Basic question - where will all these 747s actually physically go to be retired? Will there be a landfill somewhere with a huge amount of airplane parts? Will they be left to rust in some hangar in the middle of nowhere?
Isn't this only for planes with some value left? Either they're for parts or might fly again? Otherwise, wouldn't you just cut up the airframe and sell it for scrap?
Now, composite planes are a different story. I doubt there's any value in scrap carbon fiber.
For planes that are being retired, they usually take the engines off pretty early because they have some of the most valuable parts for resale in them.
They’d also be drained of all fluids. For planes in storage to be used again later, they fill all the fuel, hydraulic, etc. lines with special liquids to keep them preserved. So it’d be at least a week’s work for a team to get a stored plane going.
I believe just like storing a car for a long time, fluids are drained and other items removed/wrapped for storage. You can't just jump in the cockpit and taxi out to the runway. They are kept in a state that is relatively easy to restore to functioning status but not in functioning status.
Good luck taking off without fuel and any ground equipment, not to mention any consumables that would have to be replaced after prolonged stay in a desert.
Looks like they leave fuel in the tank if it’s for short term storage, but they drain various fluids if it’s longer term storage. Probably depends on the circumstances.
Precisely—and this circumstance is retirement with no prospect of a quick sale.
At a guess, they’ll probably have limited parts value, only that which would be valuable to operators of 747 freighters. Mainly the engines, if they’re in good nick.
The authentication method is knowing how to fly said plane and getting in said plane in the first place.
The planes that are relatively accessible aren't flightworthy without effort, and the planes that are flightworthy require violating federal law (in the US) to access them.
That was the sales pitch when most observers thought the 747 was going to be the last subsonic long-haul passenger plane. "Don't worry about the supersonic plane we're currently designing, you'll be able to sell your 747 as a great easy-conversion cargo plane once the SST comes out."
Google "desert aircraft boneyards". They will be parted out for pieces to keep remaining models of the same type flying, and when that's not economical anymore, they are cut up for aluminum scrap.