Some people absolutely dread being on airplanes, but one retired Oregon man made it his mission to live on one. Bruce Campbell, who resides just outside of Hillsboro, Oregon, purchased a Boeing 727 for just $100,000 (a steal compared to normal housing prices in this day and age) and worked hard to completely renovate the interior into his own personal living space. We have to say, the results are pretty incredible! Without further ado, this is his airplane transformation story.

Bruce Campbell is a retired electrical engineer and self-proclaimed “old nerd” who resides in Hillsboro, Oregon - not far outside of Portland. He never married and he doesn't have any children, so he’s been able to spend his retirement years adventuring and living his best life with virtually no other commitments. And let’s just say, his definition of a "best life" looks quite a bit different from the rest of ours, as you're about to see!

Campbell purchased his 10-acre plot of land in Hillsboro for $23,000 when he was in his 20s. He built a mobile home, which he paid for all in cash because he simply didn't want to deal with the financial burden. "When I was young, I didn't want a mortgage," he said in an interview with a YouTube channel called FLORB. "I could have purchased a home and shouldered a mortgage like most people do, but I was happy enough living in a very humble and very inexpensive mobile home."

At first, Campbell’s idea was to live in the mobile home and save money until he could afford to buy a bigger home. “My intention was to wait until I could buy a home with cash. Then I would never be tied down to the shackles of debt," he told FLORB in their series called Alternative Living Spaces. But once he saved up enough money to avoid debt, he changed his mind and decided to go a more unconventional route.

Campbell then decided that he wanted to build a home out of freight wagons on his plot of land, not unlike the classic children’s book series The Boxcar Children, written by Gertrude Chandler Warner. If you're unfamiliar with the story, it's about four orphaned children who live in an abandoned boxcar in the woods. One can only wonder if Campbell got some inspiration from reading the books (which were first published in the 1920s) as a kid!

But Campbell changed his mind yet again when he came across an organization called the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association. “By that time, I had stopped thinking in provincial terms,” he said. “Aerospace technology seemed like a wonderful option.” The Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association is an international nonprofit organization that strives to preserve retired airplanes and convert them into other uses. The "old nerd" then got to work to plan out an even more unconventional living situation…

In 1999, Campbell found an old passenger jet - a Boeing 727 - and purchased it for $100,000. Considering a brand new airplane can cost as much as $200 million, this was a major steal! He was drawn to this particular plane partly for its fascinating history: It had once carried the body of Aristotle Onassis (pictured), a Greek shipping magnate and the second husband of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, back to Greece in 1975 with Jackie O. also on the plane.

The Boeing 727 operated as a passenger jet for more than 50 years, taking its last commercial flight in 2019. It was one of the first successful short and mid-range passenger jets and quickly proved itself to be incredibly influential in shaping commercial flying into what we know today. It fell out of popularity in favor of commercial aircrafts with more modern and efficient jets, but according to people like Bruce Campbell, the Boeing 727 still has plenty to offer!

Now that Campbell had picked out and purchased his new airplane, he had to figure out how to actually get it to his plot of land in Hillsboro - and this certainly wasn't going to be an easy task by any means. He hired a couple different moving companies to transport the plane from the Hillsboro airport over the freeway, and then through a path cut into the forest to his home. Can you imagine driving down the highway and seeing an airplane next to you? It'd be quite a unique sight, to put it lightly!

Campbell says that people sometimes ask him if his Boeing 727 crashed there and he simply restored the wreckage. “The aircraft did not land here, of course, it had to be moved here from a site close to the Hillsboro airport," he said in the interview with FLORB. "That’s an odd thing to hear, it’s completely impractical.” Regardless of whether it’s practical or not, it would certainly make for quite an interesting story to most outsiders!

Once the plane was on Campbell’s plot of land, he got to work renovating it. There was a lot to do, but Campbell couldn’t wait to get his life started in his new home. All together, the cost of the renovations came out to about $120,000, making the total cost of purchasing his airplane home $220,000. While this sounds like a lot, it's still quite a steal considering a home today can cost upwards of one million dollars in most major cities in America!

