The Command is located on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. This airplane graveyard in Tucson is a combined service facility and maintained by the US Air Force Material Command. AMARC stands for the Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center. The dry and arid environment helps protect the aircraft. The Tucson Arizona desert sun is exactly why the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group is in Tucson Arizona.
For aviation buffs, there’s nothing like the sight of hundreds of derelict airplanes roasting in the desert sun. (Zemanovic himself got his start in the 1980s as an A&P mechanic.The Airplane Graveyard in Tucson AZ is unbelievable. “A&Ps,” as they’re commonly known, require at least two years of coursework and even more time to become specialized in airplane systems like hydraulics and avionics. They must get airframe and powerplant mechanics licenses, which are issued by the FAA and allow them to make aircraft repairs and maintenance. Tools of the Tradeīefore the techs at Jet Yard ever strip down a plane, they have to undergo strenuous training.
PLANE GRAVEYARD SKIN
Once the plane looks like an empty hull, the hydraulic excavator comes out, ripping through the aluminum skin like paper and tearing a once majestic bird into recyclable scraps. Next, they collect seats and emergency gear such as life vests, oxygen masks and life rafts to be sold for reuse. “They keep other aircraft flying.”įirst, techs carefully drain hazardous materials such as hydraulic fluid, A/Crefrigerant, de-icing fluid and leftover fuel, then they pull the avionics and electrical equipment. “Because of the obvious wear, parts in these systems are in great demand,” says Zemanovic. For techs, the first job is often to tackle the most valuable components of the plane: its engines and landing gear. The Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association estimates that up to 85 percent of an old airliner can be recycled or reused, a figure that’s expected to rise as airplane manufacturers work to make their products less likely to end up in landfills. “You need to be careful out there sometimes because of these ‘squatters,'” Zemanovic says. Large rattlesnakes have been known to nest near massive jet tires, and scorpions and black widows like to crawl into the dark, tight spaces where the techs have to work. Unpleasant surprises sometimes await the techs in the desert. They get their tools ready, as well as gloves, sunscreen and a wary eye. But when a call from the owner comes in to begin the recycling process on an aircraft that’s more valuable broken up than in the air, that’s when Jet Yard’s technicians start the two- to three-month process of breaking down a jet. It just depends on the type of aircraft and what the market is,” Zemanovic says.Īfter a jet is sealed up, not much maintenance is needed. “Most that are retired will never fly again. The process of refreshing a stored plane involves a great deal of cleaning, checking and tuning up of equipment by Jet Yard’s techs.īut that doesn’t happen for most airliners. “Some are kept in storage for a short time before they’re sold and they’re back in the air,” Zemanovic says. (It’s not considered good branding to let customers see your planes gathering dust in the desert.) If they expect the aircraft to be there a while, a crew mounts a crane to paint over the airline’s tail and fuselage logos.
PLANE GRAVEYARD WINDOWS
Once a plane gets parked at Pinal, Jet Yard technicians get busy sealing up engines, covering windows and putting plugs into sensitive equipment to protect them from whirling sand and dust.
And more than 12,000 airliners will end up at these facilities over the next 20 years, according to the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association.
A former military base located next to Saguaro National Park just outside of Tucson, Ariz., Pinal has a 6,800-foot runway that lets even the largest of aircraft land there.Īviation analysts Ascend estimate that there are roughly 2,500 airliners at boneyards like Pinal today.
Zemanovic isn’t only a tech - he’s also the founder and CEO of Jet Yard, an airplane storage, maintenance and recycling firm based at Pinal Airpark in rural Arizona. Once an aircraft arrives in the boneyard, a team led by technicians like Tim Zemanovic gets to work. In most cases, jets get flown to aircraft “boneyards” around the world, located mostly in deserts where the planes are safe from the damaging effects of humidity. But what happens to a 747 after it has delivered its last passenger? When your car has coughed up its last mile, it usually ends up in a salvage yard. Meet Our Experts Where do old airplanes go when they’re no longer needed? To a “boneyard” in the desert, where they get stored and then stripped for parts - or reborn to fly again.