this kind of living space. Take the cockpit for example. Imagine having projection screens where the windows used to be, and high quality flight simulator controls where the real ones used to be. There you go, an awesome flight simulator environment, right in your own house. Also, don't discount the number of hamsters that could fit in those small storage closets where they keep the airplane food. I can see it now, a HamsterHavoc style hamster-in-a-ball rolling around an airplane. The hamster, being unsophisticated, thinks it is on a real airplane, so starts bouncing around, hoping to use its extreme weight to make the plane experience turbulence. Man i wish i lived in a giant mouse inflated into a house. The house-is-mouse. Err.. i'll stop now before i get severely off topic.
  • A little follow up to my last comment.

    Here are two photo's on the Boeing web site.

    727-100 's in factory. [boeing.com]

    747-400' s in factory. [boeing.com]

    Most people should be able to look at the size of the equipment in the factory and compare it with the size of each aircraft. It is obvious the 747 is larger. To argue otherwise makes no sense.

    Biggles


  • Is this what happens when trailer trash win the lottery? :-)
  • If I recall right (and I'm certainly no expert), a 727's wings sitting on landing gear are somewhere around 18 feet off the ground. Not a real easily jumpable distance, but not one to cause fatal injury, either. And for their water-mounts, a great diving platform.
  • This seems like a neat idea to me. If I had that kind of money laying around to buy one I'd do it. I think instead of putting a hottub in the cockpit I'd arrange a computer system to be in there sitting in the captains chair would take on a different meaning. Flight sim games would be even cooler. Come on Texas Lotto pick my numbers already.
  • > The ability to have a T1 installed and to withstand a direct nuclear
    > hit is just overwhelming.

    well maybe either is cool but the combination is kind of pointless ..... after the bomb (and the EMP) - who are you going to talk to ....

  • Those bunker houses look pretty cool, but you'd want to get an elevator for decent access without going up and down 400 stairs every day.

    BTW, a fully decked out 747SP (the short version like AF1) is about $240M. Corporate jets are never over $10M and even at $500/night, it takes a lot of nights to get to $290M, plus you don't have to worry about the mess you leave the room in.
  • "This house boat is great, Marge. If we don't like our neighbors, we can just sail away!"

    Vroom . . .

  • Fly (Score:1)

    by BWS ( 104239 )
    They took the flyable part out. Damnit, it would be cool if it could fly too.

    Stuff Like, mmm, I wanna go to Linux Expo but the airlines are already booked and so is hotel. NP, friends come to my home and we'll fly there :0
  • Bruce Campbell, huh? Am I the only one concerned that the 727 might not hold up against the armies of darkness who have such a strong hunger for the book of the dead? This could get very messy. I hope those propellors still have some use left in them...
  • No, it's a twin turbo Testarossa which tops out well north of 150, and a twin turbo F50 (which costs more than this plane/house/hamster run) that is a work in progress. Or at least, those are the really really non standard ones.

  • just trim for level flight above 5280 MSL

    I hope you mean AGL (Above Ground Level), not MSL (Mean Sea Level). If membership in the mile-high club were based on sea level, the folks in Denver would be able to mess around on the ramp and gain membership.

    - Drew


    - Drew

  • If the gas tank "goes off," this will ruin your day, whether you're at an altitude of 5 feet or 50,000 feet

    WTF???

    What are you talking about? Gas tank going off? He doesn't have a gas tank. It's not an airplane, it's a home.

    How did this post get moderated up? It's not even funny, it's just dumb.

    Jordan
  • I'd love to see a 727 running on propellers :)
  • um..... a 747 is MUCH larger than a 727. It's wider, taller, longer wings, 1 more engine. The 747-100(and SP) didn't have as much room on the flight-deck/gally/first-class area.... And they got respectively larger all the way up to the 747-400, which added winglets, more powerful engines, etc. Pictures vs. Specs. Pick the winner
  • I'm sure some will disagree (read flame) with this, but the AOL email address at the bottom of the pages negates the middle-aged nerd claim for me. A hobbyist, most definitely, but not quite what I would call a nerd. The idea seems pretty cool on the surface, but I'm sure there are all sorts of nasty details that rear its ugly head.
  • A home just by my Aunt's house in South Africa is made up of a renovated Boeing 747 jumbo. They attempted to convert this one into a restaurant first.

    They can be decorated very nicely. I didn't have the chance to take a peek (but could have, and should have).

