With the window exit off, I stepped over the fuselage and into my shoes that were strategically placed outside. As I slipped back into them, I stood up, felt the welcome cool breeze and thought, “Whoa. This is SO COOL!” I was standing on the right wing of a Boeing 727, in the middle of the woods, outside of Portland, Oregon. This wasn’t an emergency. There were no commands that were being shouted or screaming panicked guests to corral. I wasn’t in uniform or at work or commuting to work. And the only danger I faced was accidentally falling off the wing because I was more focussed on getting the right angle to capture a photo, and even then, the fall would be 8ft, max, to the ground.
Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pose on the wing
Let me rewind. I got home Monday night from a trip and didn’t have to work until Friday, which meant I didn’t have to go back to base until Thursday. THREE WHOLE DAYS OFF?! What’s a girl to do?! Day 1 of my days off is usually spent sleeping, doing laundry, and if I’m feeling ambitious, running errands. Day 2 I’ll usually run errands (because that counts as “going out” right?) and meal prep. And Day 3 is usually back to work. But this time, I had a little more time, I had a visitor (who, thankfully, is super easy going and low key and would be fine with staying home and watching movies or tagging along on any plans I’d make) and I had the urge to go on an adventure.
I remember scrolling Facebook a few years ago and coming across an article about a man who lived in a plane in Portland. I was a new-ish flight attendant at the time so while my love for travel was well developed, I was just getting more and more interested in aviation. (Planes are cool, magic is what causes them to fly, and I there are features that make me oo and ahh, though the technical stuff still evades me.) I couldn’t remember if you could visit it or not, but thought it would be cool to see, even if just from the outside. I found his website, found out he welcomes visitors(!!!!!!), read through his visit information (lol at the nudity parts) and fired off an email to him on a Monday evening to see if I could come visit on Wednesday. Much to my delight, I got a quick response saying that I was welcome to visit and would after 1pm work? UM YES.
Wednesday came and according to Google Maps, the Airplane Home (look it up on maps, it’s actually a plane!) was just under an hour away from where I lived. So off we went. We eventually exited the city limits and were in some farm areas which made way to the woods before we drove up to this.
That’s a plane. In the woods. That’s a plane in the woods. A whole ass plane. Just in the woods. What the what.
We followed the instructions and found the stairs at the aft (back) of the plane, took our shoes off at the bottom, and went up the (sterile) stairs in our socks. I called out as we got closer to the top and Bruce, the gentleman of the house (of the plane?) welcomed us with warm introductions and a pair of slippers to wear inside.
Our 1.5h visit flew by (haha, no pun intended), as we explored inside, outside and above the plane. We asked him about how he got the jet onto his property, how he got the idea, the work that’s happened, what’s coming up next and his next plane, Version 2.0. Bruce was an incredible host. He’s friendly, a wealth of information, and extremely kind. I imagine he does this almost every day (welcome visitors to his home and give them a spiel) but was patient with our questions, with showing us around and welcomes as many photos and videos you’d like to take! The whole time I kept saying, “This is so cool. This is so cool.” because, well, it was! We saw the shower he installed, the living area, the space that he welcomes overnight visitors in, seats from the original plane, his work area, the flight deck, the wing, and even the floors have a story to tell as they’ve been replaced with clear fiberglass so you can see down into the belly of the plane!
Inside view; top has the flight deck in the background, bottom has the aft entrance/living quarters
At some point, Bruce asked if we were interested in explore the center engine cowl. It would require a little bit of climbing to get up to but if we were interested, he would show us how to maneuver up there. So we did. And it did require some maneuvering and climbing that left me a little bit of an elevated heart rate, but was completely worth it. Many flight attendants have photos by the engine cowl, but sadly, I haven’t had the chance to capture one, yet. Until yesterday when Bruce made it happen. Not only did we get to hang out in the center cowl for however long we wanted, if we felt daring enough, we could walk on top of the fuselage. (Bruce read us the Riot Act before he’d let us out there.) We didn’t go far out, but we made it out there, and it was EVERYTHING!
Feeling on top of the world because I’m sitting cross-legged on top of a plane!
I don’t have enough words to describe the experience and will revert back to what I kept repeating the entire time: this is so cool! A random article lead to an unexpected adventure and a day I won’t forget. If you find yourself in the Portland area, do go try to visit Bruce and the plane, especially if you’re into aviation! They host concerts on the wing sometimes and in Bruce’s words, “It’s a hoot!” As for Bruce, when we expressed our gratitude for allowing us into his home and showing us around and sharing this experience, he insisted that the pleasure was all his and to please be careful driving back (as one of the side roads turns onto a busier road where people tend to speed and it’s his fear that one day he’ll hear that one of his visitors got hurt after their visit). He doesn’t accept any gifts or monetary donations. The only thing he asks is that you share your experience and share the word, encouraging others to visit, because you never know who’ll turn into a stakeholder for his Version 2.0 project. (Think of the tiny home movement, but planes, kind of. Just go visit him and ask him about it, he’s much better at explaining things than I am.) Go visit Bruce for your own plane ole adventure!
