Nearing Halloween, I decided to make a 2 hour journey to the Mojave Air & Space Port, located in the Mojave Desert in California. Similar to the nearby Southern California Logistic Airport located in the city of Victorville, which is widely known as the Aircraft Graveyard or Aircraft Boneyard, this airport also houses many retired aircraft that were retired by various airlines.
The airport on this day was also hosting a monthly event called the “Plane Crazy Saturday”. Held every third week of the month, the airport allows guests to walk around the tarmac and if people own an aircraft, they can fly that in to show it to the guests.
Although this became my 4th visit to the airport and I sort of find it a little scary and sad, it never failed to impress me as it is filled with many legendary / historical aircraft that goes in the history books.
Warning: So yeah, some of the aircraft shown are partially dismembered or chopped off, which some of you may find a little bit disturbing, sad or shocking. If you don’t like looking at any of that, I suggest you back away slowly as there is no “unsee” button.
Please consider scrolling at your own risk.
Gear used
・Canon EOS R5 + RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM
・Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80 (backup / long range support)
Boeing 767-233 | C-GAUN | (1983 - 2008)
Even I could hardly believe when I first saw it, but this is the remains of the famous/infamous Air Canada “Gimli Glider” aircraft, still partly here since it arrived at the Mojave 17 years ago. (The cockpit-less aircraft in front of the Thai Airways 747, presumably HS-TGN)
Recently in June, a museum in Canada finally decided to save the aircraft ー but only just the cockpit section. It was cut and transported back to Gimli in Manitoba. The second image was taken last year in November before its cockpit was cut.
Still, it’s such a shame that the legendary aircraft had to end up like this and not fully preserved..
ANA’s Boeing 777-200s and 300s
As a Japanese avgeek, this was just straight up depressing to look at and to take a picture of.
(From left to right by counting the tails) → JA711A, JA778A, JA780A, JA735A, JA709A, JA702A, JA782A, JA783A, JA781A.
Majority of ANA’s older B777-300(ER)s and 200s were all retired simultaneously in March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming 777X were suppose to replace these jets. However, as Boeing continued to delay the 777X by year and year, and recently to 2027, ANA might have possibly made a serious mistake by retiring these perhaps a little too early as travel demand have since recovered to pre-COVID level and the airline is now struggling with engine issues on some of their aircraft (mainly 787s) while impatiently waiting for new aircraft.
(The youngest one in the picture is JA783A , which was 13 years old at the time of its retirement; now 17 years old)
(The most youngest one retired by ANA was JA789A (known for its BB-8 livery), which was 12 years old at the time of its retirement in 2022; scrapped at San Bernardino)
Boeing 777-381(ER) | JA731A | (2004 - 2021) | (left)
Boeing 777-281 | JA711A | (2004 - 2021) | (right)
It’s quite obvious what this distinctive livery used to be. Formerly in service with ANA as (JA731A) - on the left and (JA711A) - on the right with all of its logos erased and with the Star Alliance logo painted over in blue.
Both aircraft were delivered in 2004 but became the many victims of ANA’s struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic and were both retired in March 2021 as well.
In 2022, JA731A was acquired by Eastern Airlines and was re-registered as “N775KW.” It was presumed to be converted into a cargo aircraft but that never happened, nor did it enter service with the airline.
Another thing was that JA731A was an aircraft I once rode from LAX to HND back in 2017, (confirmed by checking my image achieves) so there was this somewhat unsettling feeling in my mind that “the aircraft you rode in the past is right there in front of you, slowly being parted out.”
Boeing 747-346 | N818SA | (2010 - 2010) | (left)
Boeing 777-281 | JA8197 | (1995 - 2016) | (right)
The Boeing 747-300 airframe was originally delivered to Japan Airlines in 1983 and was first registered “N213JL” as it was a leased aircraft. JAL eventually purchased the jet in 1998 and was re-registered “JA813J”. At the time of its retirement, it was the last remaining 747 classic in service with JAL.
