Joe Axline got the idea to turn an airplane into a house when, as a kid in the '70s, he watched a TV show starring Bill Bixby called"The Magician." The show's main character travels from city to city in a plane solving crimes.Axline trained as a recreational pilot throughout his teens, achieving his instrument rating, an advanced aviation certificate, at 26. Shortly after that, he gave up flying to focus on his career in IT, marriage, and family life.
Axline bought a plot of land from a privately owned airport called Sport Flyers in Brookshire, Texas, near where he was living.He said most properties had homeowners associations that would have blocked his plane plans. But Axline told Insider he'd found a loophole with the private airport property restrictions:"I can't put a train or put an RV. I can't put a mobile home," he said."But there's nothing about my airplane.
He bought the DC-9 in the spring, but it took nearly a year to get it removed from the mall."In the meantime," he said,"I bought another airplane."An American Airlines MD-80.Axline told Insider both plane structures were 60 feet or under because that was the maximum size to transport by truck, the cheapest way to transport retired planes. Keeping the planes under that length decreased transport costs to $5,750 from $10,000, according to Axline.
Axline had to install sewage and water systems, electrical wiring, LED lighting, and insulation in the MD-80.He told Insider it took over a year to make the plane livable. He was staying in an apartment nearby and moved into the plane in August 2012.
Plenty of windows