Campbell’s first order of business was to make his new home earthquake-proof. Since the West Coast of the United States is particularly prone to earthquakes, this was a very important first step in making sure he could live there safely. Fortunately, this turned out to be a fairly easy task, because all he had to do was use the plane’s landing gear to stabilize it, which meant that it would be able to move freely in the event of an earthquake.

Researchers predict that sometime in the next 50 years, an earthquake of biblical proportions is expected to hit the Pacific Northwest and affect nearly seven million people, which includes Campbell and his plot of land in Hillsboro, Oregon. The earthquake could be anywhere from an 8.0 to a 9.2 on the Richter scale, making it the deadliest natural disaster North America has ever seen. This is why having an earthquake-proof home is so important!

“The idea is to enable an aircraft to dance freely in an earthquake,” said Campbell. “After an earthquake, newscasters never say, ‘Oh gosh, it’s such a shame - all the aircraft at the airport were badly damaged, and there are so many vehicles which are shaken and damaged.’ That never happens. These are independent vessels, [and] they’re in their own suspension system. They ride it out [and] it’s no big deal. No damage occurs unless something falls onto them.”

Next, Campbell needed to add some necessities to his new home: Electricity, a water supply, and a phone line. Back when the plane was a functional passenger jet, water was piped in through a service door. Campbell simply expanded on this idea and linked the electricity and phone line in that way as well. His goal was to use as much of the plane's original material as possible, as you can see from the photos!

In case you were wondering, no, Campbell fortunately doesn’t have to use an outhouse or an outdoor shower. His airplane home has two working bathrooms, one of which he kept exactly as it was originally designed, simply because he liked it that way. The plane's shower situation is a little more primitive as it's essentially just a hose in a plastic tub. But as you previously read, Campbell is perfectly happy living a modest lifestyle so this doesn't bother him one bit!

Perhaps one of the coolest things about living in an airplane is how secure it is. We already talked about its practicality in the event of a big earthquake, but airplanes are also a great way to keep unwanted visitors out, including intruders, bugs, or rats. "[The] interior is easy to keep immaculately clean because [it is made up of] sealed-pressure canisters," said Campbell. "So, dust and insects can't intrude from the outside. And [planes are] highly resistant to intruders." Not to mention, he’s got a retractable staircase so he can choose who gets to come to the door!

Campbell’s airplane home is far from being complete; he’s always making adjustments to it in whatever ways he sees fit at the time. For example, he currently uses the aft galley (the area where flight attendants store and prepare food during a flight) as a storage area, but he wants to one day turn it into a laundry room or an upgraded kitchen. But ultimately, he's not 100 percent set on any plans yet. "I'll let evolution take its course," he said.

Campbell does currently have a makeshift kitchen but it’s quite rudimentary, to put it lightly. It consists primarily of a refrigerator and an old airplane serving cart. His refrigerator is about 50 years old and most of his meals consist of cereal and/or canned foods. If he wants to cook or heat something up, he does so in his microwave or toaster oven. At the time of the FLORB interview, he had enough food stocked up to last him about four months.

Campbell chose to restore the cockpit, so the area looks impressively similar to how it did when it was a functional passenger jet. He's quite modest about how much work he's put into it though, as when he purchased the plane almost all of the cockpit had been torn out. “The flight deck was fully skeletonized by the salvage company,” he said. “But I’ve managed to restore some things. Maybe - very roughly - 35 percent, I suppose.”

Other amenities of Campbell’s airplane home include climate control, custom lighting, and a futon bed that he sleeps on every night. He also has a sink and a washing machine which he uses to do his laundry. For times when he wants to get some work done, Campbell has a small (and quite cluttered, in his words) work space. He uses the plane's wings as decks, and he's even hosted concerts there before! "[The] right wing is a frequent work site and recreational site for me," he said. In total, the plane has about 1,066 square feet of living space, which isn’t too bad for a single guy!

