Las Vegas Sands Corporation Boeing 747-SP Damaged

Chennault International Airport, 30 October 2020 – Images recently shared over Twitter have shown that a Boeing 747-SP owned by Las Vegas Sands Corporation, registered VQ-BMS, was severely damaged while undergoing a heavy maintenance check at Chennault International Airport in Alabama, United States.

The incident is said to have taken place on 27th August 2020 as Hurricane Laura, declared a Category 4 major hurricane, hit the mainland United States. The hurricane is estimated to have caused 77 fatalities throughout the Caribbean and United States as well as causing up to $14.1 billion in damages. Recorded windspeed was high enough to mark Hurricane Laura the tenth-strongest U.S. hurricane landfall by windspeed on record with sustained wind speeds of 150mph over a 1 minute period.

The images posted show extensive damage to the aircraft wings where it hit the hangar walls, as well as major damage to the nose just above the landing gear where the airframe came into contact with another aircraft. We cannot confirm what the other aircraft was at this time.

Considering the catastrophic damage, and the age of the aircraft it is hard to see the airframe been repaired and may end up as a total loss/writeoff.

(Header Image © v1images.com/Bastiaan Hart)

*At time of publishing on 30th October 2020