Australian man boards 'flight to nowhere' and ends up in eerie aircraft graveyard
An Australian journalist took a solo 'flight to nowhere' and ended up in an eerie aircraft graveyard.
On 60 Minutes Australia, journalist Charles Wooley was given a one-way ticket to the middle of nowhere.
The journey began as usual with a friendly crew, clear skies, and zero turbulence. The only major difference was that he was the only passenger on board.
Instead of flying to a holiday destination, his Qantas Boeing 767 was heading to Victorville – a desert town in California that's home to one of the world's largest airplane graveyards.
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While you might think a plane graveyard is a result of a decline in the airline industry, Wooley found it was just the opposite.
Known as OGG, the aircraft has carried more than five million passengers during its 25-year career, which is the equivalent of 140 round-trips to the Moon. But this particular flight would be OGG's last.
"The high cost of fuel has sealed their fate, hence the most unusual air trip I've ever taken," the journalist described.
Fire engines sprayed traditional farewell arcs of water as the plane departed on its final flight.
Victorville is a dusty town in the Mojave Desert, where the scorching heat and dry air are ideal for storing old aircraft, as there's no risk of corrosion.
"It's why airlines from all over the world come here [Victorville] while they work out what to do with their old planes," Wooley explained.
The journalist described an ‘eerie’ feeling when walking among the abandoned and humongous planes, where all you can hear is the 'moaning of the wind through the planes' and 'mechanical clanking.'
He called it a 'Qantas museum' where rows of stationary Qantas planes sit idle, waiting to learn their fate.
But it wasn't all unsettling. The presenter spoke with one of the pilots who flew OGG to the graveyard, and they shared their emotional connection to the aircraft.
She reported the graveyard having a 'lot of history' that gives you a 'sentimental approach to aircraft,' pointing out where she took her first flight as a second officer.
Not every plane sent to the California aircraft graveyard is destined to be dismantled. Some are maintained so well that they can be brought back into service with relatively minor work.
This means some of these retired planes can get a second life as affordable aircraft for budget airlines with tighter budgets. It may have been a bittersweet goodbye with OGG, but it may just return to the skies, only this time wearing different airline colours.