From a lost place to a theme park

still in process

At first, I thought it was an aircraft graveyard, since the planes are definitely decommissioned. The owner cleared things up for me in a very interesting 90-minute conversation.

It’s a very large site in Guanyin that is privately owned. The owner used to fence it off, but that didn’t really stop people, so he eventually gave up—now it’s only monitored by cameras.

He doesn’t mind visitors. He just asks that people check in with him first. If he has time, he’ll even show them around the aircraft. However, he’s had trouble with drunk visitors. He does take legal action if people go too far, although one time he lost a case because the judges took a rather unrealistic view, arguing that without a complete fence it should be considered a public space—even though it is clearly private property.

He let us into the large aircraft, so I was able to get a glimpse of the lower levels for the first time.

Visitors usually only stay on the upper level, which is only partially preserved. The rows are still clearly recognizable, and the cockpit is in good condition.

It’s surprising how little you can actually see.

Then we went downstairs. Because he had removed the paneling, we were able to clearly see the ventilation systems and other installations. Everything is still quite chaotic, as the site is currently being renovated.

(Lower level, looking forward toward the cockpit, which is located above.)

The large ventilation system and its connection to the seating areas. The insulation is still present.

The paneling above the seats:

During transport, the owner had to cut the fuselage into three parts: the cockpit section and two fuselage sections. The wings also had to be dismantled. He didn’t obtain a transport permit, so he went ahead with a special transport anyway, fully aware that he would be fined later. From that moment on, he became my kind of guy. He didn’t need to cut up the third aircraft. It was an extreme heavy haul, very dangerous due to the many blind spots. The rear section of the transporter could steer independently. He was only caught because a tire burst during the journey, and it took two hours for a specialist company to deliver a replacement.

The separation marks are still visible. However, he had to specially secure the wings at the cut points. We were also allowed to walk on the wings. The owner is considering how to allow guests onto the wings without people with less physical ability falling off. He also has to make sure that visitors don’t step on the movable parts at the rear.

And now comes the part that I found particularly interesting—after all, I worked for many years in the travel industry and had my fair share of battles with authorities. The owner runs a specialist company for industrial recycling, meaning large machinery and factory equipment. Because of that, he also has the technical expertise and the necessary machinery. His initial plan was simply to create a park. The place became quite well known and even something of an Instagram hotspot. However, the land is designated as farmland, so he was repeatedly fined. He submitted application after application, all of which were rejected. The bureaucrats simply couldn’t make sense of the concept. I’ve had similar experiences myself: many officials dealing with tourism development are quite limited in their perspective, and for them, shopping malls often represent the pinnacle of tourism development. He kept insisting that instead of simply penalizing him, they should guide him on how to develop the project legally. Over time, patience paid off and interest in the project grew. After about six years, he finally received approval. He is now planning a theme park.

This wheel has caused him some trouble and effort. Understandably, he needs to secure and support the aircraft on a foundation. However, he forgot that the wheel slowly loses air over time, causing the entire aircraft to sink. Since then, one wing has been resting on the second aircraft. The third, smallest aircraft is still in the worst condition. However, you can still clearly see how the wings are mounted.