The perfect accessories for av geeks: luggage tags made from airplane fuselages
If we take the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380 out of the equation, my favorite plane is undoubtedly the McDonnel Douglas [...]
If we take the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380 out of the equation, my favorite plane is undoubtedly the McDonnel Douglas MD80. It can only be so: I have lost count of the number of times I have flown aboard the legendary 'Mad Dog' by Meridiana On the Cagliari-Rome (FCO) route. Unfortunately, there are no slices of MD80 for sale at the moment., but there are other sacred monsters such as the iconic Piaggio Aero's P180.
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I still very jealously preserve the pictures I took with my first cell phone of the rear ladder "of the eighty," in my opinion one of the most iconic parts of that aircraft. Whenever I look at those pictures I think about how nice it would be to have a "piece" of that aircraft. What do I know: a Keychain made from the parts of a wing or, even better, a suitcase tag made perhaps from a portion of the fuselage.
It may sound like one of the "dreams"-as wacky as it is unattainable-of av geeks, yet it all exists and is purchasable. I recently discovered aviationtag.com, a site that precisely sells a very large collection of 'skin tags': it is possible to purchase, for example, the tag on Emirates' first A380 (an accessory that, of course, Poodle bought), or the tag of Qantas's 747-400 (scrapped in 2020) or, again, of American Airlines' glorious Md-82 (despite my misfortune of the former Meridiana, there is no trace of it).
Although I, as mentioned, only recently discovered it, aviationtag.com has existed since as far back as 2006: in that year the founders began to Recycling some aircraft parts destined for pulping; specifically, it all started with the carts, which were turned into furniture.
Then, since 2015, the production of 'aviation tags' has begun. which - ça va sans dire - have driven av geeks around the world crazy. For example,Lufthansa's first A340-600 (makes D-AIHO) was recycled and made into as many as 35,000 nameplates (all numbered, by the way). Not only are they one-of-a-kind pieces, but they are also handmade in their small factory in Cologne: products, therefore, completely "Made in Germany," as they specify - proudly - on their website.
Enthusiasts, within the shop section of aviationtag.com, will be able to find tags from so many companies and different types of aircraft: there are Airbus A310s from Azores Airlines, for example, or A321s from Asiana Airlines or, again, A380s from Air France and 747s from different carriers; the more 'nostalgic', moreover, will be able to treat themselves to "a piece" of the mythical DC-3 'Candy bomber'.
In short, there is something for everyone. And it's great. This is without a shadow of a doubt the perfect gift for av geeks, along with - of course - the TFC-branded gadgets.
