On Wednesday night, a Boeing 747 Dreamlifter landed at the wrong airport, a smaller one with a short runway that seemed unfit for takeoff. But as it turns out, it was just long enough.
The Dreamlifter, a massive cargo plane used to transport 787 aircraft parts, had been stuck at the Jabara Airport (AAO) near Wichita, Kan., for hours. Then, just after 2 p.m. ET, the plane attempted to take off from the airport's 6,101 feet long runway. The runway at McConnell Air Force Base, the airport where it was supposed to land, is 12,000 feet long, according to local news reports. Local reports also suggested the aircraft's pilots were not immediately aware upon arrival that they had landed at the wrong airport.
Crews removed fuel from the airplane to lighten its load, according to sources quoted by The Wichita Eagle.
Watch the enormous plane's successful liftoff under unusual circumstances in the video embedded below.