Flight instructor Jon Kotwicki turned a 1956 Douglas DC-6 cargo plane into a fully functional two-bedroom apartment on his 115-acre property in Big Lake, Alaska. The 108-foot-long aircraft now serves as an Airbnb rental and housing for students at his FLY8MA flight school.

Finding the Right Plane

Kotwicki spent six months calling around until he finally found a DC-6 available for purchase in Fairbanks. The piston-powered DC-6 had spent its career carrying freight and fuel to remote villages in Alaska before retiring from flight.

Kotwicki and his girlfriend Stephanie Blanchard made the five-hour drive north to Fairbanks, then spent four days disassembling the aircraft and loading its parts onto trailers. The 117-foot-wide aircraft had to be carefully dismantled for transport back to Big Lake.

The Biggest Challenge: Insulation

Kotwicki had to figure out how to insulate the aluminum plane in Alaska’s extreme environment, where temperatures can drop to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. He spent the winter testing different methods and watching YouTube videos about building science.

Fiberglass didn’t work because it couldn’t seal tight around the plane’s ribs and rivets, allowing moisture to condense and create mold. Kotwicki ultimately used a combination of spray foam, Reflectix insulation, and PVC trim to cover the plane’s curved aluminum structure.

He installed a heat recovery ventilation system to manage moisture from showering, cooking, and breathing, pulling fresh air from the back of the plane toward the cockpit and expelling warm, moist air.

The Conversion Process

With 20 laborers helping, Kotwicki worked from eight a.m. until midnight daily throughout an entire Alaskan summer to complete the conversion. The project cost over $500,000 total, with the plane itself costing around $100,000 and a similar amount to disassemble and transport it.

The finished aircraft features two bedrooms and one bathroom in the back, with a kitchen, dining room, and living room in the middle. The original cockpit remains intact with both captain and co-pilot chairs and many retro switches.

The floors are heated and covered with luxury vinyl planks designed to mimic wood. The walls use regular sheet metal and shiplap to maintain an industrial look. The master bedroom’s king-size bed uses the plane’s original dome-shaped pressure bulkhead as a headboard.

One wing has been converted into an outdoor dining patio. Guests enter through the original cargo loading door and can enjoy amenities including a washer and dryer, heated floors, and coffee in the flight deck at sunrise.

Opening for Business

Kotwicki opened the DC-6 to visitors in August 2022, and it was an instant hit. The accommodation is especially popular during summer when couples and families come to experience Alaska’s midnight sun.

“Kids just start sprinting up and down between the cockpit and the back, opening up doors and running back and forth,” Kotwicki said. “They’re excited to stay here and just go crazy.”

Lodging starts at about $349 per night, not including taxes and fees. The six-guest home sits on a 100-acre private lot with trails for summer walks and winter cross-country skiing.

Expanding the Fleet

Since converting the DC-6, Kotwicki has become a certified aircraft mechanic and acquired two more planes: a DC-9 from Fairbanks that he converted into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, and a 727 that FedEx donated to the local university.

In addition to the flight school and overnight stays, FLY8MA also offers scenic flight tours amid Alaska’s glacier-filled mountains.

Future Plans

Kotwicki is planning to turn a fourth plane, a C-119, into a motorhome to drive around the lower 48 states. “The idea is to get an old school bus or motor home and pull the body off of it,” he said. “Then to basically drop the airplane on top of the engine transmission chassis, and connect all the controls in the cockpit so I can drive it down the highway from there.”

Kotwicki jokes that building a house out of aluminum in Alaska is the “worst idea that a person could possibly have” due to the extreme weather conditions. But that hasn’t stopped him from turning high-flying ideas into reality.