    Essentially its a very large object that can likely make your neighbors very angry at you.
  • First, you wouldn't want it in an area where the wind tends to change direction rapidly. They specifically mount it on a column which allows it to rotate (if I understand the page correctly) so that the wind always blows through the house in the same direction They also have a motor connected to it that controls the speed of rotation, and if neccesary, stops the rotation.

    As for the wing airspeed thing, from what I understand, they make some very specific modifications to the wings in order to get rid of any lift capability...making it just like any other balcony. As for kids jumping...well its like kids and any other balcony...some supervision is required. Personally, I'd be a little bit more concerned about drunk party goers ;)

    Tom

  • I guess those men with enough money can finally live their dream of having sex in the cockpit. ;P
  • ...(of which only a very few were made in the 1970s) but rather a drastically modified 747-200. In other words, it doesn't have a shortened fuselage. Also, there are TWO of them, identically outfitted.

    FYI.

  • Re:What!!!? Read on.... Yourself (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    727
    Wingspan: 108 ft.
    Length: 153 ft.
    Range: 2,000-2,200 miles
    Engine Thrust: 14,000 lbs (3)
    94 to 130 passengers

    747
    Wing Span 211 feet 5 inches
    Length 231 feet 10 inches
    Range 8,290 miles
    Engine Thrust 58,000 lbs (4)
    Passengers 420 (21 first, 77 business, 322 economy class)

    >Get your facts straight.
    Someone should ;)
  • Urrk !
    Just the thought of having to clean all those windows !

    Now, if the thing could actually fly, it would be cool.

  • obviously redundant...
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Your average 3 bedroom place here is about $300 - $350K + .

    I wonder how much the parking would be.

  • 1. Condemned to eat nothing but airline meals.
    2. The only decent snacks you have around the "house" are undersized packets of peanuts.
    3. Having to install a special security system to alert you when those pesky gremlins come 'round to tear the place up.
    4. Neighbors constantly bitch about having to live so close to the airport.
    5. Must get clearance from ATC before you can mow the lawn.
    6. Guests and visitors are put-off metal detector and x-ray machine installed at the head of the driveway.
    7. All residents must be instrument rated.
    8. Needing recurrent training just to fix the plumbing.
    9. Leslie Nielsen keeps stopping by to tell you how much he is counting on you.
    10. One morning you wake up and find your "house" has been hijacked to Cuba.
  • Does it qualify for a trailer park? :-)
  • You could get this :
    http://www.lufthansa-technik.com/cgi-bin/framema ker.pl?/e/services/executive/xxl/dia2.html
  • I believe there is a misunderstanding. Yes it is a home, but it is also an airplane. Kind of like the austin powers private jet. A comfortable place to live on the one hand, a transportation device on the other. If the airplane was taken apart to just be a house, it would no longer be an airplane, just an empty airplane shell with a house inside. Even if it is on the ground for the night, there are surely still fumes in the tank, even if you empty them. So while you are playing around with your new X.10 system, you hit the wrong key and the fireplace goes on, but faulty wiring makes the gas tank explode, sending shards of senility through your brain. Please refrain from insulting ingenious posts.
  • Tell your visitors that they can't use their cell phones because it may interfere with your microwave oven controls. However, offer use of the GTE Airphone (located on the seat-back in front of you) at $3/min.

    If your friends ask why the GTE phone doesn't interfere with on-board systems...feign ignorance.
  • Or perhaps you'd like to fed the fishes.

  • From Boeing's web page (Score:3)

    by georgeha ( 43752 ) on Wednesday November 03, 1999 @03:25AM (#1568197) Homepage
    A 727 has a taller body (about 12" taller), and has wings that are 72' longer. It has 4 more engines, all with more power (around 120,000 lbs of thrust). The 727 also has much more room for seating and cargo than the 747 (or any other model for the matter). Get your facts straight.

    A 727 has 4 more engines? For a total of 8? You are seriously deluded, a 727 has 3 engines at the tail.

    From the Boeing 727 web page. [boeing.com]

    The versatility and reliability of the Boeing 727 - first trijet introduced into commercial service - made it the best-selling airliner in the world during the first 30 years of jet transport service.

    Tri-jet means three engines.

    From the stats section.

