Mike Higdon | Reno Gazette-Journal

Mike Higdon and Jason Bean, Reno Gazette-Journal

Updated Aug. 16 at 9:45 p.m. with quote from Big Imagination Foundation.

A two-story 747 aircraft arrived on the playa today.

Big Imagination camp transported the 20-ton airplane through the desert to Burning Man with highway patrol escorts. Their team shut down Highway 447 and temporarily cut power to part of Gerlach on the way to Black Rock City.

Courtesy of Dave Aiazzi

The project creators worked four years to make the airplane into a mobile art car with a bar and lounge in it. In 2016, they started with the top half of the airplane's nose. This year, it will be the entire fuselage, clipped wings and landing gear, but no tail. This year, the team cut the roof off of the lounge area to open the airplane up to the sky.

It's also mobile. The plane will be capable of being towed around the playa, making it an official mutant vehicle. It will be parked at 10:00 and K most of the week.

{{props.notification}} {{props.tag}} {{props.expression}} {{props.linkSubscribe.text}} {{#modules.acquisition.inline}}{{/modules.acquisition.inline}} ... Our reporting. Your stories. Get unlimited digital access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

Josh Pearlman filmed a two hour Facebook Live of the airplane being shipped through the desert. Nevada Power, AT&T, Sierra Pacific and Union Pacific drove ahead of the team to disconnect and turn off power lines that crossed the road.

The airplane was 32-feet high but utility workers worried electricity could arc from the line to the airplane and possibly injure people.

The airplane arrived on the playa just before noon Tuesday. The other pieces of the airplane will follow behind and be assembled in the desert before Burning Man starts Aug. 26.

People immediately went to social media to criticize and celebrate the achievement.

The resources and money used to assemble and ship the airplane nightclub could be used for other purposes, artist Jerry Snyder argued on Facebook. Others said the spectacle is exactly what people say makes Burning Man into an event full excessive capitalism. Some even argue it violates the decommodification principle.

"I love Burning Man. And I hate this. It's absurd," Rayna Brachmann posted in a comment on Facebook. "And not in a good way. Ammunition for the folks who are down on the event for being a self indulgent festival for tech bros with more money than sense."

Courtesy of the Big Imagination Foundation

Big Imagination Camp rejects the notion that they are "tech bros" from Silicon Valley who are just throwing money around.

"We are artists, engineers, nerds, fabricators, aviation enthusiasts and the list goes on," the group told the RGJ "People are always critical about the money issue. But if we are working with that argument then we may as well cancel (Burning Man) and go home all together. There is nothing logical or necessary about an event such as Burning Man. Yet its a magical place for those who go and it keeps bringing us back each year."

Other burners celebrated the airplane as a monumental accomplishment and welcome sight at Burning Man.

"I thought it was great!" Patricia Brugioni commented on the Facebook Live. "Came across it on one of those oppressively hot days last year, and to come inside to the misters and fans, and dance in the midst of those, and to read all those heartfelt baggage tags and tickets, and write one of my own was truly a gift to a couple of us that day!"

Mike Higdon is the city life reporter at the RGJ and can be found on Instagram @MillennialMike, on Facebook at Mike Higdon, Reno Life and on Twitter @MikeHigdon.

Buzz60

BURNING MAN 2018

View | 60 Photos

Burning Man 2017: Fun and far-out