Skylanes Flight 1981

The Skylanes Flight 1981 is a location in the Commonwealth in Fallout 4. Skylanes Flight 1981 is a completely smashed super-airliner of some kind.

Background
The Jet airliner was on approach to Boston Airport when it went down. It's unclear how the plane was destroyed. From the smuggling manifest, the plane was destroyed on the day that the bombs fell. From the data recorder it's unclear what actually destroyed the plane - it goes from sounds of astonishment to the plane breaking up. Presumably the plane was buffeted by a shockwave from a nuclear bomb detonation and started to come apart. Nick Valentine notes that it appears that the plane struck the nearby elevated highway while crashing.

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 is entirely snapped off.

Once the quest Meet Ness at the Crash Site is finished, the area will spawn Minutemen who may be forced to fight various randomly generated foes (usually Raiders) and often lose the fight without assistance.

Notable loot

 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales #6 (+5% damage against Mirelurks) in the bathroom under the cockpit.
 * Duffle bag in the almost vertical left wing toward the front (on the east side of the wing).
 * 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.
 * Jangles the Moon Monkey in a torn off right wing on top of the bluff, located in two airline seats near the back.
 * Expert Safe in western most large fuselage.
 * Steamer trunk in cockpit top floor, access from roof through small hole.
 * Note that even the ammo items that appear "placed" in the world are randomized here - so some will find e.g. fusion cores and mini nukes lying on the ground but some will not.

Appearances
The Skylanes Flight 1981 only appears 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 Boeing 747-100B, 747-300, or 747-8 which all have the stretched upper deck. However, in the Fallout world, fusion power is used for transport systems so the wings, no longer reserved for fuel and engine space, appear modified to allow additional seating with a glass front view for the passengers with quad stacked turbojets on each wing end in keeping with the pre-war overconsumption theme.
 * 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 Flight 1981 View.jpg FO4-Astoundingly-Plane.jpg|Astoundingly Awesome Tales

Skylanes-Flug 1981 Рейс «Скайлейнс» 1981