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Aircraft Crash Sites ?


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Wow, forty crash sites. I hope you have a current tetanus shot.
Looking at the FAA database there are 70 or more crashes that has happened over the past 50 years but quite a few of these have happened in remote areas where the planes were just left after the investigation. Most of the crashes were because of poor judgment and lack of experience on the part of the pilot.
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Wow, forty crash sites. I hope you have a current tetanus shot.
Looking at the FAA database there are 70 or more crashes that has happened over the past 50 years but quite a few of these have happened in remote areas where the planes were just left after the investigation. Most of the crashes were because of poor judgment and lack of experience on the part of the pilot.
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I've been to one cache site that is a virtual where a plane crashed while training during WWII. I found it intriguing to look at the engines, etc. What I found totally disgusting was the graffitti that had been painted on the wreckage. What is wrong with people that they feel the need to deface everything they come across?

 

It is moving to see the plaque that is near the site and realize how young these men were, and realize that the fools painting on the wreckage are probably the same age now. Amazing that 50+ years ago, young men were in training for war and to save lives and dumba**es today deface the wreckage.

 

Sorry for the tirade.

 

I have no problems with a cache in the area of crash site as long as it doesn't interefere with wreckage itself. Be tasteful, perhaps include the story if you know it with cache container? Do you have access to a newspaper artcile about the crash?

 

:(

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I'd say go ahead with the cache. It sounds like a great idea. But go to the office of whatever the local land management agency is (you said USFS right) and confirm that there is no laws or policies against taking anything from the site.

 

Even if there isn't a policy or law, I'd probably put something to this extent on the cache page:

 

"This cache is placed here in memory of a nearby plane crash. While travelling to the cache, you may stumble on the crash. Very little of the wreckage was ever recovered, and there is still debris scattered all throughout the area. Please respect those who lost their lives and leave the debris here, in memory of their death."

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I'd say go ahead with the cache. It sounds like a great idea. But go to the office of whatever the local land management agency is (you said USFS right) and confirm that there is no laws or policies against taking anything from the site.

 

Even if there isn't a policy or law, I'd probably put something to this extent on the cache page:

 

"This cache is placed here in memory of a nearby plane crash. While traveling to the cache, you may stumble on the crash. Very little of the wreckage was ever recovered, and there is still debris scattered all throughout the area. Please respect those who lost their lives and leave the debris here, in memory of their death."

In a perfect world I would agree with you 100 percent, but we all know that there would be a few that would totally disregard common decency and take mementoes from the wreck. That’s why when Titanic was discovered by Richard Ballard he did not wish to give out the location of the wreck in fear of looters.
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I thought it was for the glory. If he could be the first to bring up the good stuff, he'd be famous (and loaded).
What good stuff did he bring up? I don't recall him bringing up anything of great value. I think your confusing Ballard with the plot of the movie Titanic. Edited by TahoeJoe
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You mean he didn't fetch that big diamond necklace? :(

 

Actually, I was thinking about the specific glory and any cashing in he may (or may not) have done related to the artifacts and their tour.

 

While I'm back in this thread, if my tomahawk ever goes down, please feal free to pack out the debris. I'd prefer to leave the forest how it was before I went in.

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Is this any different than discovering passenger ship wreckage w/in the 3mile limit? Auto? School bus? Whatever? After the remains and personal effects have been removed by the rightful owners the rest is, in my opinion, fair game for exploration and/or plunder. This presumes that there are no laws preventig such actions, of course. It is up to each person to determine the extent of their presumed legal/ethical actions on such sites. Coming upon such sites that have remains and/or personal effects, then a person ought to try and determine if this site is known to the authorities before disturbing the items found there. As in most things, if you are not sure, then leave it alone. Being respectful of such sites is never the wrong thing to do.

I agree. Is this really much different than wreck divers visiting shipwrecks in scuba gear? I don’t think so. I say if the NTSB is done with the site and the locations falls inside the current rules, then it should be fair game.

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there are probabily 40 or crash more sites in the Tahoe area

 

From 1941-1945, one could expect 4-12 aircraft crashes a day, on average! New planes, new crews, new maintenance people = lots of crashes. Especially back then, they probably left most of the wreckage.

One thing that I'd like to know is what is the reference that was used to gather these statistics?

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In January of 1952, a search-and-rescue B-17 crashed deep in the rugged terrain of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Five of the 8 crewmembers survived the harrowing descent down a mountainside.

 

AF 44-85746A was an SB-17G, a search-and-rescue variant of the venerable B-17 flying fortress. It was returning from a search mission to locate survivors from a Korean airlift plane that had gone down near Sandspit, B.C. In extreme turbulence and heavy blizzard conditions, the crew experienced sporadic failure of navigation and radio equipment. The plane was tossed up and down 800 feet by the severe winter weather.

 

Suddenly, the plane's port wing clipped trees near the top of a ridge. The plane was slammed to the ground, ripping out the lower cockpit area and tearing off wing control surfaces. The plane bounced, crashing back to earth on its belly, knocking off engines and stripping away the external life boat slung underneath. The pilot was tossed out a hole in the cockpit and part of the plane slid over top of him, pressing him into the snow. The co-pilot was thrown into the turret compartment and made his way to the bomb bay. The flight engineer had been standing behind the co-pilot and was thrown to the floor of the cockpit and knocked unconscious.

 

AF '746 then slid like a toboggan down a 2,000 foot steep slope, spewing man and machine in her wake as fire erupted through the cockpit.

 

More info and photo's available here.

 

There is a cache up there and I hope to get up there this spring and find it.

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