View Full Version : Man discovers 35-year-old plane wreckage on Appalachian Trail - Lynchburg News and Ad
WhiteBlaze
05-30-2014, 14:00
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="7" style="vertical-align:top;"><tr><td width="80" align="center" valign="top"><font style="font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif"></font></td><td valign="top" class="j"><font style="font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br /><div style="padding-top:0.8em;"><img alt="" height="1" width="1" /></div><div class="lh"><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNEk2pBqeVIu_3I4baeNSLTpN6f39A&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&ei=JseIU7oX5vTwAfK4gMAM&url=http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/man-discovers--year-old-plane-wreckage-on-appalachian-trail/article_03df51be-e678-11e3-aeb5-001a4bcf6878.html"><b>Man discovers 35-year-old plane wreckage on <b>Appalachian Trail</b></b></a><br /><font size="-1"><b><font color="#6f6f6f">Lynchburg News and Advance</font></b></font><br /><font size="-1">More than 35 years after a military accident claimed the lives of two Navy airmen in the wilderness of Amherst County, a Lexington veteran made a sobering discovery along the <b>Appalachian Trail</b> that also provides answers to a personal quest. Earlier <b>...</b></font><br /><font size="-1" class="p"></font><br /><font class="p" size="-1"><a class="p" href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dkmzJOuFFINWaRM&authuser=0&ned=us"><nobr><b></b></nobr></a></font></div></font></td></tr></table>
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Pedaling Fool
05-30-2014, 16:51
Damn, I was expecting to read about a plane that was still listed as missing.
mtntopper
05-30-2014, 19:27
Yeah, the title is so misleading.
Ricky&Jack
05-30-2014, 19:36
yeah, based on the title I thought it may be similar to this plaque on the A.T. Approach Trail, after A plane crashed in 1968, and it wasnt found until 1996 by hikers, 28 years after it went missing.
27206
rocketsocks
05-30-2014, 19:45
Damn, I was expecting to read about a plane that was still listed as missing.
I thought it was gonna be the plane that can be seen on Google earth on the side of Lehigh Gap in PA.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7908814,-75.601227,132m/data=!3m1!1e3
Ricky&Jack
05-30-2014, 19:55
I thought it was gonna be the plane that can be seen on Google earth on the side of Lehigh Gap in PA.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7908814,-75.601227,132m/data=!3m1!1e3
any idea what the story with that is? it looks like it was landed, and its near the road.
somebody just trying to save on hanger fees?
rocketsocks
05-30-2014, 19:58
any idea what the story with that is? it looks like it was landed, and its near the road.
somebody just trying to save on hanger fees?I really don't. I've hiked by there, didn't see it...found it years ago while just poppin around on G.Earth, it might not even be a crash, but a partial picture of a plane flyin by ...anybody???
rocketsocks
05-30-2014, 20:08
Wow, that is some story...bit of history the A-6 Intruder was the first plane to fly into a hurricane, it was a two seater trainer side by side, if memory serves it was on a bet.
Oops, I was wrong, it was an AT-6 Texan, not an intruder. :o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Surprise_Hurricane
This was the first hurricane to be intentionally flown into by a reconnaissance aircraft. During the morning hours of July 27, British pilots were training at Bryan Field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Campus) in Bryan, Texas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan,_Texas) and were alerted about a hurricane approaching the Galveston area. Upon becoming informed that the planes would need to be flown away from the storm, they criticized this policy. Instead, Colonel Joe Duckworth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Duckworth_(aviator)) made a bet with the British pilots that he could fly his AT-6 Texan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-6_Texan) trainer directly into the storm. Duckworth requested that Lt. Colonel Ralph O'Hair, the only navigator at the field, fly into the hurricane with him. Because neither Duckworth nor O'Hair believed that the headquarters would approve the flight, they decided to proceed without permission. Thus, Duckworth and O'Hair became the first hurricane hunters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_hunters). O'Hair later compared the weather encountered during the flight to "being tossed about like a stick in a dog's mouth". After returning to Bryan Field, Lt. William Jones-Burdick requested to fly into the hurricane with Duckworth, while O'Hair decided to exit the aircraft.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Surprise_Hurricane#cite_note-nwssurprise-3)
I really don't. I've hiked by there, didn't see it...found it years ago while just poppin around on G.Earth, it might not even be a crash, but a partial picture of a plane flyin by ...anybody???
Looks like a Beech 1900. My guess is the image was captured while flying.
Ricky&Jack
05-30-2014, 22:16
i was wondering that. But theres a shadow under the front of the plane. So I wasnt sure if it was flying or landed.
rocketsocks
05-30-2014, 22:19
and the nose looks askew.
