Taking apart jets more than meets the eye.

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) -- Some are concerned it's nothing more than a future junkyard for retired jets, but an operation in Tupelo is actually recycling and shipping out everything aboard.

If you've driven by the Tupelo Regional Airport lately it's hard to miss those three large jets near the runway.

Just five months ago the first jet landed at the airport, but soon it will be gone.

Going from a large mass into thousands of pieces. Pieces like the engine, tires, black box among everything else holding the plane together.

"We recycle the part, the airframe, the engine. everything on the jet is actually recyclable," said Dana Soper, General Manager for Universal Asset Management.

When these jets land they weigh nearly 400,000 pounds. However, by the time they've been disassembled its shed nearly 300,000 pounds in parts.

"Most of the time when the aircrafts land, the first thing we take off the aircraft are the engines," Soper added.

"They are a high demand low density asset. Airlines and suppliers all over the world are always looking for serviceable engines."

UAM is the company taking apart the jets, and Soper is hearing local fuss about the area becoming a place where jets go to die, but he wants everyone to know what kind of operation this really is.

"I get a few questions, or concerns about this turning into a junkyard. That's not the operation that we're going to run here," he said.

"You're disassembling an aircraft so parts are going to come off, but there's a professional way to do that is aesthetically pleasing to the community."

From there Soper says parts are cleaned, inspected, coded and then ready to be shipped out for service on an operating flight. This saves on costs for airlines which could save you on airfare prices.

"Like today we're pulling wheels and tires for a special order. They come off the aircraft, my aircraft and power plant mechanics will make sure that those parts are good.

Then, they go through a DAR who certifies that they are airworthy. They go into our system and we ship them out all over the United States and the world."

As of now only three jets sit near the hangar, but anyway 10 more are set to join their ranks of being recycled and put toward future use.

Currently the company is working on about a seven person staff at the hangar, but it expects to hire about 20 to 30 more people for disassembling and in their warehouse, in the upcoming months.

Source:  http://www.wtva.com