Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by johng on Saturday June 28, 2025 @11:00AM
(#44405158)
There is also El Avion in Costa Rica. A restaurant/bar maade of a couple of planes transported there for that purpose... including the famous CIA plane that crashed while transporting cocaine.
Great food, really cool place to eat in Manuel Antonio.
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by monicaaa on Thursday July 03, 2025 @06:33AM
(#44453574)
I recently heard about this unique restaurant concept in the UK where a plane has been transformed into a dining space called Steaks on a Plane. It’s fascinating how innovative ideas like this can reshape the dining experience by combining ambiance with creativity. Managing reservations for such distinctive spots must be a challenge, and I came across https://restaurant.eatapp.co/waitlist , which offers a comprehensive platform for restaurants to handle bookings efficiently. From what I’ve seen, it helps restaurants streamline table management, reduce no-shows, and keep track of loyal customers, all in real time across different devices. For places with high demand or unique settings, using a system like this could really improve guest satisfaction and operational flow. It’s interesting how technology is becoming an essential part of running modern dining experiences while keeping things smooth and organized.
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by dctoedt on Saturday June 28, 2025 @11:27AM
(#44405376)
> Its previous owner, a charter company called Blue Falcon Corp, ....
I smiled at that one. It was like when, probably 1980 or so, the Austin American-Statesman newspaper ran a photo of a "robot" parading in front of the White House. The caption explained that the robot's name was FUBAR: Futuristic Uranium-powered Bio-Atomic Robot. Evidently the Statesman's photo editor had never served in the military — or had served, and intentionally ran the photo and caption ....
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by matt_s on Saturday June 28, 2025 @09:31AM
(#44404591)
Sounds like their plans are to make it like an exhibit and/or field trip for kids to learn about aviation.
It would be neat if they refurbished the cockpit to make it operational and changed the windscreens to computer monitors, basically make it a low-feature simulator that people could experience.
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by VWWHFSfQ on Saturday June 28, 2025 @09:29AM
(#44404588)
> he hopes the plane can serve as an educational tool and visual attraction to bring more excitement to his hometown. And he already has a name in mind: “Hangar Hangout.”
> back-of-the-envelope math and estimated they could probably complete the entire project for around $250,000—maybe less if they did most of the work themselves
This sounds pretty cool and I wish them luck, but I suspect their estimate is pretty far off.
Everything about old jets like this is highly specialized and "refurbishing" anything with real parts, or even just matching "period" parts, is likely to be an absolute money sink.
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by rogerrogerr on Saturday June 28, 2025 @09:51AM
(#44404697)
The vast majority of the cost of aviation parts is paperwork. This won’t ever fly again, so there’s no need to get parts that are certified.
If they need a part and can find one that is used up, they’ll be able to get it dirt cheap - it’s literally trash when it’s reached its service life limits.
Not to mention, they can buy hardware (e.g. bolts) from Home Depot at 1% the cost of certified stuff.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they can hit the 250k budget and have something that looks serviceable (but will never fly again; that bridge was crossed long ago anyway).
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by rogerrogerr on Saturday June 28, 2025 @02:13PM
(#44406856)
That’s a “there is fuel” paperwork thing, not a plane paperwork thing. Probably would have cost that if that much fuel was in a bunch of buckets in an Oscar-Meyer Weinermobile.
It was less than 3k gallons of fuel - they probably could have dealt with it themselves (I bet someone out there would have loved to heat their house with that; it’s just really nice kerosene), had their initial reaction not been to call the authorities. After that point their hands were tied.
Re:Texas brothers buy abandoned Boeing 727 for $10k
by burnt-resistor on Saturday June 28, 2025 @08:25PM
(#44409312)
Planes include crap tons of specialized toxic materials. Converting it to any use other than flying is a major, expensive hassle. Such an old plane might as well be free or paid $$ to be taken away.
Great food, really cool place to eat in Manuel Antonio.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g309274-d15099...
I smiled at that one. It was like when, probably 1980 or so, the Austin American-Statesman newspaper ran a photo of a "robot" parading in front of the White House. The caption explained that the robot's name was FUBAR: Futuristic Uranium-powered Bio-Atomic Robot. Evidently the Statesman's photo editor had never served in the military — or had served, and intentionally ran the photo and caption ....
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blue_falcon
It would be neat if they refurbished the cockpit to make it operational and changed the windscreens to computer monitors, basically make it a low-feature simulator that people could experience.
> back-of-the-envelope math and estimated they could probably complete the entire project for around $250,000—maybe less if they did most of the work themselves
This sounds pretty cool and I wish them luck, but I suspect their estimate is pretty far off.
Everything about old jets like this is highly specialized and "refurbishing" anything with real parts, or even just matching "period" parts, is likely to be an absolute money sink.
But good luck! Sounds fun
If they need a part and can find one that is used up, they’ll be able to get it dirt cheap - it’s literally trash when it’s reached its service life limits.
Not to mention, they can buy hardware (e.g. bolts) from Home Depot at 1% the cost of certified stuff.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they can hit the 250k budget and have something that looks serviceable (but will never fly again; that bridge was crossed long ago anyway).
It was less than 3k gallons of fuel - they probably could have dealt with it themselves (I bet someone out there would have loved to heat their house with that; it’s just really nice kerosene), had their initial reaction not been to call the authorities. After that point their hands were tied.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29882619