An abandoned MD-82 in Puerto Rico and the risks of exploring without proper footwear

@ElentirENG ES 8·18·2024 · 23:27 0

In 1940, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the creation of a naval air base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico.

An exploration of the former Ellinikon International Airport, south of Athens
Green Line, the no man's land that has separated the two halves of the island of Cyprus since 1974

Roosevelt had visited the town in 1919, when he was only an assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, and spent years advocating for the need for such a base. German submarine activity in the Caribbean, even before the US entered World War II, eventually led to the creation of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, named in honor of the president. This base was active until 2004, when it became the José Aponte de la Torre Airport, commonly known as Ceiba Airport.

On March 30, 2009, American Airlines donated a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 aircraft (MD-82, N428AA, serial number 49340 and built in 1986) to the Miguel Such Higher Professional School. The purpose of this donation was the training of aircraft maintenance technicians. The plane was parked on an abandoned and closed runway of the old base, 18/36, and unfortunately ended up abandoned until today. A few months ago, the Youtube channel LauWasHere published a video in which we see an explorer visiting this plane:

As you can see from 10:27 on in the video, the explorer had a minor accident in the airplane cabin. She hurt her foot on a piece of metal on the floor, because she decided to explore the plane wearing flip-flops. Fortunately, the video's protagonist carried a good first aid kit and some shoes in her backpack. This serves as a reminder that you should wear appropriate footwear for any exploration. Abandoned sites are full of objects that can cause foot injuries, and those injuries (I can tell you from experience) are annoying to heal.

You can see some screenshots from the video here. Here we see the MD-82, which still has the old American Airlines livery. The plane is missing both engines and the tail piece.

The author of the video managed to get into one of the luggage compartments. These are low compartments, since the MD-82 was a relatively small aircraft and designed for short-distance routes.

The explorer on the port wing of the plane. The interior of the plane is in good condition, relatively speaking, after so many years of abandonment.

In addition to the plane, the author of the video also visited the interior of one of the hangars on this abandoned runway. It appears to be in disuse.