Sunken Jet to Be on Flight Path for Fish, Divers

A Boeing 727 that has carried more than 4 million people in 27 years of flying is preparing for a new class of passengers--sea creatures and divers.

Underwater enthusiasts are preparing to sink the “Spirit of Miami” on the ocean floor, 72 feet deep and 3 miles east of Key Biscayne.

“If anything attracts worldwide attention to diving in Miami, this will be the vehicle to do it,” said Ben Mostkoff, who runs Dade County’s artificial reef program.

The plane, once owned by National Airlines and Pan American World Airways, carried 4.6 million passengers more than 16.4 million miles for eight airlines from 1965 to 1991. Its final voyage is to begin Oct. 31.

The plane is too large to be moved in one piece and would be damaged by the usual reef-making process of dynamiting it and letting it sink, said Norman Halverson, whose Ft. Lauderdale towing company will turn the airplane into a sea life habitat.

It will be disassembled, taken to the waterfront, reassembled and fastened to a customized barge, Halverson said. Plane and barge will be sunk in 30 feet of water, refloated with air bags and towed offshore, where they will be lowered gently by releasing air from the bags.

Dade County is paying $20,000 of the expected $100,000 price. Corporate sponsors are being sought to help with the rest.

Eleven artificial reefs have been created in the county’s coastal waters, including scuttled cargo ships, Coast Guard cutters, shrimp boats and yachts. This would be the first commercial jet to be turned into a reef.

Divers will be able to swim into the cockpit and down the length of the gutted fuselage. The plane is 130 feet long, 120 feet from wingtip to wingtip and 35 feet tall to the top of its tail.