Did you know that Bali has not one, not two, but three abandoned airplanes across the island?
In this video, I'm gonna take you on an adventure to see all three derelict planes
and try to explain how and why they came to be.
The start of this journey begins in South Kuta,
at an aircraft which could be considered the odd one out.
So, here we have the first plane of today behind me.
This plane is a little bit different from the rest of the planes that we'll be seeing today.
Whereas the rest of the planes today are going to be Boeing 737's,
the one behind me is a McDonnel Douglas DC-10 plane.
So, this plane can be found in North Kuta, on top of a disused mall called Gate 88,
on the junction of Raya Kerobokan and Raya Semer
about a 15-minute ride outside of Canggu.
The mall itself was supposed to boast a futuristic design with shops, entertainment and a sky lounge.
However, the opening day of summer 2014 came and passed
as the developers building the mall ran out of money.
As a result, the mall was never opened,
although after visiting, it seems that Gate 88 has been repurposed as a co-working space.
Through my research, I found out that it's possible to find a security guard and pay him,
so he'll let you take the elevator to the top of the mall. So let's go see if we can get in.
Okay guys, so the first challenge of this is to get across the road.
And there's a big opening there, let's run and take it.
I'm gonna try in this car park and talk to these guys and see if I can get in.
Through the reception.
- Reception? - Yeah.
Perfect.
Makasih!
Makasih.
They're not gonna get us to the plane, they've directed us around to the reception,
so let's go see what the reception can do for us.
Hi, can we get to the plane?
Yeah?
So, we're inside of Gate 88 mall,
it's not as abandoned as my research told me it is,
but it's being used for something or other,
but they're just discussing whether to let us up or not.
Success.
So, as you can see behind me, we were successful, we got up to the plane.
It cost us 100k for 2 people for, I think, 20 minutes we're gonna stay up here for.
But now that we've made it, I'm gonna take some shots
and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the history of this plane.
This particular McDonnel Douglas DC-10 aircraft was previously owned by multiple different airlines.
Originally, it was bought by British Caledonian Airways,
and was subsequently sold to a US company,
where it was converted from a passenger plane into a cargo plane.
The US company then sold it to a cargo operator in Zimbabwe,
which is where the colours you can see on the side of the plane come from.
Finally, the cargo plane was then taken to Jakarta,
where it was scrapped and transported from Jakarta to its final resting place on top of Gate 88 mall.
So, after having a bit of an explore around here,
it looks like this was probably going to be used as a bar/restaurant type of deal.
In the fuselage, there's loads of bar stools,
and then in that area over there, it looks like a figure of 8,
they have some sinks and some stuff they probably could have served drinks from,
and then there's also a big neon sign that says Langite Bali
on top of one of the wings, which you could probably walk on and sit on if you were drinking.
So that's a shame that they never came about, because that'd be really cool to have a drink here, but hey.
I think it's a really cool idea using the old plane parts
to build what would have been such an interesting place.
But instead of transforming into a unique thriving bar or club,
the plane has now become its own graveyard, surrounded by its own dismantled parts.
Moving on to the most popular plane on the island and probably the easiest to get to,
this Boeing 737 can be found right next to, of all places, a Dunkin' Donuts.
The aircraft stands on stilts in a small field between 2 buildings
in an area called Kedonganan,
on the left side of the ByPass Ngurah Rai main road.
It used to be that you needed to find a security guard and pay him to let you inside the plane, but...
So this is the second plane.
What I was going to do, was try and vlog getting on the plane,
because it used to be that you had to bribe a security guard and they would let you on,
but it seems like that's not the case anymore.
The plane has actually been renovated,
so I'm not really sure this can be called an abandoned plane anymore.
It looks like they have now made a caf here and you can now buy tickets to get on.
So, these tickets cost 25k per person, and we literally walked through the gate,
walked up to the plane, paid our tickets, so now we can go on.
So it's not very difficult to get on it at all anymore.
Let's go inside and have a look around.
So, while Will was entertaining himself with a local cat...
Hello!
Hello.
I climbed up the stairs onto the plane.
