Boeing Loses Plane Fuselages in Montana River

Here's something you don't see every day. Sure, there are train wrecks every week or two that spill all kinds of stuff down ravines and into city streets, etc. But when's the last time you spotted a few airplane fuselages dumped out of a crashed train? It seems, a Burlington Northern freight train had a little problem near Rivulet, Montana last Saturday and dumped some of its cargo down a ravine and into the Clark Fork River. The cargo, as you might guess from the above image, consisted of six single-aisle 737s, fuselage panels for a long-range 777, and a few wing parts for a jumbo 747.

Most of those pieces are manufactured by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., where the shipment originated, and were destined for the Boeing Renton and Everett, Washington final assembly lines that piece together the majority of its commercial aircraft. Boeing said an investigation into the accident was under way. The company has "deployed experts to the scene to begin a thorough assessment of the situation," a spokesman said. "Once we determine the extent of damage we will assess what, if any, impact there will be to production."

It seems that major aircraft makers like Boeing and Airbus spread their jetliner factories across multiple regions and countries, necessitating a finely tuned logistics network to move aircraft components around the world. Both also use cargo ships and specially modified cargo jets to speed body, wing and tail sections to final assembly lines in sites as disparate as China to Charleston, S.C. And Boeing uses Burlington Northern to ship their parts, even though this time they probably didn't expect them to land in a Montana river. 

Boeing shipment trains are common on that route through Montana, and that area of track has a speed limit of 35 miles an hour. Neither of the two or three personnel who were on board the train were injured.