You may recall that, thanks to an issue with faulty sensors in the Boeing 737 Max flight control systems, those planes have been grounded after multiple crashes were found to be related to the issue. Grounded planes are, by definition, not in the air, and as such need to be stored, on the ground, somewhere. In the case of Boeing’s Renton Factory in Washington, U.S.A., there’s so many grounded planes that some of that ground has to be taken from Boeing’s employee parking lots.
As you can imagine, seeing the planes parking among people’s everyday commuter cars is a strange sight, which has led to pictures like these being posted on Twitter:
Historical moment in Aviation history! ✈️
Aerial images show the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft parked in the staff car park because there is no more capacity left at the airport. pic.twitter.com/TZ3MKH8rdM— Aviation photo ✈ (@Airplane_pic) June 23, 2019
… and Instagram:
Seattle’s King 5 News has some very comprehensive aerial footage of the factory, which gives a sense of just how many of these planes are parked at Boeing’s factory right now:
That’s a lot of planes. There’s about 500 grounded 737 Max jets around the world, as Bloomberg notes, with about 100 stuck at Boeing’s Renton factory. Those are the planes we’re seeing here, parked alongside people’s Priuses and Explorers.
I wonder if you can snag a spot under the wings if it’s raining?