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Suncoast Airlines/Airreef McDonnell Douglas MD-82


Suncoast Airlines/Airreef McDonnell Douglas MD-82

This was made for the 2023 Code Sharing Contest.

Suncoast Airlines was founded in 1992 after starting operations as McAllen Airlines in 1983. The airline started operations with two bases in Miami and Tampa and with fleet of DC-9 and MD-80 aircraft.

N808NK, built in 1988 for a Chinese airline, was delivered to Suncoast in 1999. It primarily made runs up and down the east coast out of Miami. It was the first aircraft painted in the airline's new 2003 livery. It wore this until it was withdrawn from service in 2010.

N808NK was stored at Miami Opa-Locka until it was acquired by the Floridian Recreational Scuba Organization in late 2011. The FRSO, for short, was interested in starting a campaign that would encourage airlines to donate retired airplanes to the FRSO so that they could be sunk as artificial reefs. N808NK was to the used as the first aircraft for the project. The aircraft made a final flight to Jacksonville and was stripped of any valuables or parts that would be harmful to divers. It also was repainted into a fictional scheme, bearing the planned sinking date of 2012.

On February 3rd, 2012, the Florida Wildlife Commission approved the aircraft to be sunk off the coast of Jacksonville. 3 months later, N808NK was craned into the St. John's River with six lift bags attached to its fuselage. It was towed 25 miles northeast to its designated site, before the floatation bags were released and the aircraft sank tail first amongst a crowd of small boats.

The aircraft, over time, began to get covered in marine life, becoming the home of several schools of fish. It became a popular dive site in Jacksonville with at least 100 dive trips per year. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew swept threw Florida's eastern coast, and right over where the aircraft lay. The aircraft was picked up by the shifting water and moved 90 feet north, repeatedly striking the ground as it did. Eventually, the right wing spar broke, causing the aircraft to roll over on its port side. A month afterward, the plane was righted. The right wing and tail were damaged and posed a threat to divers. Both were detached and placed a few meters away from the fuselage.

Today, the aircraft is a popular and iconic dive site near Jacksonville teeming with marine life. The FRSO promoted the Airreef campaign more after the sinking. However, the project never went forward past the sinking of N808NK, and by 2017 the airreef.com domain had gone defunct. Despite this, the Airreef project has proved that there are more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of planes rather than the cutter's torch.



    This is cool , Good Work

    Never seen that before. Good concept

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    i like how you accidentally combined all three of these into one
     
    your nick-name in TADS makes it even funnier


    P-pwease mistah! Dont punish me!! I am just a simple livahwy designah!! ÓwÒ