    Advanced 727-200 Specifications

    Wingspan 108 feet (32.91 m)
    Length 153 feet 2 inches (46.69 m)
    Tail Height 34 feet (10.36 m)
    Gross Maximum Taxi Weight Standard: 191,000 pounds (86,600 kg)
    Optional: 210,000 pounds (95,300 kg)
    Power Three Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofans:
    -15 rated at 15,500 pounds thrust
    -17 rated at 16,000 pounds thrust
    -17R rated at 17,400 pounds thrust
    Cruising Speed 570 to 605 mph (890 to 965 km/h)
    Cruising Altitude 30,000 to 40,000 feet (9,144 to 12,192 m)
    Range 1,500 to 2,500 miles (2,750 to 4,020 km)
    Passenger Capacity 148 to 189
    Fuel 8,186 U.S. gallons (31,000 L) standard at lower gross weights
    9,806 U.S. gallons (37,020 L) standard for 208,000 pounds



    I have no idea what commercial jetliner you are thinking of, but it sure isn't a 30 year old 727.

    George

  • As any pilot knows, one of the participants isn't piloting the aircraft, he doesn't gain admission to the mile-high club.

    (Sick of all these idiots who think they've joined the mile-high club just because they've found alternate uses for the washrooms in an airliner)


    - Drew

  • I was on-topic. I was writing my critique as I read the page. Sorry for reading the site. And I'm quite on-topic; I was ruminating about the site linked to.
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
  • The Egyptians thought of building a restaurant at the Cairo airport years ago. It's across the street from the airport Moevenpick hotel. It's kind of tacky and has corrosion in places. If I remember rightly, it is (was?) a 707.

    I went there with some friends, all airline employees on business in Cairo, for dinner. The memorable part was when a guy laughed so hard after a joke someone told that he ripped the seat from the floor and fell in the aisle. Oh well, you had to be there...
  • Just as I've always said that I wouldn't want to fly a 747 because I'd miss the "real flying" feeling, and instead just be pushing buttons, I wouldn't want to live in a 747, because I'd miss the "real living in an aircraft" feeling. If I were going to live in an aircraft, I'd choose the 4-seater Cessna 172. The rear bench seat would make a fine bed, front passenger seat would make a fine kitchen, and the pilot's seat would be my living room with my TV and computer. The price would be cheap -- only $30,000, which would give you a fully-flyable house. Why pay hundreds of thousands for something which can't fly, and even if it could, could only fly into major international airports? With the Cessna 172 House, you can land on any little grass strip you want.

    - Drew

  • Please read the article!!

    It is not a plane, it is "an empty airplane shell with a house inside" as you said. No enginces, no fuel lines, no control surfaces, no avionics, nothing at all besides de shell.

    Pretty lame if you ask me. Cool, a REAL airplane house. Nut, that would require some BIG megabucks to buy and mantain.

    Remember contact?? :)

  • Not at all. These are just for families down on their luck waiting for things to take off. =)
  • Nice catch. :)

    Hehehehe...

  • 727? (Score:1)

    by hank ( 294 )
    Personally, I'd spring for a 747 anyday. Those things are massive. They would make an amazing house. Live with me now as I walk you through my rendition:


    1) The cockpit would become my master bedroom with skylights.

    2) The entire plane would have white carpeting. Within the living room, my 55" flatscreen TV with DVD player and surround sound system would be on a wall opposite my black leather fainting couches, etc.

    3) I'm sure I could bring all of my computer gear into the cargo space on the bottom and turn it into a lean, mean office.



    Some questions though:


    1) Anyone know how much a used, inoperable 747 goes for? The exterior must be in tip-top shape - however.

    2) Anyone know the amount of living space it would have on all decks of the 747?

  • Re:727? (Score:1)

    by ddpg ( 34874 )
    I wouldn't worry about the cost of the plane, but the cost of moving it. You can probably get a stripped 747-100/200 pretty cheap. A 747 would make a great house considering that it has about 6500 sq.f of usable space. I personally wouldn't mind a dc-10 or a L1011 besides a 747.

  • 727? (Score:1)

    by DAVEO ( 61670 )
    make sure you have your oxygen masks, parachutes, and liferafts ready in case of a mechanical failure! ;0)

  • I think this is a residence built with Californians in mind.

    It's undersized, overpriced, has high-tech allure, and is frequently subject to the laws of motion!

    Just substitute rotation for the Californian shake, rattle & roll ...