Campbell isn’t even close to being finished living out his airplane dreams yet. He spends about half of the year living in Japan, and his plan is to have a second airplane home outside of the city of Miyazaki one day. Only, his goal is for this new plane to be a Boeing 747-400, which can carry up to 660 passengers and is three times bigger than his current airplane home in Oregon. Talk about dreaming big!

Now Campbell is on a mission to start a new trend among homebuyers who may want to consider a cheaper, more unconventional lifestyle. He’s passionate about airplane living and he thinks more people should give it a shot. It might sound crazy to the average person, but hear him out. After all, we're inclined to believe that as a retired engineer, he knows what he's talking about! He even started a website (AirplaneHome.com) to document some of his process. 

“Retired airliners are profoundly well-designed,” said Campbell on why he thinks more people should consider purchasing them as homes. “They can last for centuries, are extremely fire resistant and provide superior security. They’re among the finest structures mankind has ever built.” Imagine how much money you could save living somewhere that was built to last for centuries. Whereas conventional homes need regular repairs and are hardly disaster-resistant, airplanes are built to withstand almost anything! “I don’t mean to offend, but wood is, in my view, a terrible building material,” Campbell wrote on his website.

Campbell also points out that, unbeknownst to many, airplanes can act as very effective lifeboats in places like Japan where tsunamis are a risk. “The fact that they are sealed-pressure canisters means that they can float wonderfully,” he said, adding that it's a shame that such an invaluable resource is often wasted. “A 747-400, in an emergency, can hold about a thousand people. This is a very valuable resource, let's not waste it, let's utilize it to its fullest potential.”

Normally, retired airplanes are simply trashed. Sometimes people want to purchase the jet engines, but the majority of the time, the rest of the aircraft is deemed totally worthless. “Jetliners can and should be transformed into wonderful homes - retirement into an aerospace class castle should be every airliner's constructive fate," Campbell wrote on his website. "They should never be mindlessly scrapped." Not to mention, recycling retired airplanes could be quite beneficial to the environment!

For all of the trouble that Campbell went through to transport his airplane home over the freeway and onto his plot of land, he thinks it was completely worth it in the end. “It’s a reasonable-size home for an individual or small family, but not so large that it can’t be transported over public roads,” he wrote. “Airliners, free of hundreds of passengers and the clutter of their seats, are a sheer thrill to live within.”

Campbell acknowledges that airplane living may not be the right lifestyle for absolutely everyone. “I can appreciate that some folks might feel a bit isolated, or that it might simply strike them as an unusual living environment,” he admitted. “But for me, it’s always felt completely natural.” Additionally, it would certainly be difficult to do for anyone who lives in a city. But for those who desire a more quiet lifestyle out in the woods, airplane living might be perfect!

Although it may seem like Campbell had to go through a lot to get his airplane home up and running, he believes the process wasn’t all that bad. “Once [the plane] lands, taxi or tow [it] to wherever is appropriate for the aircraft,” he said during the FLORB interview. “Quarter turn and the water is connected. Quarter turn and the sewer is connected. A push plug and the electrical power is connected. And a few minor modifications and you’re ready to go.”

So you think you might be interested in purchasing an airplane home of your own? It may be prudent to visit Campbell’s website, AirplaneHome.com, where he’s published a large amount of research he conducted on the matter. He looked into which type of aircraft is best for living in and concluded that the Boeing 727 "seemed to offer the most attractive overall characteristics." He even allows visitors to his home (sometimes for no charge) for those who are so inclined.

Despite all of the kinks that still need to be worked out on Campbell’s airplane home, he’s truly smitten with it and wants to inspire others to save retired airplanes. “I do love my bird. Even with all of the flaws and all of the fundamental foundational problems, it’s still a wonderful living environment,” he said. “Just the sheer beauty of aerospace technology, the exhilaration - we trust our lives [to] these things, and generally we feel perfectly comfortable doing so.”