This Airplane Home In A Pacific Northwest Forest Is A One-Of-A-Kind Attraction
Though it sounds like an urban legend, there is a man living in an old Boeing 727 in the woods outside Portland, Oregon. You can visit his Airplane Home, take pictures (even drone shots), and climb up on the wing, though you'll need to follow some very specific safety instructions to do it. The home is the fascinating brainchild of Bruce Campbell, a one-time pilot and engineer, now in his 70s. Cinephiles might recognize that Campbell shares a name with the actor who starred in "The Evil Dead," the prototypical cabin-in-the-woods horror movie. Who needs a cabin, though, when you've got a nice residential airplane in the forest of Hillsboro?
"People have asked me whether it crashed here, and I simply restored the wreck," Campbell told Great Big Story. That's not quite how it happened. In 1999, not content to see a livable plane sent to the scrapyard, Campbell reportedly purchased the retired Boeing 727-200 for $100,000. It then made the journey from Athens International Airport in Greece to Hillsboro Airport before taking up residence in its current forest location just 20 miles outside Portland.
In the summertime, the Airplane Home serves as a venue for the Concert on a Wing series, where several Portland-based musical acts are scheduled to perform. The "Keep Portland Weird" spirit is also alive and well on the AirplaneHome.com website. Its home page provides an immediate window into Campbell's thoughts on Vladimir Putin, the Israel-Palestine conflict, sentient artificial intelligence, and "SARS-CoV-2 hygiene."
How to visit the Airplane Home in Oregon
Unscheduled, self-guided tours outside the Airplane Home are permitted any time during daylight hours. There are stairs up to the plane's right wing, allowing visitors to walk on it, but it has no safety railings, and you'll need to mind the unsteady, rotating aileron (little wing or airfoil). It's one of several potential hazards and restrictions the site warns about — others being makeshift support structures, falling trees, and the privacy of Campbell's neighbors. As such, guests are encouraged to exercise extreme precaution after agreeing to the legal liability disclaimer on the Visitor's Information page.
Tours of the plane's interior are generally available after 1 p.m., but Campbell divides his time between Oregon and Japan, so he may not always be home or able to extend his retractable stairs down to visitors. He also allows free camping on-site and even overnight stays aboard the plane (prearranged via email when possible). You can access the plane by plugging "Airplane Home" into Google Maps and using his private driveway off Holly Hill Road.
If you're driving from Portland, AirplaneHome.com warns about "'smash and grab' vehicle burglaries" in the city, noting that some guests have become victims of them, so remember that while you explore one of the world's largest bookstores. To visit the Airplane Home, you'll need to be okay with possibly witnessing some "incidental nudity," too. On the website, Campbell explains, "I don clothes when guests seek a conversation, help, or an indoor tour."
Safer than an airborne Boeing?
Despite the elaborate safety protocols for visiting the Airplane Home, some travelers may feel more secure nowadays around a grounded Boeing jet than they would in one that's airborne. Even high-level engineers urge travelers to avoid this type of plane. Coincidentally, Portland is also where Alaska Airlines landed the infamous Boeing 737 Max 9 that had a plug door blow off it mid-flight in January 2024. The incident made headlines with harrowing accounts of the plane depressurizing, air masks dropping, and one young passenger having his shirt sucked off. Days later, a Portland schoolteacher found that the door had fallen out of the sky into his backyard. All the more reason, perhaps, to stick to the nearby woods of Hillsboro, where Campbell has parked his Airplane Home.
In March 2024, a Boeing 777 threw the company's safety issues into further relief when it lost a wheel as it departed for Japan. Now, the Airplane Home could be bound for the same country. Campbell has a second project he is developing there in Miyazaki Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu.
Though it's faced "substantial hurdles," the new home is a full-fledged jumbo jet, a Boeing 747-400. The project's website, AirplaneHomeV2.com, envisions it as "a crucial tsunami lifeboat for the local community," suggesting it could lift coastal residents to safety, like a winged Noah's ark. While you work to overcome your fear of flying, Campbell is currently soliciting low-carbon "ocean passage" back to Japan, per AirplaneHome.com.