Ricky&Jack
05-30-2014, 22:31
if you zoom out, theres an airport a mile or so south
During my 2001 thru-hike I met three guys fromk Washington, DC at Crosby Knob Shelter. They had brought into the shelter a large piece of a wing from a crashed airplain. They had access to a government web site that listed all aircraft crash sites and they would hike into them to find wreckage. They had discovered three that weekend. Check my photos. It contains a picture of me with the wing part.
rocketsocks
06-02-2014, 10:03
During my 2001 thru-hike I met three guys fromk Washington, DC at Crosby Knob Shelter. They had brought into the shelter a large piece of a wing from a crashed airplain. They had access to a government web site that listed all aircraft crash sites and they would hike into them to find wreckage. They had discovered three that weekend. Check my photos. It contains a picture of me with the wing part.
Wow, that's somethin! talk about ancillary. Or perhaps just a hobby, either way, it gets folks out side doin what they love, and it helps clean up the woods.
Another Kevin
06-02-2014, 10:12
During my 2001 thru-hike I met three guys fromk Washington, DC at Crosby Knob Shelter. They had brought into the shelter a large piece of a wing from a crashed airplain. They had access to a government web site that listed all aircraft crash sites and they would hike into them to find wreckage. They had discovered three that weekend. Check my photos. It contains a picture of me with the wing part.
Where I hike, moving the wreckage (except to alleviate a hazard) is considered disrespectful to the dead. (Of course, an exception is if the family or the landowner want the wreckage recovered or removed.) Visiting it where it lies is entirely acceptable; it's like going to a cemetery.
Old crashes are rediscovered fairly often in the area: the country is difficult enough that the precise location of some wrecks is not known or not recorded accurately, and there are a lot of wrecks because planes that go astray from the Hudson River corridor crash on the Catskill Escarpment. Two wrecks that have been rediscovered this season after not having been spotted for a while are:
http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/forums/phpBB-3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=890
and
http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/forums/phpBB-3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=887 (http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/forums/phpBB-3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=887)
(In both cases, people had been looking in the wrong places, owing to unclear descriptions in the accident reports or earlier trip reports.)
Some people may find the discussion of the old wagon roads and unofficial trails interesting. They see some use, even though nowadays they don't appear on any trail maps. You just have to go with people who know where they are. Some are trails that end on private property - for instance, the one Mike mentions on the second thread starts on the property of the Winter Clove Inn and is a trail to nowhere if you don't get permission from the innkeeper. The last time I asked, his reply was, "So, I'm bursting at the seams with paying guests? Go ahead, just make sure you park over on the downhill side and don't block the driveways!" The inn's grounds have a lot of private trails and some of them cross over into unofficial trails on the state land. The rangers know they're there, but they're kept off the trail maps to discourage trespassers. The couple of places where they hit official trails have the turnoffs blocked by brushpiles. The old roads frequently require bushwhacking around rockslides and washouts, but are often hikable by those with the skills to handle off-trail travel in steep subalpine forest.
Another Kevin
06-02-2014, 10:21
Wow, that's somethin! talk about ancillary. Or perhaps just a hobby, either way, it gets folks out side doin what they love, and it helps clean up the woods.
Socks, once you're patched together and hiking again, if you're interested in trying out wreck-spotting, I know where a couple are up on the Catskill escarpment that aren't too hard to get to. One's right on trail, and the other, well, let's just say I know a couple of routes. I wouldn't dignify either of them with the term, "trail."
rocketsocks
06-02-2014, 10:39
Socks, once you're patched together and hiking again, if you're interested in trying out wreck-spotting, I know where a couple are up on the Catskill escarpment that aren't too hard to get to. One's right on trail, and the other, well, let's just say I know a couple of routes. I wouldn't dignify either of them with the term, "trail."That could be fun.
yeah, based on the title I thought it may be similar to this plaque on the A.T. Approach Trail, after A plane crashed in 1968, and it wasnt found until 1996 by hikers, 28 years after it went missing.
27206
That is not correct. The wreckage was removed in 1996. I remember seeing the wreckage in the 1980s.
Ricky&Jack
06-03-2014, 02:12
yeah, somebody named Max Patch messaged me on facebook right after I posted that, and corrected me.
I was just too lazy to edit the post.
When I got back to Amicalola falls, I asked the rangers at the office and they told me stuff that was wrong and I didn't find that out til I posted here.
A Leer Jet crashed on Smarts Mountain (on AT at southern edge of Whites in NH) in 1996 and they didn't find it until 3 years later.
stillatit
06-05-2014, 04:29
rickb,
Do you still use a Svea stove (your avatar)? So do I. Met a guy last spring at the Wawayanda shelter in NJ who was also using one.
rickb,
Do you still use a Svea stove (your avatar)? So do I. Met a guy last spring at the Wawayanda shelter in NJ who was also using one.
Then you are both men of taste, culture, breeding, and social sophistication.
I may have to dust mine off.