Where old Planes go to die

We had a little time to kill in the Miami Dade County area while awaiting our mail delivery.  I decided to check out Opa Locka Airport, a general aviation airport for the Miami area known for its high level of interesting activity.  I also had read that KOPF has one of the only aircraft scrapping operations in the east, as most are located in the high desert dry areas of AZ and CA.  Being only a few miles away, I decided to check it out.

KOPF is also known for it's high level of large vintage piston aircraft operations, which is very rare in this day of light jets and economical turboprops.  Many of these 60-70 year old piston aircraft are still active workhorses flying cargo to the islands, firefighting, and containing oil spills.  Upon arriving at Opa Locka, I was very fortunate to see a vintage quad-engine aircraft running and appear to be taxiing to the active runway.  Sure enough, it was a Douglas DC-6 "Super 6," which must be one of the last remaining airworthy of these behemoths left in the world. With registration N70BF, I later was able to learn it was manufactured in 1953 (yes, 61 years old) and is currently being converted for oil spill fighting duty.

Within just a few minutes, she was ready for takeoff and rolling down the runway, a short video of which I captured below:

About an hour later, the aircraft returned for landing and I was able to snap a photo:

I also saw a workhorse DC-3 enter the pattern, land and roll out, returning from a cargo operation.  The majority of DC-3's were produced 1942 or before - that's 72 years - and this one is still flying the daily cargo grind out of KOPF.

After a bit I was able to locate the scrapping operation.  It is located behind double fences, but I was able to snap a few photos.   On the flanks you can see the next two aircraft to be broken up, a 727 and a 737.  In the center near the track hoe is a huge pile of scrap aluminum from previous broken planes, which the employees proceeded to load into a cargo tractor trailer and haul away.  So, the airliners you ride today are flown to a breaking facility such as Opa Locka, stripped of all their valuable parts (primarily their turbine engines but likely some modern avionics too) cut apart into a pile with saws and torches, and hauled away in nondescript tractor trailers that may be traveling beside you on the highway.  In a few weeks you may be drinking soda pop out of an aluminum can that was once an airliner.

Sadly, all of the aircraft below are at KOPF solely for the purpose of being broken up.

The Gulfstream III business jet below, registration N588SS was owned just a few years ago by baseball superstar Sammy Sosa.  It now appears to be "on deck" for the breaker.