It was weird being inside an airplane with no seats,
but we had a bit of fun looking around,
and looking in all rooms and cupboards.
So, a lot of sources claim that the origin of this plane is a mystery.
However, I came across a Vice article that claims to have gotten to the bottom of the conundrum.
The article states that the airplane is owned by a businessman named Arif who lives in Jakarta.
Arif had the plane dismantled and brought to Bali in multiple shipping containers
and reassembled in the position it currently stands in.
There are claims that Aruf wanted to turn the shell into a flight simulator or a restaurant,
but he needed a business partner to do so.
The rest of the history is unknown, but after visiting,
it's clear that this plane could no longer be considered abandoned
and has become some sort of tourist attraction.
While we were there, there was a couple of men working on DIY projects
to open the area into what looks like it's going to be a caf and rest area.
This plane was one of the main tourist attractions before it was renovated,
and I'm sure it will continue to be so.
The third abandoned plane we planned to visit was down on the Bukit Peninsula.
It was a popular tourist attraction for people to see,
but when we arrived, we ran into a slight problem.
So, do you see this big empty bit of concrete behind me down here in the quarry?
There used to be a plane on that and there's a new plane,
which is the plane that we're going to next,
and I was under the impression that originally that plane was out west,
because my friend went to see the plane out there and it wasn't there, she couldn't find it.
So I thought they'd moved the plane out west to Nyang Nyang, which is where we're going next,
but it turns out this is the plane that they've moved to Nyang Nyang, so...
now I have an empty bit of concrete here,
and instead of giving you the entire script that I had written out for this plane,
we're just gonna have to go straight to the next one, so I'll see you down in Nyang Nyang Warung.
I assumed wrong about the west plane,
and I've had to use my valuable time to adapt the script from 3 planes instead of 4.
However, I can say that when the plane stood there,
people had no idea where it came from, or even when.
My incredibly thorough reseach turned up a blank when trying to find out the history of this plane,
but it looks like it now has a bright future, so let's go and see it.
From a research standpoint, this plane took the cake when it came to mystery.
I knew this abandoned aircraft existed, as I had seen it multiple times on Instagram,
and by the images, I knew it was found in a field by the ocean somewhere.
Whenever I'd google "abandoned plane by the ocean", results would always show the airplane in the quarry.
But after several hours of relentless Google Maps searching, I still couldn't find it,
until I chanced upon an Instagram post that told me that I could find a plane in Nyang Nyang Warung
in south-west Uluwatu,
and only 20 minutes away from where the quarry plane was supposed to be.
It turns out, I originally thought this plane was out west and they moved it out west to here,
as my friend had been out to try and find the plane out west and couldn't find it.
So that one's not there anymore either, unfortunately,
but it's not, this one actually came from the quarry plane that we tried to see a minute ago.
You used to be able to get on this plane, I've seen lots of my friends take pictures
standing on the stairs of the plane, but unfortunately, as you can see by the signs,
you're no longer allowed on it, as they're currently renovating it and converting it into a villa.
When I was researching this plane, I came across an article
about a Bali-based Russian entrepreneur called Felix Demin.
The article never specified where this plane originated from,
but now we know. It came from the quarry up the road.
The article said that the owners were going to sell it as scrap metal,
until Felix decided to buy it and assemble it on the side of this cliff,
with plans to turn it into an accomodation.
From the signs, it looks like it's going to be called Private Villa Jet.
It's a shame that they're not allowing tourists on anymore,
because when this plane was in the quarry, members of the public couldn't get on at all,
so it would have been cool to see what the inside is like.
Interior renovation work is most likely the reason they stopped letting people on board.
Comment below, and let me know if you guys want me to stay there for a night when it opens.
Those are the 3 abandoned planes that can be found all around the island of Bali.
I'll leave the Google Maps locations of the planes in the description below,
as well as the location of the plane out west,
which my friend was pretty certain isn't there anymore.
I hope you found this video interesting,
I've tried to do it in a bit more documentary style.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Subscribe to the channel, I'll be posting weekly.
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and I'll see you next time.