Juan Sánchez Vidal (born January 3, 1958) is a

model aircraft A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed s ...

collector. Sánchez Vidal, born in the

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, has over one thousand commercial

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

models, a collection which many experts believe to be the largest aircraft collection in the world.

Life and hobby

Sánchez Vidal was born near Son Bonet. At the age of fifteen, Sánchez Vidal began working at

Son Sant Joan Airport Palma de Mallorca Airport — also known as Son Sant Joan Airport – is an international airport located east of Palma, Mallorca, Spain, adjacent to the village of Can Pastilla. In 2024, the airport handled 33.3 million passengers, making ...

. He retired from that job in 2020. Sánchez Vidal began working with defunct

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

airline

Spantax Spantax S.A. was a Spanish leisure airline headquartered in Madrid that operated from 6 October 1959 to 29 March 1988. Spantax was one of the first Spanish airlines to operate tourist charter flights between European and North American cities and ...

, acquiring his first model, a

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee ...

CV-990 of that airline, in 1973. He made friendships with co-workers of other airlines, and he began receiving more models. Rodolfo Bay, then president of Spantax, personally gave Sánchez Vidal an airplane model. Eventually, his hobby led him to meet some more airline personalities, some of them famous celebrities, like

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Lauda won three Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

champion and owner of

Lauda Air Lauda Air Luftfahrt GmbH, branded as Lauda Air, was an Austrian charter airline headquartered at Vienna Airport in Schwechat. It was owned by Niki Lauda (1949–2019) during much of its existence, later becoming a charter airline subsidiary fo ...

. The largest model in his collection, a model of an

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

, was obtained after he traded one of his planes with a local Air France worker who also collected models. He also made a

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...

MD-11 model of

Air Europa Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spain, Spanish airline after Iberia (airline), Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez M ...

, airline for which he then worked. Air Europa never actually used this type of aircraft in real life. He also has models of

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet Boeing 727, 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The ...

and

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

, the same type of aircraft used for the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. Sánchez Vidal and his collection have been the objects of many reports and interviews by many specialized magazines. In 2000, personnel at Barajas International Airport in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

negotiated with Sánchez Vidal so that he could display his collection at the international arrivals terminal of that airport. In March of that year, his collection began being showcased at that airport. The collection lasted there until 2003. He had also held an exhibition of his models at Son Sant Joan Airport, in 1987. Sanchez Vidal is fluent in

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References

External links

Sánchez Vidal interviewed (In Spanish) on Coleccionismo magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Vidal, Juan 1958 births Living people Model aircraft Spanish collectors

Life and hobby

See also

References

External links