747 Abandoned at Black Rock

[MClark]

The burners had half a 747 as an art car.
Seems they abandoned it rather than dragging it back to storage area near Empire.
So much for leave no trace.
https://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts...n-still-sitting-black-rock-desert/1304974002/

M

 

[lakeroadster]

 

[Speaknoevil]

I think at this point Burning Man is dominated by hippie posers--Silicon Valley corporate type and jet setting celebrities.

 

[Nytrunner]

I wonder how many N5800s would get it rolling?

 

[davdue]

Could this be the end of Burning Man?

 

[boatgeek]

Could this be the end of Burning Man?

At the very least, I would expect that BLM (or whoever owns the land) will have some more questions and requirements before the next one. Another silly question--if Burning Man goes up in smoke, will the cell towers covering Black Rock also go away?

 

[boatgeek]

Sorry, double post

 

[jlabrasca]

I am shocked....SHOCKED...that they didn't have a removal plan when they decided to assemble it on the playa. Clearly they are nothing but loose mob of feckless mooncalves who are in no way representative of the typical shrewd, effectual, and meticulously well-organized Burning Man participants.

https://www.bigimagination.org

 

[markkoelsch]

They should just ban burning man.

 

[neil_w]

Clearly they are nothing but loose mob of feckless mooncalves

Hmm, "feckless mooncalf". If I hadn't already just updated my tagline....

 

[MClark]

Last year they had the top half of what is there now, it was dismantled at taken to Empire for storage.
So they followed the rules then. I would bet a contract was signed stating the plane would be removed. BurningMan is cash rich and their lawyers will hunt them down.
Burners can be a pain but no matter what we do it will be less than them, set an upper limit for playa damage.

 

[Chris_H]

I bet that it will change the event. Maybe there will be some sort of deposit required to ensure complete removal of things like this. The BLM is serious in their requirements for the BM permit. I bet there will be a change next year.

What is disturbing, is that the 747 was towed off of the BM permitted site, to some other location 12 miles away. Like no one would notice a 747 parked on the playa... With the acute awareness of anyone on the playa beyond the event dates, and BM personnel on site for weeks or however long after the event to clean up, there is no way that BMorg did not know about this. Did the bigimagination crew just sneak the 747 through the fence in the middle of the night?

Burningman org should have stepped up and gotten the plane off the playa before their permit ended, no matter 'who's fault' it was. Ultimately, it was their commercial event.

I imagine that there were some heated words being shared out there.

The BLM should make it sting, both to the bigideas people, and to BMorg.

 

[boatgeek]

The website linked above says that they haven't abandoned the plane and they're working with BLM to remove it. So they're not really feckless mooncalves, they're just regular old mooncalves.

 

[djs]

What is disturbing, is that the 747 was towed off of the BM permitted site, to some other location 12 miles away. Like no one would notice a 747 parked on the playa

The guy behind this posted some stuff on reddit, including the comment that they put some kind of pads down under the wheels so that there's no damage to the ground as they roll it "just a little distance". Yet the bottom picture in the article clearly shows large tire track marks from the wheels.

I have several friends who are burners, and I used to want to go there, but now it just seems like a bunch of trustafarians and people who are trying to outdo/outweird each other as some kind of ego thing.

 

[afadeev]

What is disturbing, is that the 747 was towed off of the BM permitted site, to some other location 12 miles away. Like no one would notice a 747 parked on the playa...

... could be as simple as the plane got stuck in the playa in the process of being towed.
I looks less than flight-worthy. Perhaps the rain started coming down, and the towing contractor parked it before things got any worse.

Someone had put a fair amount of thought and money into that toy, so I doubt it is abandoned.
If it is, it should be auctioned off.
I bet it will find a home.

a

 

[djs]

... could be as simple as the plane got stuck in the playa in the process of being towed.

They apparently found out "at the last minute" that they needed a permit to get it out of the playa, and BM was closing down, so they couldn't keep it there. So it got dragged 12 miles away.

 

[Nytrunner]

Did the bigimagination crew just sneak the 747 through the fence in the middle of the night?

Shhh..... they'll never notice it out in the desert

Maybe they didn't have enough volunteers to disassemble it again afterwards and had to scramble. It's still hilarious as long as it doesn't impact the ability to launch out there.

 

[jlabrasca]

T
I have several friends who are burners, and I used to want to go there, but now it just seems like a bunch of trustafarians and people who are trying to outdo/outweird each other as some kind of ego thing.

I went, very many years ago now, and it was less fun than I'd been lead to expect. Of course, I was expecting Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt to show up.

Seriously the burners don't do anything that much sillier than shooting big rockets at nothing. It just looks sillier because they aren't all doing the same silly thing at the same time (and also because so many of them are naked except for a hat shaped like a mantis shrimp).

 

[tfish]

one of the wing splices...

some goof...

Tony

 

[Andrew_ASC]

Too funny.

 

[Nytrunner]

Tony, I know you've got the Newtons to get that thing moving. You should reach out to BigImagination with an offer

Hope to see you in Hsv for SLI again next year!

 

[tfish]

that thing is huge. I'm not sure all the n/S at this upcoming weekends launch will move it...very far.

Did we meet at SLI?

Tony

 

[Nytrunner]

that thing is huge. I'm not sure all the n/S at this upcoming weekends launch will move it...very far.

Did we meet at SLI?

Tony

We did, I was the tall younger guy doing flight readiness checks with you.

Is that reloaded O going to fly this year?

 

[tfish]

Screen names throw me off. We've worked together a couple years now.

Yes that rocket. I just got my truck loaded up...a shower and then hitting the road.

Tony

 

[MClark]

This afternoon we talked with the 747 owners. It is to be towed off playa to private land tomorrow.

 

[Speaknoevil]

This afternoon we talked with the 747 owners. It is to be towed off playa to private land tomorrow.

Pics or it never happened .

 

[MClark]

Pics or it never happened .

Thank you for calling me a liar.
You have no idea how much I hate your deployment bag statement.
I have lots of pictures inside and out. Don't expect to ever see them

 

[Nytrunner]

Thank you for calling me a liar.
You have no idea how much I hate your deployment bag statement.
I have lots of pictures inside and out. Don't expect to ever see them

Unless I'm mistaken, that wasn't calling you a liar, that's a common internet joke. Meant to be playful banter not an outright insult.

 

[Andrew_ASC]

Thanks MClark for getting 747 moved. That thing belongs at that Mojave aircraft boneyard not Black Rock. Hell, that airframe only is worth a couple of millions just there by itself. Biggest question I have is how the flip did it even get to Black Rock?

 

[MClark]

Thanks MClark for getting 747 moved. That thing belongs at that Mojave aircraft boneyard not Black Rock. Hell, that airframe only is worth a couple of millions just there by itself. Biggest question I have is how the flip did it even get to Black Rock?

I had nothing to do with getting it moved, just reported what is supposed to happen.
Plane was cut into large sections, transported to Empire and reassembled. Towed to the BurningMan site.
Owners said what they have has little scrap value, all serviceable parts have been removed and the aluminum is considered as contaminated by the zinc chromate primers and other metals (bolts rivets, reinforcements) maybe worth $40k.

M