User blog comment:Affectos/"The Warehouse Job"/@comment-4273152-20141204033957

It's not impossile for salvaged aeroplane parts to be reused, particularly if the had no real damage. Hull pieces from TWA Flight 800 could have found their way into a new craft, causing it to violently explode. As for survival, Artie has a massive bag of tricks, it would be no problem for him.

Another, less fun, possibility is that it was simply a lookalike and wasn't Artie at all. Better still, someone hired by Artie or even someone else that took his form using an artifact.