In order to revive the diving tourism in Kuşadası (Aydın), an Airbus A300 passenger plane was immersed in water. As this is the world's largest aircraft wreck being sunk into the sea, many local and foreign tourists came to the area to watch this event.
7 Trucks brought the different parts of the plane; it took one month to rebuild it.
The 1st of April, 7 trucks brought the different parts of the Airbus A300, which is 54 meters long and has a wing width of 44 meters, to the Güzelçamlı district.
After a month of work, the plane was brought to the Botanical Garden in the Bayraklıdede district over sea.
The giant aircraft was taken there with the help of inflatable pontoons.
People, who did not know about this event, thought that a plane had landed into the sea.
This is not the first plane in Turkey that has been sunk in the sea for diving purposes.
Since 2009, 3 small aircrafts have been sunk into the sea in Antalya, Kaş and Kemer. One of them is a 2-persons plane from the Turkish Aeronautical Association, the second one is a military transportation aircraft and the third is a still propeller aircraft which seats 10 people. In Düzce, Akçakoca a C47 aircraft was sunk in order to create reefs. Another C47 aircraft, which was involved in the Cyprus Peace Operation in Izmir, was sunk in Mordoğan, in the Karaburun district.
However the biggest aircraft sunk as an attraction for the diving tourism is now in Kuşadası.
Large cranes were used to lower the aircraft into the sea. Intense security measures were taken.
The inflatable pontoons were lowered slowly in order to keep the aircraft in balance. After the extinction of the air pontoon, the plane sank slowly into the water. 2,5 hours later the plane had disappeared in the water surface.
A lot of citizens and children watched this special event live from the beachfront while recording memories of it on their cell phones.