As is often the case, I try and find cool things to see or do in the places I visit to run a marathon. This AirplaneHome.com Boeing 727-200 Home Conversion certainly fit the bill. I was lucky enough to visit it on short notice, dropping an email to the owner shortly after finishing the Portland Marathon.
I was going to go into the details and make some comments… and I will post some photos to be sure… but honestly, you should probably just read up on it over at AirplaneHome.com.
The visionary behind all of this is Bruce Campbell (NOT that one… though this plane in the woods counts as a cabin, to the best of my knowledge there is NOT a Necronomicon inside and there are no Deadites lurking about… though Bruce does have to deal with roving bands of thieves and vandals). I met Bruce at the plane and he graciously gave me a tour. While he’s eccentric and funny and, yes, a little weird, he’s also incredibly nice, passionate, and cares about what he’s doing. He envisions taking abandoned jetcraft, like all those planes sitting in the Arizona desert, and converting them into homes. They’re designed to withstand extreme weather conditions in flight, and essentially they are like RVs in the sky. It may be bonkers, but it’s a beautiful dream.
As I said, I found the whole thing utterly fascinating and charming and if you’re in the area, you really ought to drop him an email and see if you can visit.
Fun fact: this was the plane that flew Aristotle Onasis’s body back to Greece; Jackie O and Ted Kennedy sat onboard… although it’s unclear if the seats made it through to Bruce’s place.
Bruce tells me the mistake he made was having it salvaged and placed; Version 2.0 in Japan is a fully conditioned bird, minus the engines, and thus will be a MUCH faster “proof of concept.” Unlike this Version 1.0 which he’s been rebuilding off and on for 20 years, he thinks he can do that one in 2-3 months (has the plane and spot all lined up… just needs some stakeholders to sign on the dotted line).
Fly high, Bruce. May your dreams realized be more akin to Daedalus than Icarus!