Here's Why An Abandoned Boeing 720 Plane Has Been Parked At Nagpur Airport For 24 Years

Update

A series of tweets that went viral on Wednesday depicting a tale of an abandoned Boeing 720 aircraft, has another chapter to it.

While the story of abandoned aircrafts isn't new, this story has is peculiar as it is intriguing. The tweets shared by one Chris Coy have added more twists to the already gripping story.

The comments made by Sam Verma, the promoter of Continental Airlines, has added more spice to the story.

Incidentally, Verma, who is also a pilot, had a few years ago landed a small aircraft on a highway stretch in Madhya Pradesh, The Times of India reported.

Verma told TOI that one fine day he decided to wind up the airline business and the five planes, including the one in Nagpur, were grounded. He did so because the pilots and engineers in India were ¡°just not good as compared to the Americans¡±.

Original story

For 24 years, the Nagpur airport had an unwelcomed guest in the form of an aeroplane, a Boeing 720, that landed because of an emergency resulting from its engine in 1991 but never flew out.

But the story behind this is actually pretty interesting and a Twitter user named Chris Coy has shared it in detail. He blamed his father for getting the plane to Nagpur airport and abandoning it there. His father who was an aeroplane mechanic at Brown Field Municipal airport apparently took it in his hands to fly the plane from the US to India.

I just found out that

1. For 24 years every pilot who landed at the airport in Nagpur, India had to be warned about the Boeing 720 sitting next to the runway.

2. That it was my dad's fault.

This is the story of my dad's junkyard jet. pic.twitter.com/yxw2qjLQHX

¡ª Chris Croy (@ChrisCroy) October 12, 2021

An Indian tire magnate named Sam Veder asked him to fix the flight and take it to India. Even though others told Coy's father that he was wasting his time trying to fix the plane, he still did it.

Modern jets are required to be much quieter and more efficient than they used to be. Plane's today are about 1/4th as loud as they were in the 1950s! It's possible to retrofit a dinosaur from the 1950s like the Boeing 720 to be compliant, but India's rules were, uh, Different so.

¡ª Chris Croy (@ChrisCroy) October 12, 2021

They just needed to fly across the border to Tijuana to complete the test flights and Coy's mother filed the paperwork with the FAA. After completing the test flight Sam Veder and Coy's father flew to India.

After they completed the test flights in Tijuana, my dad's junkyard jet embarked for India with my dad and Sam Veder on board. If Sam was going to die, then mick mechanic who "fixed" it was going to die with him.

¡ª Chris Croy (@ChrisCroy) October 12, 2021

However, even though the plane reached India it had a few problems and they had to do an emergency landing at Nagpur airport.

They initially left it on the runway itself, but it was quickly towed 300 feet away, but still that's way too close for regulations or comfort and it should have been moved much farther immediately, but it wasn't and so it's a story.

¡ª Chris Croy (@ChrisCroy) October 12, 2021

Sam wanted to move the plane immediately, but the airport wouldn't give him access to the plane.

Regardless of why, it was. Time passed. Sam retired, built Balaji Puram temple to honor Lord Balaji, and the plane remained. In 2011 the government told the airport to move the damn plane or they would strip the airport's license, so they dragged it a little farther away. pic.twitter.com/ABeAy9J0Qt

¡ª Chris Croy (@ChrisCroy) October 12, 2021

In the most incredible "the problem I was avoiding for [eternity] only took [moment]" ever, in 2015 the new airport director decided to solve it, changed the tires, and got rid of the plane in half an hour.

But here's the best part. Coy's father lied to his wife saying that the plane was still flying in India carrying "people and chickens".