  • that if the plane ain't in flight, you don't gain membership to the mile-high club ;>)

  • Bit pricey considering they don't have all that much room in them in the first place. If I was converting a plane to a home, I'd go for at least a DC10. Maybe when I'm rich and famous, there'll be some crapped out 777s out there I could convert. Anything bigger than a 727, though. The cargo pits in those things are so short, I'd be hard pressed to use them for a crawlspace. 727s stacked on top of each other might make decent appartments, though.
  • Yeah, it would suck if your house crashed 60 miles off the cost of Nantucket...

    -----------

    "You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

  • Withstanding winds of up to 240mph! (Score:3)

    by Dan B. ( 20610 ) <slashdot@bryar.c o m . au> on Tuesday November 02, 1999 @06:37PM (#1568216)
    Yeah, I'd like to see that. The plane needs an angle-of-attack of about 1.5 to fly straigt and level at 0.79M (>400mph) and 33,000'. So, assuming this thing never cops a wind gust high enough to upset it's 1.5 angle-of-attack in a hurricane (which is what they're marketing the thing to hold out in), It could literally be 'flying' through the hurricane.

    Now, in flight, a birdstike is like a speed hump, not much chop, mostly annoying more than anything else. A flock of birds is a little more dangerous, but not deadly. However a flying 36' yacht just may put a small dent in your lovely new house.

    Oh, one other thing. These planes were all built between 1964 and 1972, and designed to safely last 10,000 flight hours. In 30 years, most of them have exceeded 30,000 hours and have had some sort of damage. For all this guy knows, it's held together by paperclips and he's just pulling them all out.

    I'll stick to bricks and morter.
  • I should know better than to feed the trolls, I really should.
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
  • The first thing that crossed my mind when read that article was something along the lines of 'white-collar redneck'.

    Can you imagine what it will be like when this goes mainstream? It conjures up images of grungy trailer parks and rusted out mobile homes wedged up on cinder blocks, with good 'ol boys with names like Billy-Bob sittin' out front, swilling homemade moonshine.

    Definitely not for me.
  • On the missile silo, I especially love the fact that thet specifically mention that it can survive direct nuclear hit!
  • Sure, you could go the Carmack route and collect Ferraris, then start turbocharging them, or you could go the Gates route and build the uber-home. But really, doesn't every guy with his own software empire have a few Ferraris sitting around the back yard? And the uber-home isn't that cool without the smart house tech to back it up. Although I think the submerged airplane house would be even cooler. Just think, you could do your own amateur remakes of airplane 77 whenever you wanted!


    itachi
  • Actually assuming the internet holds to its original purpose, perhaps you might be able to frag the few remaing souls in a Quake death match.
  • Personally, I wouldn't want to have a plane mounted on my property. But the fellow who has done this himself raises some very interesting points. The plane has been built to withstand flight. That's some pretty good engineering. This about it - they probably spend a good couple of billion designing these things. Now look at your average suburb house: it's a cookie-cutter type deal. They're pretty much worthless, structurally.

    I always thought that when I got my own house, I would build it myself. There's simply no other way to guarantee that there will be something there for your children to inherit. But this plane thing raises an interesting alternative: with the fuselage in good condition, and a bit of maintenance now and then(unfortunatly this would require rather expensive paint), these things could last a heck of a long time.

    Like I said before, I wouldn't want to mount it on my property. But what about putting it in my property? With a large enough fuselage, just bury half of it in your property, and that bugger ain't going nowhere. Good insulation, too. The cargo desk(below the passenger cabin) isn't high enough to stand in, so rip half of the passenger-section floor out, and make the cargo deck the floor for your new, quite large living area. Now we've got a split-level house, all nice and nifty, with a great deal of storage(the other half of the cargo deck). Of course, you could convert this into kids' rooms, but I'd want to be able to get in and out of there in a hurry, in case there's an emergency.

    Now, take off the wings(you wouldn't want to try and bury those, would you?), keep the tail section(a bit of a look-out[anybody have pictures of tree forts in their minds? ;]), and you've got a warm, well-built, solid, permanent residence.

    I think the novelty of this idea is cool - but I think the engineering pluses are really what makes it attractive to me. With a 747 fuselage, you'd have a HUGE amount of living space, and pretty burglar-proof.

