Skylanes Flight 1981

The Skylanes Flight 1981 is a location in the Commonwealth. In 2287, it is a completely smashed jet airliner.

Background
This airliner was on approach to Boston Airport on the morning of the Great War. When Boston was struck with nuclear weapons, the plane lost power to its engines, likely due to EMP interference. The nuclear shock wave resulted in intense turbulence, causing the plane to fracture and split into large chunks upon crash-landing. Nick Valentine notes that it appears that the plane struck the elevated freeway during the crash.

The aircraft was a flying wing design with a vertical stabilizer on each wing. There was a glass dome at the tail cone likely for navigation purposes. The fuselage also housed seating as well as a cargo bay above and beneath the cabin floor. Its wingspan is so enormous that the wings themselves contain seats. The plane appears to have been powered by giant engine clusters with 5 turbojet intakes. From the radiation near the engines it's presumably nuclear powered.

Layout
The main body of the aircraft is in a gulch between two rocky bluffs. The plane seems to have broken apart into 5 main pieces: The two wings and three fuselage sections.

The cockpit section's lower area consists of cargo and baggage areas. The cockpit section is accessible by some debris on the left side through a hole in the hull, the player can gain access to the passenger compartment. The left and right wing of the plane are entirely snapped off.

If the miscellaneous quest Meet Ness at the Crash Site is active, this is the site of the secret compartment Ness wishes to liberate from raiders.

Otherwise, the area will spawn Minutemen and other factions. Usually the site will spawn two factions of four members each who will proceed to fight each other and the player if spotted. While friendly factions such as the Minutemen won't attack the player, the scavengers, raiders, super mutants, Mr. Gutsy and Sons of Atom will. These random groups will respawn every few days, and the loot containers will respawn as well.

Notable loot

 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales #6 (+5% damage against mirelurks) in the bathroom (on top of the back of the toilet) under the cockpit.
 * Skylanes Flight 1981 recording in the cockpit. Added with picking up the flight data recorder (left to the seating, looks like a globe).
 * Skylanes smuggling manifest located in a Master safe called "hidden compartment" in the cargo section under the cockpit.

Appearances
The Skylanes Flight 1981 appears only in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

 * Nuclear bombs can interfere with the ionosphere, creating EMP interference. This is most likely the reason the airliner (and at least 2 more found in the eastern most ocean) crashed, as an EMP can cause electronics to short out or fry them completely.
 * The Skylanes Flight 1981 recording first refers to the flight in the correct terminology, but refers to the flight incorrectly as Skylanes Flight 1891 later in the recording.
 * The airliner most closely resembles a proposed but never built variant of Northrop Grumman's 1947 YB-49 flying wing. Both share the same long swept wings, with eight in wing turbojets. As well as the same vertical stabilizer shape. The proposed civil variant has the same unusual oblong windows on the wing's leading edge and in wing seating. A nuclear powered variant was actually in the works at the time, but never flew.
 * The quad mounted engines are consistent with USAF experiments with nuclear powered turbojets in the 50's where the engines had to be close to the reactors to use the heat generated to expand the intake air.

Gallery
Skylanes-Flug 1981 Рейс «Скайлейнс» 1981