The rainbow aircraft in Montekristo Estate
Hello everyone, I hope you all ‘landed’ safely in 2021! Are you ready to include outdoor adventures in your weekly routine? It will be my pleasure to be your guide! I would like to kick of 2021 with a trip to this abandoned plane in Hal Luqa. Are you ready? Please sit back, relax and enjoy this flight! 🙂
I’ve heard a lot about this quirky and colourful landmark hiding away at Montekristo Estate. Finally I managed to visit it with my friends. I’m not gonna lie, when we found the plane wrack it was very disappointing to see it located in some sort of rubbish/scrap yard. You can’t spot it from a distance because it’s hiding behind a ‘mountain’ of soil.
So what do we actually know about this aircraft? It was moved to Montekristo Estate on October 26th, 2011, nearly 10 years ago. It is de Havilland Canada Dash 7 (DHC), built in 1982 and was operating until 1998. Then it was put in storage in Geneva, Switzerland.
The last operator of the aircraft was Tassilli Airlines. I couldn’t find when the aircraft arrived in Malta, but one plane enthusiast says it’s been in Malta since 2004 for sure. At that time it still had a complete frame and was stored at Malta International Airport.
Please welcome aboard of this aircraft, de Havilland Canada Dash 7, I shall be your captain for this flight. Please join me on the tour of what once used to be a turboprop-powered regional airliner.
As you probably expected the inside of the plane is in a pitiful state. Apparently back then it was purchased by Montekristo Estate to be turned into an attraction. Which unfortunately never happened. I wish it was cleaned out and preserved. Even in its very bare shell it was very fascinating to explore.
No, I would never be a good pilot! Haha! This expression on my face would start with the take off and surely stayed until the landing!
Do you remember those days when you would receive a FREE snack/meal on board of most airlines? I actually do! Back in 2007 when I first came to Malta I was served chicken, mashed potatoes and beans! And I thought, oh, can you imagine what ‘flight meals’ will be like 10/20 years from now? Oh wait, there are no meals!
You might be wondering who is behind the beautiful and uplifting graffiti of this plane! His name is Nicolas Bamert from Switzerland. His mission is to transmit and share the fundamental values of life though monumental installations, colourful frescoes and extraordinary exhibitions. Nicolas revives sad walls, unhealthy premises or even forgotten aircraft wracks as you can see. You can also check his Instagram here.
And now who wants to see what this aircraft looked like before it was so beautifully painted? Look below! I’ve borrowed this picture from www.jetphotos.com and the photographer is Kas van Zonneveld. The image was taken back in September 2017.
I think your main question is where can you find this plane wrack? It’s located just behind Montekristo Estate. Leave your car at their car park, soon you spot remains of their ‘luna park’ – walk pass it. Follow the straight road and soon you will come to something that looks like a scrap yard and the aircraft is hiding behind the bricks and soil.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. If you like my photography and would like to buy an original present or just show some support, you can purchase my Maltatina Memory Games here or you can donate some money to help me run this blog here. Thank you! 🙂
Love Tina x
We wanted to see the aircraft yesterday but they have moved it. It is now placed directly at the old Luna Park and access is not (so easily) possible. It is stored behind a fence and CCTV seems to be used in this area.
Maybe there have been too many people this year.
But it was still interesting to see and even more with the information from your blog.
Thanks for your work. I already got so many information about abandoned places in Malta.
Kind Regards
Nele