Anyone Lose a Plane?

Autopia

We've heard about people losing their vehicles in long-term parking, but this ridiculous.

A jet plane has been sitting on the tarmac at Noi-Bai International Airport in Hanoi for six months. As if that's not weird enough, no one knows who it belongs to. It's just sitting there, forgotten, like an old sofa abandoned on the sidewalk.

We do know a few things about the mystery aircraft...

It's a Boeing 727, serial No. 20989, once flown by American Airlines and registered as XU-RJK. It's made several trips between Hanoi and Siem Reap, Cambodia, and it had some sort of mechanical breakdown last year. According to the BBC, airport officials allowed the plane to remain at the airport while repairs were made, but they were never done.

There aren't a lot of clues to go on. The plane sports a Cambodian flag and the words "Air Dream" painted in nice big letters, but the International Air Traffic Association says there is no Air Dream Airlines based in Cambodia (It would know; it represents 94 percent of the world's commercial carriers). There's some speculation the plane belonged to the now-bankrupt Khmer Air, and still more speculation that whoever owns the plane parked and ran to avoid paying the ground fees.

After all, it's tough to charge someone for parking a plane at your airport if you can't find the person who owns it.

If no one steps forward to claim the plane, Vietnamese authorities say, it'll be sold for scrap.

You can see a photo of the plane here, but since it's copyrighted we had to use one of Boeing's stock photos of a 727.