Buy an airplane slide?

August 1, 2008 5:34 PM

Where can I buy an airplane evacuation slide?

I'd love to get one of these for my treehouse. I probably couldn't afford a new one, but surplus would be fine. I know they part out old aircraft, someone must sell these, but I don't know where to look. None on Ebay...

posted by Marky to shopping (7 comments total)

File under almost completely unhelpful- there is a airplane junkyard where they park unused/junked planes out West somewhere. Nevada? Arizona? Perhaps searching for that place and then contacting them might yield a result.
posted by gjc at 6:17 PM on August 1, 2008

Try Mohave air port. They have a lot of old airliners you might be able to cannabilise. I think this is the place that gjc was referring to. Good luck!
posted by flutable at 6:27 PM on August 1, 2008

airplane junkjards are at mohave, victorville, tulsa and davis monthan afb but you can't just cruise in there. the company that parts out aircraft in mojave is really unfriendly to visitors when they just show up, so consider calling them first.

I would suggest heading over to pprune.org or airliners.net and asking this question in either forum. you'll probably have a direct phone number within two hours.
posted by krautland at 6:35 PM on August 1, 2008

Does it have to be an airplane slide? If you're just looking for a giant inflatable slide, I googled some possibilities.
posted by amyms at 6:44 PM on August 1, 2008

Zodiac (yes, the inflatable raft company) also sells evacuation slides to many aircraft manufacturers through its Air Cruisers subsidiary. It's possible they could hook you up for a one-off.

These guys have "a complete line" of slides as well as rafts, but the former aren't listed online.

This British firm both sells new and repairs and refurbishes existing slides.

As for surplus, this guy is probably as knowledgeable about the possibilities as anyone else alive.

Really, though, the AmSafe link suggests that you will need to consider the safety and maintenance of a certain number of pressurized oxygen canisters, similar to the one that blew up on the Qantas jet this week. You may be off the hook for any FAA regs, but what about local zoning ordinances?
posted by dhartung at 9:25 PM on August 1, 2008

dhartung,

That link is a bit confusing but I think that the escape slides use pressurised air or nitrogen to inflate the slides, not oxygen.
posted by atrazine at 1:33 AM on August 2, 2008

You want to call either Faeth Aircraft (916-368-1832 - they don't have a web site) or possibly Interface Aviation. Interface deals mostly with interiors (seats and whatnot) but they're a possibility. Faeth deals with just about everything.
posted by autojack at 11:18 AM on August 2, 2008