    I read a post that mentioned a few things: namely broken windows, fire-escape problems, and the galley. For the first: Those windows are STURDY. Don't forget, these windows are made to withstand low are pressure. The second problem(that of getting out when there is a fire), is more interesting. This is a house, not an airplane. My house would be just as difficult to get out of. I'd have to go through four different rooms to get to the nearest door. And I'm on the ground level of my house. What about the people on the second floor? As for the galley - that problem is easy to fix. Don't use the plane's galley. Make a bigger one. :)

    Dave


  • Bedroom in the cockpit ???

    Just imagine of the risk of being surprised by an evil hijacker (read: teenage kid), while working on the entry form (read: f****** your wife/husband) for the (virtual) Mile High Club.
    Nahh - bad idea.

    A flightsim - that would be the thing to have there.

  • I remember seeing an article in Smithsonian Air&Space a few years ago about someone who did this to either a DC10 or an L1011 (can't remember which one).

    I remember that he made the tail mounted engine into a lookout/patio.

    As for the cockpit, it would make a great computer workcenter. You could have a bunch of monitors withing easy viewing with a swivel chair.

    As for the the bathroom... I would be inclined to use a more traditional toilet (in a much bigger room, of course) I wouldn't use the same water system... I'd rather put in a standard copper system.

    And the cargo areas are great for storage, water heater/pump, and air circulation... not to mention it gives easy access to the underside of the floor for routing that ethernet cable :-)
  • Hey, whatever you are on, give me some.

    I'll trust the 727 that I walked up to at the FAA, the 727 I flew to Florida on in 1979, and the Boeing web page before I trust some raving AC with no sources.

    Excuse me? It has 3 engines on each wing, one engine at the tail, and one engine at the nose. At least the 727 _I_ flew had that configuration.

    I'm giggling picturing an airplane with this engine configuration. Where does the nose engine jet direct it's exhaust, maybe a pair of Glasspacks along side the cockpit?

    Tri-jet means three engines.

    Tri-jet means a jet with 8 engines. It's right in the name, not hard to see.

    I see you contradict yourself.

    A 727-200 is the 200 version of the 727, simple.

    George


  • BTW - the 727 is the largest plane in existance. no doubt.

    I doubt.

    Please, go to Google [google.com] and don't come back until you've read few pages on 727, and a few pages on the largest airplanes in the world.

    Please report back on your findings.

    George
  • I thought I saw this ages (perhaps years) ago on TV. The guy lives in some rural area right? And he was pulling a plane through town. Funny. Actually, I'd love to have a house decorated as an airport. That would be cool. Then again I'm a military brat and spent half my life in airports.
  • forget about those 727s!

    site excerpt (http://www.missilebases.com) [missilebases.com]:


    Thanks for your interests in our unique underground properties. Built at a cost of millions, these heavily reinforced historic structures were designed to withstand nuclear attack. They bring new meaning to the word "shelter". Centuries from now they will remain.

    Very few of these first generation missile sites were built. All other sites decommissioned after 1965 are being destroyed to conform to international treaty agreements. No more structures of this size and strength are being built. Most of these properties are rough after 30 years of neglect, but with some clean up and reconstruction inside, their grandeur is restored.

    We have now sold 18 of these properties to excited owners that plan to refurbish and use them for various personal and commercial purposes. Because the availability of these properties is limited, we see them as an investment sure to grow in value.

    These properties are selling fast and we are finding it difficult to find others available for sale. These historic defense structures are the castles of this 20th Century. If you want to know more about the properties we have for sale please contact us. We can provide more detailed information and drawings of the Atlas-E, Atlas-F, and Titan 1 sites, plus the listing information and locations of specific sites we have for sale.


    looks rather interesting
    -raj jr
  • I can see it now: "I'm sorry, the plane is rated at 240 mph while FLYING." doh. There will be a different story for a plane on the ground. So it looks nice, but this guy is messing up if he doesn't build something to stabilize the plane. And he's lucky his new house is in the northwest, so maybe such weather as tornadoes/hurricanes are not much of a problem.

    OTOH, for another $30K, he can mount solar panels on the wings.
  • yeah, and if any of your friends has too much to drink, let 'em "crash" at your place.

  • My basic thoughts regarding the pitfalls (Score:4)

    by Pascal Q. Porcupine ( 4467 ) on Tuesday November 02, 1999 @06:38PM (#1568237) Homepage
    Okay, the commercial house project seems neat and all (though good luck getting one). However, there are some definite problems with it.

