Skylanes Flight 1981

The Skylanes Flight 1981 is a location in the Commonwealth in Fallout 4. Skylanes Flight 1981 is 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 horizontal 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.

In a random encounter, a mysterious woman named Ness will ask you to secure the airliner that has a secret compartment used by smugglers, and filled with loot. The only problem is the airliner is populated by raiders. Along with some mercenaries Ness hired, the Sole Survivor will secure the area. Ness and her hired Gunner Mercenaries will be located under the right wing of the Skylanes Flight 1981, located a few meters north of the intersecting roads. After talking to Ness, the player character will get some caps from her. However, the player character can ask Ness what is in the compartment for a speech check. It is then revealed that Ness planned to keep the loot all to herself. If the Sole Survivor tells Ness that she can't keep all the loot, she will tell the mercenaries, who don't know her plan, that the player character planned to take their share of the loot. Then both Ness and the mercenaries will be hostile. Once you kill Ness, there will be a key that belongs to the safe on her corpse. Now the player can take whatever they want or need from the safe.

Layout
The main body of the aircraft is in a gulch between two rocky bluffs. The plane seems to have broken apart into 4 main pieces. The cockpit, the left wing, the right wing, and the tail. 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. Due to radiation at the crash site, the wreckage is inhabited by ghoulified crash survivors. These can present a problem to low level players. However the Minutemen will sometimes seize control of the area.

Notable loot

 * Duffle bag in the almost vertical left wing toward the front.
 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales in the bathroom under the cockpit.
 * Flight data recorder - globe item in the cockpit.
 * Skylanes Flight 1981 recording in the cockpit. Added with picking up the globe.
 * Skylanes smuggling manifest located in a Master Safe called "hidden compartment" in the cargo section under the cockpit.
 * Fusion core on a debris in the cargo section nearby to "hidden compartment".
 * Fusion core in a novice locked suitcase near the "hidden compartment".
 * Jangles the Moon Monkey in a torn off right wing on top of the bluff, located in two airline seats near the back.

Appearances
The Skylanes Flight 1981 only appears in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

 * 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 luggage aboard Skylanes Flight 1981 (a pre-war passenger jet) is inexplicably filled with bottle caps and ammo. Though it is possible that the caps and ammo were placed into the luggage by the raiders that infest the plane wreckage.
 * 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.