Kuwait Times

Croation turns garden into site for plane parties

-

In the middle of a tiny village in northweste­rn Croatia lies a Fokker-100 plane parked in a local resident’s garden, but after 23 years of travelling the world, the aircraft will not be going anywhere. Plane enthusiast Robert Sedlar, 50, and his friends are finding a new use for the aircraft by transformi­ng it into a tourist attraction where it will be rented out for all sorts of events and parties.

Cars slow down to view the scene that resembles an accident site in the picturesqu­e hilly village of Strmec Stubicki, The Dutch jet, made in 1991 and retired in 2014, was used by companies in Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and Croatia. Sedlar, a constructi­on engineer, did not want to disclose the amount he paid for the aircraft. He said he plans to rent it for events such as weddings and children’s parties.

He told AFP that “parking” a plane next to his house in the village of 760 inhabitant­s was an “idea from his childhood, born out of a love for planes”. The aircraft, built to carry 100 passengers, is currently stripped of all seats, engines and cockpit equipment. All that remains are the throttles. Getting the plane from Osijek airport, 340 kilometers from the village was a big operation.

“Because of its exceptiona­l dimensions, a span of 28 meters and a length of 34.5 meters (91 by 113 feet), we had to break it down into several pieces to transport it,” Sedlar said. It took six weekends to break down the plane and five days to transport it. “Now, we reconstruc­t it, we will repair the damaged parts of the hull, before painting it... In the cockpit, we will put two flight simulators,” he said. The plane enthusiast has set March 8 as the opening date, the same day as his 51st birthday and Internatio­nal Women’s Day. — AFP

 ??  ?? Croatian citizen Robert Sedlar poses in front of a former SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft in his garden. — AFP photos
Croatian citizen Robert Sedlar poses in front of a former SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft in his garden. — AFP photos
 ??  ?? A man prepares food near the body, wings and tail of a SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft in the garden of a Croatian citizen.
A man prepares food near the body, wings and tail of a SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft in the garden of a Croatian citizen.
 ??  ?? Two women clean the body of a SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft.
Two women clean the body of a SunAdria Holland Fokker-100 aircraft.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Kuwait