    First, you wouldn't want it in an area where the wind tends to change direction rapidly. They specifically mount it on a column which allows it to rotate (if I understand the page correctly) so that the wind always blows through the house in the same direction (using the tail to direct the plane). If this is the case, then your house is basically a weathervane. (Also, good luck getting in and out of it.) Of course, I could be misunderstanding it and maybe the tail is sufficiently-large to redirect all wind around the plane, but that doesn't seem aerodynamically possible.

    Second problem: the wings are high off the ground. No sweat, they put railings on them - but that won't stop kids from jumping/falling off the wings, either accidentally or on-purpose. And I don't know about other people, but it's not height that gives me vertigo so much as the threat of falling. Also, the wings give you 1200 square feet of balcony (which is quite a lot) but it doesn't seem to be in any sort of usable shape. And don't forget that you're standing on top of an airfoil - even with the deflector you're still likely to get some major windspeeds going over the wing, thanks to the principle discovered by Bernoulli which keeps planes in-flight to begin with. Though at least the wings can each withstand a good-sized party (but can the railings? :)

    Hm. Lots of windows to be broken by the neighborhood baseball games. And they can't be cheap to replace...

    In the meantime, 727s are relatively huge, especially as airplanes go. I'm sure the cargo holds would be useful as an 'attic,' and of course there's the electrical and engineering bay which makes a convenient basement.

    I'd hate to try cooking in one of the galleys. My apartment's kitchen is too small for my likings, and it's HUGE in comparison.

    I like the way they deal with the hallway problem, though... use the cargo hold as a corridor. I imagine there's stairs or ladders or something.

    Two neighborhoodly problems: first, I don't like the thought of my home getting hijacked by terrorists. :) Also, I bet ignorant neighbors/visitors to the neighborhood keep calling the police with reports of an airplane having mysteriously landed (that'd be especially common in water-mounted houses as they show). Also, for the waterbound houses, I imagine you need a boat. It'd be far too easy to get stranded inside or outside your house in that case... and stairs from the shore would get blown over... it just seems so risky... maybe that's why this is for adventuresome homeowners. :)

    I seriously doubt it's up to fire codes. The emergency exits are easily-accessed when everyone's upstairs and there's a nice aisle going through the whole plane, but with these modifications, one fire and you're stuck. I certainly wouldn't be able to squeeze myself through a window.

    Ah, reading further I see that you can lock the column in place and rotate it slowly using motors or have it act as a weathervane. Okay, so hopefully the gears don't get stripped, or you lose power during a nasty storm, or else you could be in puke city, though it claims to limit the free rotation to be very gradual. So how does one get in or out? A rolling ladder?

    At least this house would be VERY easy to move (they even say so :)

    Man, this IS very intriguing though. And it's a lot cheaper than building a normal house, and a lot cooler... I'd be concerned about the things I mentioned above, but all in all, man, I hope they can ramp up production by the time I can afford a house of my own. :)
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

  • Problems (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A neat idea, but I can see some potential problems. It would be very hard to get natural ventilation through it, so you would need to run the air conditioning for much of the year (and maintain the system). To have a private room - one that other people don't walk through - you would need a corridor beside it, which would leave a very narrow room. Airliner doors have thousands of parts - they are bound to require a fair bit of maintenance and be hell to fix. All the windows are small and very low - which would lead to poorly lit rooms. On the other hand, you could use the fuel tanks to store water for those hurricanes they talk about. (Indeed, it would probably make sense to weigh the thing down as much as possible if a hurricane is coming.)
  • Oh, this is awesome!

    Now when my home is overrun by all my loser friends on movie night, I can force 'em to rent those crappy plastic headphones ("Sanitized for your comfort...") and make a handy, airline-style profit!

    Thanks, Slashdot!

    -A.
  • After the recent incidents of in-air blowups, any would-be residents should ensure that they check the wiring.

    If the gas tank "goes off," this will ruin your day, whether you're at an altitude of 5 feet or 50,000 feet...

  • An L1011 would be *perfect* for a house... just remove all the seats (duh) and you've got this huge empty space... put a partition, say, 6 feet from one side and then you've got a very wide hallway on one side and HUGE roomspace on teh other. Could also be modular and stuff... want to add another room? move the partitions! Want to make Johnny's bedroom bigger and Kimmy's smaller? move the partitions!

    Wonder how much a stripped L1011 would go for...

