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MohawkWeekend wrote:How much of an airliner is melted back down to aluminum? I understand al prices are through the roof now. I do recall someone posting years ago that aircraft aluminum could not be used for beverage cans.
Along those lines, are all those airplane wires you see in scrapping videos recyclable for their copper?
convair880mfan wrote:I know a guy who does this, a retired TWA captain. But I never had the nerve to ask him. Is there a lot of profit to be made in this profession? This former TWA captain told me that breaking up Convair 880's was hard because the fuselage skins were so thick. Maybe he was joking with me though.
tommy1808 wrote:convair880mfan wrote:I know a guy who does this, a retired TWA captain. But I never had the nerve to ask him. Is there a lot of profit to be made in this profession? This former TWA captain told me that breaking up Convair 880's was hard because the fuselage skins were so thick. Maybe he was joking with me though.
somewhat less, due to labor cost, than the lowest price you can find for an used aircraft should roughly equal the value of parts and materials.
best regards
Thomas
JayinKitsap wrote:The Navy recently sold two old carriers out of the mothball fleet, each for $ 1. The bidder needed to tow them to the breaking yard (had to be in US), comply with all of the environmental regs about lead, PCB's, and asbestos, all the labor to cut this up and ship out the scrap at the best prices possible. All told I am sure they are making at least 10% profit on the venture or they wouldn't be bidding regularly. The vast majority here is steel, but lots of other metals too. However, scrap steel is cents on the dollar, scrap aluminum is over a $1.
MohawkWeekend wrote:JayinKitsap wrote:The Navy recently sold two old carriers out of the mothball fleet, each for $ 1. The bidder needed to tow them to the breaking yard (had to be in US), comply with all of the environmental regs about lead, PCB's, and asbestos, all the labor to cut this up and ship out the scrap at the best prices possible. All told I am sure they are making at least 10% profit on the venture or they wouldn't be bidding regularly. The vast majority here is steel, but lots of other metals too. However, scrap steel is cents on the dollar, scrap aluminum is over a $1.
Scrapping in Turkey or worse, India/Pakistan/Bangladesh makes way more money for the ship owner. Most commercial vessels are cut up in those 4 countries. Many news articles exist on the appalling condones in those yards (except for Turkey).
Does anyone know if they scrap airliners in those countries ?