Abandoned old planes at La Paz - Jfk International (El Alto) Airport - Bolivia

Raline · Post time 13-10-2014 12:17 PM

Abandoned old planes at La Paz - Jfk International (El Alto) Airport - Bolivia

I have to confess a true fascination for old planes left to rust on the side of an airport. La Paz - Jfk International (El Alto) Airport in Bolivia is a great place for that matter. Tens of very old planes can be seen all around, some seem to be in the process of being repaired, and some are...well beyond this point.

Curtiss C-46

Douglas DC-6A/C

Curtiss C-46A

Curtiss C-46D

Douglas DC-3

Convair T-29C

Douglas DC-4

ais_kosong · Post time 13-10-2014 12:34 PM

cool

Raline · Post time 13-10-2014 12:49 PM

Inside Ellinikon Airport’s Abandoned Boeing 747

In a corner of Athens’ disused Ellinikon International Airport, an abandoned Boeing 747 stands amid a motley collection of old Olympic Airlines passenger jets left there when the facility closed in 2001. Under the baking heat of the Aegean sun, the discarded airliners cut a melancholy picture at the southern end of a former airport punctuated with the equally gloomy – and in some cases abandoned – relics of 2004’s Summer Olympic Games.

And now, thanks to an intrepid group of urban explorers, we can take a look inside the belly of the beast. This series of photographs illustrates an older Jumbo Jet than many of those in service today, albeit one whose silent interior remains eerily intact despite some evidence of vandalism.

The 747-284B series aircraft, registration number SX-OAB, was an early model Jumbo that remained in service throughout the 1990s. Now grounded permanently, anonymous grey paint covers the name of the airliner’s former operator and its four mighty engines – probably worth more than the rest of the hulk in its entirety – have been removed from their pylons.

Inside, the fuselage is dominated by row upon row of empty seats, seemingly untouched since they were last occupied except for a layer of dust blanketing their faded upholstery.

At the front of each cabin, a cinema screen (see top) which once served hundreds of passengers betrays the plane’s age. Since this old Olympic aircraft last took to the skies, passengers have come to expect full entertainment systems embedded within the back of every seat. Overhead storage lockers and panels behind which oxygen masks were hidden have begun to fall open, as evidenced by this photograph of the upper deck.

In the forward part of the plane, a spiral staircase connecting the upper and lower decks remains apparently free of vandalism, its rich blue carpet virtually pristine as it disappears into the eerie, dark abyss of the aircraft’s lower cabin.

At the top of the stairs, meanwhile, the aircraft’s flight deck shows the greatest evidence of human intervention and possible vandalism, its many control panels completely gutted.

Two large flight yolks dominate the front panel in front of the captain’s and co-pilot’s seats, and four engine throttle levers remain in place on the central panel between them. To the rear, the flight engineer’s station is further evidence of this older model Jumbo’s vintage.

Behind the tangled mass of wires denoting the flight engineer’s gutted control panel, the open cockpit door leads to a small galley and out into the exclusive upper cabin. There’s no denying that by comparison to modern passenger jets, airliners such as this are somewhat dated. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t elegant in their day – just check out these early Lockheed Tristars with lower deck cocktail lounges!

Back outside again, the Boeing 747’s massive front undercarriage leg stands on the weed-strewn tarmac of the once bustling international airport. Below, the same aircraft can be seen in flight, touching down on Ellinikon’s now disused runway in October 1996.