While old planes typically get shipped off to aircraft boneyards, one savvy tiny home builder has found a new use for an old part taken from a retired plane. Brisbane-based The Tiny House Guys has breathed new life into a decommissioned Dash 8 airplane fuselage by converting it into the Aero Tiny — a 130-square-foot tiny home fully equipped to go off the grid.
Run by father-and-son team Rick and Mitch Keel, The Tiny House Guys has been creating incredible tiny home designs for years. Not only are its homes practical and beautiful, but they are at the forefront of self-sustaining tiny home living. The company’s latest design is taking this idea even further.
Related: Incredible recycled 747 airplane house completed in Malibu
The Aero Tiny is built within an old fuselage of a decommissioned Dash 8 turboprop plane that was used by Australia’s largest cabin crew training facility. Rick saw the rare item listed for sale online and made the purchase, inspired to turn it into a unique tiny home on wheels.
Once they got it to the ideal site, Rick and Mitch began the process of turning the old structure into a livable home. From the get-go, they wanted to keep as much of the original aviation character as possible, including the curved metallic cladding and fold-out, illuminated stairwell that leads into the interior.
The interior was almost entirely gutted in order to create a minimalist living space; however, certain features were salvaged. Various porthole windows and the main door with the original “exit” decal in red lettering were kept in their original state. The all-white interior features a small kitchenette and a living space with the plane’s original overhead bins. To create enough space for the bathroom, the builders added a special box to the fuselage’s side to insert a toilet, sink and shower. To expand the square footage, the designers installed a collapsible deck, accessible via sliding glass doors.
More than just a pretty design, the Aero Tiny is also intended to be a mobile and sustainable home. The structure sits on top of a wheeled trailer; because of its lightweight and compact structure, it can be transported easily. Additionally, the tiny home runs on solar energy that, along with water storage and pumps, enables the structure to operate completely off the grid.
Rick and Mitch spent over six weeks transforming the fuselage into a gorgeous tiny home on wheels. If you’d like to experience living in a unique tiny home with an interesting history, the solar-powered Aero Tiny is for sale at $37,000 via The Tiny House Guys.
Via Dwell
Images via The Tiny House Guys
