Time to bid farewell to an unofficial UAQ landmark…

UAE dwellers, if you’ve made frequent visits to Barracuda Beach Resort, you’re one standout landmark to show you were close to your destination would have been the abandoned Russian cargo plane which sits next to the popular resort in Umm Al Quwain.

While it has many interesting stories as to how it arrived there, we’ve just learned that the plane – right at the moment, is being dismantled to make way for a new megaproject in the city.

Old and falling apart, rusty and well, just plain ghostly at times, the old aircraft has been left to sit under the heat of the UAE’s relentless sun for the past two decades.

Besides being the advertising board for Palma Beach Hotel, the old Soviet plane lies there day in and day out, drawing in the ‘brave’ to see if they can snap up a photograph or two.

According to a daily newspaper, work is already underway to demolish the Ilyushin IL 76, a Soviet-era aircraft. The four engines are no longer a part of the plane and now lay on the ground. The wings which once withstood the winds and sand and rough UAE weather now hang by the side of the aircraft. The four turbofan engines that powered the once majestic plane lie scattered on the ground and the wings are broken, hanging limply by the side of the aircraft.

The demolition began earlier this week. It may take days or it may take weeks for it to finally be taken apart, but eventually, all the pieces of the plane will be sent in for scrap.

The abandoned Russian cargo plane is (well, was…) so popular and peculiar that it even made it onto Trip Advisor as one of 19 things to do in Umm Al Quwain.

Image: Unsplash