    I've never been in a 747. Those things are multi-story, right? That'd be ubercool.
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

  • ...I still like the Missile Silo Home [adirondack-airpark.com] better. Not only is it in posession of massive quantities of "geek chic", but what better place to carry out your experiments that defy the laws of nature? [sonic.net]

    I do like the plane on a post [maxpoweraero.com] idea however. But this begs one question: Will my AIBO (No link, just look for the banner ad...) be waterproof??

    Hmmm... I think I'll just save up for the Condos on Mars... [marsshop.com] Maybe a Boeing 727 in a Bomb shelter on Mars... WoooHooo!

    ~Jason Maggard

    "A house flown by a drunken pilot cannot stand." ~Abe Lincoln

  • Made out of the best quality materials available, guaranteed to stand through earthquakes and hurricanes - and it STILL costs less than any house in San Jose! - Ted Mao
  • Fly by night? Sounds like this sort of alternative housing approach could really take off!
  • If I were doing it I wouldn't have it on wheels. I'd have it buried about wing level, with hedges and flower gardens around the perimeter. Low profile. But that's just me :) I like his ambition. One man, one wacky idea.
  • You want to live in high style?

    You want the snobbiest dwelling around?

    Get Clinton to retire one of the Air Force One 747s so you can use that and live in total luxury...

    Or just find an old 747 and move into that... it's got to be more liveable than 1200 sq ft of low headroom... You did notice that the hallway was on the side, requiring curved residents or a permanent crick in the back!

    Myself, I'll stick to concrete, wood, and steel.

  • Rather than actually using old planes, I think some of the principles hit upon and developed by these people could really turn into something.

    The idea of aerodynamic housing bearing-mounted on pedestals could be really usefull in flood and wind-disaster-prone areas.

    You could build a multi-level cylindrical structure and god-knows what other designs.

    Instead of just using planes, this company should build homes from scratch. They're on to something bigger than they know.

  • Folks have been buying and restoring old missle silos into homes for awhile now. Some even have runways on the surrounding land! (There do, however, appear to be a few environmental issues with some sites....)

    Some links:

    20th Century Castles [missilebases.com] - a place that sells old missle silos
    Home Improment For Missle Bases [tripod.com] - a "how to" page
    Silo-Net [ruralnet.net] - general missle silo info
  • You know, what's really interesting is that Homer also says, "Nobody snuggles with Max Power. . . you strap in and feel the G's!"

    This gives a whole new meaning to that, I believe.
  • I wouldn't worry about going the whole hog. As these planes drop out of service (at an astonishing rate mind you) the simulators that the operators owned will become obsolete just as quickly.

    BTW a 727 sim is about 16x16 feet, and requires computers in about 18 7' racks to run it. Pity all that space has the power of your current Mac G4.
  • ... it gives a whole new meaning to the term mobile home!
  • Okay, this sounds pretty cool (if not really tacky), but...

    1. I'd rather live in a functional 747. It would be the ultimate home for someone who travels a few hundred days a year. Hell, I'm a bit surprised now that I think about it that some company hasn't bought one for their frequently-flying execs. Bill Gates spends a lot of time abroad (even when he's not getting pied) -- if he were like me, he'd prefer framiliar surroundings to even a ritzy hotel. I think a more homey Air Force One would be gangbusters -- convert the press and secret service areas into a master bedroom and a living area. Once I had it set up, I could continue with my scheme to finance SETI work and send Jodi Foster to the center of the galaxy...

    2. This place can't hold a candle to the outfit offering the converted missile bases [missilebases.com] . The ability to have a T1 installed and to withstand a direct nuclear hit is just overwhelming. If those BATF guys think they had trouble getting the Branch Davidians to come out, just you wait until I lock this thing down for the evening.

    ----


  • The 727 idea isn't too bad, just a bit plane... :)

    Perhaps a more interesting home could be built from one of computers of antiquity, the kind that took up whole rooms. Nice ambient lighting from the vacuum tubes...

  • Cost of a stripped plane. (Score:3)

    by Dan B. ( 20610 ) <slashdot@bryar.c o m . au> on Tuesday November 02, 1999 @07:02PM (#1568262)
    The cost of a stripped plane, thats no;

    avionics or electronics

    wiring

    hydraulics

    seats

    galleys

    engines

    etc,
    is the same price as 100 tons of used 7072 aluminium alloy. So, at about $25,000/ton, you'd have to expext to be paying $250,000 for a totally worn out airframe.

    As for the tip top exterior, just wipe off the oil stains and paint over them!

    An L1011 would be heaps better, short and fat.

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