Airplane Graveyard

Inside The Airplane Graveyard

Sam Chui·March 12, 2020

Mojave, Ca

I visited Mojave, Ca, which is a famous airplane graveyard in the Californian desert. More than 100 planes were stored there, mostly these are widebody aircraft. It is end of the line for most planes in the graveyard. Below are some of the photos from Mojave airplane storage.

a group of airplanes on a dirt field — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

airplanes parked on a desert — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

a group of airplanes parked on a runway — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

an airplane with its wings open — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

a large airplane on a dirt field — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

a large airplane parked on a dirt field — Airplane Graveyard Mojave, Ca

I went inside an ex-Thai Airways B747-400, to take a look at the interior. Much to my surprise, the interior was kept intact. All the instrument in the cockpit was taken out include the seats.

Then I stepped inside an ex-Qantas B747 and found my way onto the 747 wing! I could almost touch the winglet!

inside an airplane with seats and windows

a man looking up at the camera — This is how you climb into the B747 without jetbridge from the Avionics Bay

No doubt the coolest thing was to stand on the wing of this ex-Qantas B747-400. I went as far as to the winglet.

a man standing on the wing of an airplane — Standing on the wing of ex-Qantas B747

a man standing on a wing of an airplane with a camera — Almost touching the winglet of the ex Qantas B747-400

Video

I strongly recommend you watch the video to get more insight of the airplane graveyard in Mojave and Victorville.

Victorville, Ca

My next stop was Victorville Southern California Logistics Airport. There are even more planes stored in Victorville than Mojave. Lines and lines of FedEx DC-10s and many B747s.

a group of airplanes on a runway — Airplane Graveyard Victorville, Ca

a group of airplanes parked on a field — Airplane Graveyard Victorville, Ca

a white airplane with blue tail and yellow tail

a close up of an airplane — Airplane Graveyard Victorville, Ca

the tail of a plane with mountains in the background — Airplane Graveyard Victorville, Ca

a close up of a plane — Airplane Graveyard Victorville, Ca

There are some new airplanes parked here, including a Boeing 747-8i that Lufthansa never took delivery, several Boeing 737 MAX 8s and a Mexican Government B787 VIP up for sale.

a large airplane on the ground — Boeing 737 MAX 8 of China Southern

a white airplane on a runway — Boeing 787 BBJ of Mexico Government

We went inside an ex United B747-400 N181UA. It was very dark inside as the window blinds were down and most of the seats have been taken out.

The cockpit window was missing and all the valuable avionics and instruments have also been taken out.

a man holding a paper in the cockpit of an airplane

Then we visited a ex VIM VP-BVY (ex Singapore Airlines 9V-SQH and ex Scoot 9V-OTE) B777-200/ER. It is incredibly wide, as the seats have been taken out the fuselage. Air Hollywood have bought this plane to convert it into a filming studio.

the bottom of a plane — Ex Singapore Airlines B777 at Victorville, Ca

a man standing under an airplane — Huge landing gear door on the Boeing 777

inside an airplane with seats covered in plastic

a man sitting in a plane — Wide fuselage on the B777 with seats on the side removed

a room with white furniture and a yellow wall

an airplane with many parts on the floor

I met up with airplane scraper Huy. Huy gave us a tour and explained how they tear down airplanes, using an excavator. The useful parts such as engines, avionics and interior are usually stripped out for sale.

It took a month to fully demolish a Boeing 747 but just a few days to demolish a Boeing 737.