The aircraft was withdrawn from use in September 2009 and it was sold to Southern Air where it was re-registered into “N818SA” three months later in December. JAL was in a financial crisis around this time and it had to cut costs as well as slowly retiring majority of their fleet, including all of their 747s. However, the aircraft never went to serve with Southern Air and the airline seems to have purchase the jet for its spare parts. Arrived at the Mojave in early 2010.
Note that the wings appear to have been dismantled. (Was still intact last year).
That Boeing 777 was regarded as a special aircraft as it was Japan, as well as ANA’s first B777 delivered. The aircraft’s tail was painted in a semi-special livery until 1999 to celebrate and the number “777” was written on the tail instead of the standard “ANA.” Still surprised that its still there mostly intact since it arrived at the Mojave 9 years ago.
Boeing 777-346 | JA752J | (2003 - 2022)
In 2020, a JAL B777-200 (powered with P&W engines) suffered an uncontained engine failure and in 2021, the United Airlines Flight 328 incident occurred and in response, Japan grounded the Boeing 777 equipped with P&W engines from flying (Both ANA & JAL operates). This eventually made JAL to get rid of all of their B777s equipped with those engines earlier than planned while ANA decided to retire some of theirs as well. (JAL was originally planning to retire them in 2023.)
JA752J, along with other B777s were suddenly withdrawn from use on the day of the UA328 incident and the aircraft were stored at Haneda for about a year as JAL was unable to fly them out of Japan for the US due to the suspension.
Unlike it’s blue rival, the Airbus A350-900 were the successors of JAL’s domestic Boeing 777s and at the time when the grounding was announced, JAL had already owned 8 of them so I guess they didn’t mind retiring their 777s a bit early, as they were already more than 15 to 20 years old.
JA752J finally left Japan for the Mojave via Honolulu in 2022 and at the time of its retirement, it was the last remaining B777-300 (non-ER) to leave their fleet, thus ending 23 years of Boeing 777-300 (non-ER) operations. Now re-registered as “N820KW”, it was stored at northwest corner of the airport for about two years or so possibly awaiting a new buyer. Unfortunately, the jet’s time had possibly come and in early 2025, the aircraft was moved to the area where the scrapping takes place.
Unlike its neighbors which have their tail logos erased, JAL’s oneworld logo and its default colors remain painted. What’s more, note that several panels on the tail are missing.
Boeing 777-346 | JA8944 | (1999 - 2022)
Another JAL B777-300, who’s life was also partly cut short due to the P&W engine issue. Now registered as “N814KW” and it seems that the work on removing the engines are being held.
JAL’s Boeing 777s + Western Global Airlines’ MD-11(F) (N415JN)
A wide view of the stored JAL Boeing 777s and a WGA MD-11 freighter.
(From left to right by counting the tails) → JA008D, JA8944, JA8979, JA010D, JA007D(?), N415JN, JA009D
Unidentified KLM & Qantas’ Boeing 747-400s
I was unable to identify either of them as there are many identical ones stored at the airport and they both have their registration erased. Despite that, the KLM 747 has so many holes on the fuselage, so there should be plenty of plane tags made from the jet.
In front of the Qantas jet is a Dash 8-300 registered N330EN, which I had an honor last year to get up close and even touch it. That plane after searching it up was an experimental plane that ran on hydrogen. Unfortunately, Universal Hydrogen, the company who owns that aircraft went bankrupt so that plane’s time may have also come to an end.
If you look closely, someone I presume that doesn’t work here managed to get over there undetected, climb the wing and spray tag (graffiti) the Qantas 747.
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar | N140SC | (1992 ～)
Lasty, perhaps the star of the show at Mojave is this legendary TriStar named “Stargazer”, owned by Northrop Grumman, which was undergoing maintenance. (Last flight was 4 months ago in June according to FlightAware.)
This aircraft is the last remaining TriStar that is still in active service, which also makes it quite special and unique.
Although I wish to see it flying, it was an honor to see it from such a close distance.
These were my main highlights from my trip to the Mojave. I might make a part 2 in the future depending on my schedule.
Anyways, I wish you all a Happy Halloween!