We have many questions about aviation. This is especially evident the moment we board the plane. Why do flight attendants keep their hands behind their backs, why do the umbrellas open during takeoff and landing, how do planes at high speed not collide with each other? We have explained the answers to all these questions, you will see it at the end of our content, but now to another question Let’s move on.

Airplanes perform hundreds of hours before reaching the end of their lifespan. After a while they decay. expired many influencing factors There is also. Let’s see what these factors are and where do they go when they reach the end of their lives?

Airplanes age depending on their use.

The average lifespan of commercial aircraft is about 27 years, but many are retiring earlier, not just because they are old. flight hours, differences in pressure levelsThe maintenance, landing and take-off cycles are also important.

It also varies depending on the type of aircraft. For example While Boeing 747 can perform up to 35,000 cycles Airbus A320 can rotate up to 60,000 rpm.

What is done with expired aircraft?

Worldwide for the past 35 years More than 16,000 commercial aircraft were taken out of service reported. Moreover, almost 700 aircraft end their lives every year. Okay, but where do these deleted planes go? Is there such a thing as an airplane graveyard?

Of course, not all of them will be scrapped as soon as the airline they operate with goes bankrupt. The airline is bankrupt, It also doesn’t mean it’s permanently grounded. There is such a thing as second-hand trading and this is a serious business sector.

Of course, old planes also have buyers. At least each piece has its own value.

Relatively low-budget airlines buy or use used aircraft instead of purchasing an expensive new aircraft. Airlines in countries with lax maintenance and safety controls to take.

If there is no buyer for the scrapped aircraft, it will be sent to the aircraft scrap yard, ie to the airplane cemetery to go. Here some of them are carefully stored and maintained until they are put back into use.

Parts of some of them can be used as spare parts. An airplane can be disassembled into a maximum of 2000 parts. From windshields to chairs everything has value. A used turbofan engine is worth $2,000,000, while new parts can be worth twice that.

Airplanes can be recycled.

Nearly 70% of an aircraft can be recycled for parts. The intention is even to increase this percentage to 95% as the technology develops. Aluminum obtained from scrapped aircraft; on drinks cans, bottle caps, window frames, on plates and coins It can even be used.

There are also some that are used for many different purposes.

Can you guess that airplanes can have other duties besides flying? However as a hotel or restaurant There are even used copies! In Costa Rica, for example, you can spend a night in a suite built into the fuselage of a Boeing 727.

Did you think it was limited to that? No! Two Irish builders built a Boeing 747-212B passenger plane turned it into a comfortable office. Doesn’t look bad, right?

This is what happens to aircraft that have reached the end of their service life. Although they all have different adventures, many of them go to the airplane graveyard and here it awaits its new buyers.

If you’d like to check out our other curious topics about airplanes: