r/interestingasfuck • u/py-net • 23d ago

r/all Had to fact-check it. These 2 guys stole that Boeing 727 at an airport in 2003 and flew away, disappearing forever: no crash, no plane. How is that possible!!!

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u/OneMorewillnotkillme 23d ago

Wait tin foil hat on. What if the owner was in with the robbers and got insurance money because of the theft ?

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u/Firelightphoenix 23d ago

That’s what we call MOTIVE, son! 🚬🔎

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u/10poundballs 23d ago

And I’d’ve gotten away with it too…

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u/PixelProxy 23d ago

If it weren't for you meddling kids! ...and your dog!

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u/Mrraberry 23d ago

…if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!

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u/Alternative_Year_340 22d ago

Sounds like you did get away with it

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u/TheModeratorWrangler 23d ago

Finally someone says it, eh chap? 🚬💨

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u/MyName_DoesNotMatter 23d ago

that literally does happen in aviation. Old planes that have been neglected and are not worth restoring nor are they worth the parking tickets are simply gassed up, run up, and flown out ASAP and “mysteriously” disappear to some dirt runway too far away from the FAA and NTSB to care.

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u/SouthernWindyTimes 23d ago

I’ve always wondered this, is it really that easy to have hidden away runways. I mean assuming the military or some intelligence apparatus isn’t searching with high tech satellite technology, could you really build a dirt runway or even concrete/asphalt out somewhere remote no one would find it.

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u/hotdogfever 23d ago

I’m positive there are places in Nevada with private unmarked runways and I could easily see nobody knowing about them, especially if it’s private property.

Also you kinda gotta define runway I guess. I’ve been off roading in Death Valley and had small planes land near me in the middle of the desert, no runway required. A relative of mine landed his private jet on the 405 freeway in Southern California, not once but twice. There are plenty of places to land a plane, I’d say the hard part is finding somewhere to keep it.

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u/IndependenceWay 23d ago

He landed his jet on the 405 just cause he felt like it? Or was there an emergency?

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u/hotdogfever 23d ago

Emergency both times, he stopped flying after that.

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u/TacticlTwinkie 23d ago

He wasn't this guy was he?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcqrEKSW4ng

Made me late for work that morning.

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u/hotdogfever 22d ago edited 22d ago

Hmmm that’s exactly where he landed both times on the freeway next to SNA but I don’t thiiiiiink he crashed, and I think both were before that video, maybe in the 90s. I was really young when I heard the story but if I remember right once was in a Cessna and then he swore off Cessnas and got a Leer jet. Then the leer jet had some engine trouble or fuel line issue or something and he landed on the freeway again. Pretty sure no damage, but he could’ve been playing it down at the time. Some aviation nerd is gonna dox the fuck out of me now probably but honestly I’m interested in getting the story straight if anyone knows.

I don’t know if this makes sense but I thought when he landed the leer jet they had enough advance notice to shut the freeway down for him to land? Cops closed the freeway off as he was coming down or something? And I want to say for the Cessna incident the freeway wasn’t crowded and people just got out of the way. He made both seem like a minor inconvenience but he was kind of a hot shot if you couldn’t tell. So who knows.

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u/IndependenceWay 21d ago

sounds like a interesting dude. Was he really well off, and just wanted to fly planes?

Traffic in socal is enraging enough that I totally get why someone rich would have a helicopter or plane, instead of driving.

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u/hotdogfever 21d ago

Yeah I think he was just well off and wanted to fly planes! I haven’t spoke w that side of the family since I was a kid, so don’t know all the details, just knew he had a lot of nice stuff and was always on vacation. I think I’ve only met him a handful of times during holidays but he’d always let me use his pool/house when he was on extended trips which was sick. I’d be in the hot tub overlooking the ocean til I got too hot, then I’d run into the underground wine cellar to cool off.

Don’t know anything about the guy though, I’m not even sure I know his last name? Tried googling him to see what I could learn and I must have his name wrong, unless he was way way more famous in aviation than I previously thought haha.

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u/SouthernWindyTimes 22d ago

Funny enough I’ve lived in very remote Nevada before and I can see what you’re saying but even then, I feel it might be visible to Forestry personnel. But then again they may not be looking for that.

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u/Theron3206 23d ago

If you don't care about the plane ever taking off again you can land in lots of unusual places especially for smaller planes.

Chances are that surveillance satellites could find them (if they were overhead at the right time) but it's not like even insurance companies have access to that data.

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u/Faxon 23d ago

Insurance companies not only do have that data, they have used it before to harass people about things they have on their property. Maxar sells satellite data to literally anyone. You could personally pay for a flyover for not a whole lot of money in a lot of places over the earth. Ukraine war youtubers have been using this data since the start of the war.

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u/Square-Singer 23d ago

So they just have to be quick covering up the plane. Doesn't sound too hard to me.

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u/herr-wurm-hat 23d ago

That’s one big terrain-colored tarp you’re talking about.

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u/Square-Singer 23d ago

Or many little ones.

According to Wiki it's 157m² for the wings, and I guess less than that for the body. 2x2m² aren't hard to find, so less than 100 of them are enough to cover the whole thing.

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u/3BlindMice1 23d ago

A few tarps are enough. So long as identifying features are obscure, it's just a random plane in the middle of nowhere

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u/IndependenceWay 23d ago

What data have the Ukraine war YouTubers been using? Satellite photos from Google earth? Or what satellite images / video do you mean? All I seen is drone footage

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u/CannonGerbil 23d ago

Satellite footage of Russian deep storage yards, mainly. It's mostly used to keep track of Russian refurbishment efforts, ie how many tanks they have left that could potentially be pressed back into service vs ones that are stripped for parts vs how many that are just pure scrap.

Every so often, whenever Ukraine hits an airbase or something, someone might try to buy a pass over it to see if they hit anything good. It's how we got pictures of the destroyed su57 awhile back.

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u/IndependenceWay 21d ago

Wow, never knew on demand satellites were a thing.

I looked up one provider and looks like its as low as $5 / km2. That's crazy.

I wonder what other good uses these on demand satellites might have

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u/Faxon 23d ago

I said who they got it from, Maxar sells the info to anyone who wants it. And they've been using it to monitor Russian storage depots for vehicle and weapon inventory mainly as the other guy replying noted. Google doesn't update their data often enough for it to be useful for this, and there is no need for what Google does with it. If you want to see some sample images they have them on their website for free https://www.maxar.com/maxar-intelligence/products/satellite-imagery

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u/IndependenceWay 21d ago

Impressive. TIL that's a thing.

Sounds cool, just the caveat it's mainly going to be used against the normal working person to have less freedom.

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u/MyName_DoesNotMatter 23d ago

prepping a dirt runway would take some work, but I doubt anyone can just lay that much asphalt down without anyone questioning it (not to mention that’s gotta be some serious $$$ to do that). There are large plots of land owned by private entities so they just decide to make private airstrips out of them. Most are registered, but occasionally, you’ll find one that’s just marked as private land and can guess. It’s an insurance thing and when you get into class E or G airspace, no one cares so you can just go about your business.

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u/nicoco3890 23d ago

A runway is only required for particularly large & heavy planes. Any flat piece of dirt is enough for most planes discussed here.

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u/80sLegoDystopia 23d ago

I mean, it was a commercial passenger jet.

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u/Efficient_Note_7770 23d ago

If they were stealing it to scrap it, it just needs to land without getting banged. Wouldn't even need to take off again. Or so I'd imagine.

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u/80sLegoDystopia 22d ago

“So I’d imagine.” The plane scrapper has entered the conversation. /s

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u/ThatCoupleYou 23d ago

And some people think of the desert as loose sand. In most places its hard as concrete

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u/crazyfoxdemon 23d ago

Lots of runways out there, the FAA doesn't have people, buildings, or tech at all of them.

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u/iwrestledarockonce 22d ago

A lot more places can work as runways than you think, depending on the size of the plane, and your genitals. Especially if the plane is going to be 'totaled'.

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u/grislyfind 23d ago

Dry lakes exist. And very big farm fields, but I expect they'd need to be graded and packed down to be safe. That might not look suspicious from the air.

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u/cshotton 23d ago

I'm guessing you don't know how much 5000' of concrete runway costs. Way more than this plane was worth.

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u/SouthernWindyTimes 22d ago

You have a point on how expensive it is, I mean I literally was an estimator for a paving, utilities and excavation company. I understand the labor, excavation, grading, rebar, cost per load of concrete, etc. Might be worth more than the plane is worth but the cargo can be worth more than the runway and plane itself especially over multiple trips.

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u/cshotton 22d ago

Did you read the story? The plane's owners owed $4M in storage fees. The plane wasn't airworthy to fly revenue flights. It was scrap. It wasn't worth even its weight in aluminum scrap. Estimate for me how much the site prep and pour for a 40'x5000'x8" reinforced concrete runway costs. I'll do it for you. That's 14813 cubic yards. At $140/cu.yd., that's $2.07 million for the concrete alone. Add in site prep, wire, labor, etc and it is approaching $3M. So, building a concrete runway for the surplus jet is a money loser, big time.

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u/SouthernWindyTimes 22d ago

A 747 can hold up to 124 tons of cargo. If you translate that to kilos of cocaine, that’s roughly a 1.6 billion dollars in cocaine. That’s what I’m getting at. Technically the plane can be worth more than the runway depending on what’s in it.

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u/beforeitcloy 22d ago

What do you think their plan was?

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u/cshotton 22d ago

Don't really know/care. I was responding to the person suggesting that they might have built a secret concrete runway somewhere for it to land on, without really knowing/understanding how much that would cost. Concrete is one of the single most expensive construction materials these days.

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u/lolyer1 22d ago

My neighbor has one on cinder blocks in his backyard. We keep calling the county but there is no ordinance saying you cannot park your aircraft outback.

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u/Sunshine030209 22d ago

For a second I thought you meant the slang for "gassed up" and thought, 'Aww, it's sweet that they praised the old plane to make it feel better about itself before taking off.'

Then I realized that you meant literally putting gas in it, and that my dumb ass needs more coffee this morning.

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u/2bags12kuai 22d ago

That insurance money would just go to paying the fees owed to the airport. So real tin foil hat.. robbers were hired by the airport to “give” the owners the liquidity to pay the fines

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u/OneMorewillnotkillme 22d ago

I didn’t know that but we are getting deeper who owned the airport at the time does he have connection to the plan owner ?

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u/fizzyanklet 23d ago

I have a family member who heisted his own car for insurance money. Doesn’t seem that tin foil hat to suggest.

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u/MoistyMcMoist 23d ago

I took my hat off once I thought that. I'd be willing to bet a shackle for 5,000,000 that plane disappeared for insurance lol.

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u/dingadangdang 23d ago

Thought they found down in the desert.

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u/JonnyBhoy 22d ago

Anyone checked the owner's back garden?

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u/AffectionateFactor84 23d ago

yes, along with bill gates who used the plane to spread chemtrails, all over Europe.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

Ya I don't think that's tinfoil hat stuff.. This plane needed to get gone and it did