Think of a plane scrapyard and you probably didn’t expect to see this.
Amid the sad end-of-life aircraft destined to either be dismantled for parts, crushed, or simply sit there indefinitely gathering dust – this happy little video is pretty surprising.
An airport employee at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, US, used the jaw-like grapple of a Cat excavator to grab the mid-section of a plane.
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It looks like the plane in question could be a Learjet, although it’s difficult to tell from that distance.
The worker holds the plane steady, lifts it off the ground, and then spins the cab – making the plane seem as if it’s taking one final flight.
And the resulting footage is like an emotional scene from a Pixar movie.
The original Instagram post by @vice.aviator amassed over 500K posts – and even more when re-shared elsewhere.
“That’s how they teach planes to fly,” said one commenter.
“The airplane whispered to him… ‘Can I fly… just one more time,'” said a second.
“Playing with their new toy on Christmas,” said a third.
It might remind you of this $34 billion aircraft boneyard, which left the internet wondering why its spare parts couldn’t be reused.
The retired aircraft are sitting in a lot at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, US.
It’s officially called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
The area is used by the US Air Force to house planes that are no longer in active commission.
It holds the world record for being the World’s Largest Military Aircraft Boneyard, according to the World Record Academy.
Like this million-dollar car graveyard in a German forest – it’s not there for nothing.
As the ‘Regeneration’ part of the name suggests – the planes don’t simply sit there gathering dust -as planes that come to the base aren’t broken, for the most part – they’re just retired.
They’re maintained in working order so that they can be used when needed.
Many of these planes are partially and gradually stripped for parts as needed.
Then, once parts come off a plane, they’re carefully refurbished to a like-new standard.
And this isn’t the only way to get the most out of a retired plane, this old Boeing 747 was bought for $1.35 and turned into the ultimate party venue.
What’s more, this man built his dream home out of two jets and it only costs him $200 per month.
