I found airplane wreckage on Shellrock Mountain (gorge)

[Chip Down]

My first thought when I saw this: Hey, cool, some sort of fabricated sheet-metal thing. I love finding stuff like this in the woods.

My second thought: I wonder what Don Nelson Nelsen knows about this.

My third thought: Damn, is that a...it is! An airplane!

I couldn't find anything on the www about this, which isn't surprising. It looks like it's been here for maybe 20 years (wild guess) so it wouldn't be on the www in the form of news reports.

This is probably the coolest thing I've found in the woods, although I'd have to give that some thought before awarding the gold medal.

I wasn't carrying GPS, and it was very remote. I could probably find it again, but it would take a while. Pretty rugged and remote, densely forested, steep, not really any terribly distinctive landmarks nearby.

[Don Nelsen]

My second thought: I wonder what Don Nels[e]n knows about this...

I don't know anything about this but, wow, what a find! I'd love to check this out but first, you should call the Hood River Co. Sheriff and check with the FFA and see if they are aware of it. You should go back and get a good GPS location and I'm willing to help on this.

dn

PS, Did you get a tail number of anything off the data plate? (Data plate usually on the tail somewhere.)

(edit for typos)

[Guy]

Chip, any Red / Orange crosses on the wreckage? If so then the wreckage is known about if not then perhaps not! Another good test is was the engine there? if know about they always take the engine out but often leave the rest of the wreckage. If the engine is there and there are no crosses then you should definitely notify authorities.

Good find!

[Chip Down]

Oops, sorry about the name spelling, Don.

No Orange/red crosses that I recall. I wasn't aware of that practice, so I didn't look.

The lack of cockpit/engine made me think it was known. I did poke around a bit to see if they were nearby. But yeah, now that I think about it, it's possible they're out there too, maybe even with human remains inside

I'll see what the authorities say about it.

No number stenciled on the tail, but I didn't know about the plate.

I'm thinking it's probably in the yellow zone in the pic below. I might go back again (my to do list is short, and there are still a couple spots on Shellrock I haven't explored) or if not I can provide some details on what I was doing when I stumbled into this, which might enable somebody else to find it.

[Peder]

Very cool find! Congratulations!

[Don Nelsen]

Chip, thanks for the additional info and the map. Instruments and engines are always taken out after a crash to help determine cause, at the least, but with those gone, I agree with Guy: it is likely known to authorities. However, small planes are light but the engine/cockpit are heavy and could easily have torn away and ended up some distance away. When Steve Fossett crashed a few years ago, his engine was found 300 feet away from the initial impact site. (granted, he was going much faster than this plane was going!)

In looking at all my Shellrock Mt. GPS tracks, I've not been in the area you circled and would love to check this out.

thanks for posting this!

dn

[Limey]

Is it possible that this is it?
http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/14/ ... 448088400/

[Don Nelsen]

Is it possible that this is it?
http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/14/ ... 448088400/

Thanks for digging this up. I didn't know about this crash. It could be about the right age from the photos Chip posted but Viento Ridge is about three miles away and about 800' higher in altitude than what Chip found. Still, I remember when the DC8 crashed in Portland back in 1978, the news media was purposely given an erroneous location to keep onlookers away. Doesn't seem necessary for something like a light plane crash but who knows.

Now I need to go explore viento ridge more,
dn

[Limey]

Yes Don, I thought it was too far away too but the article said The Viento Ridge AREA, and what Chip found definitely looks like the remains of a Piper. Just another one of those Gorge Mysteries.

[Peabody]

From 1958, I think this is the story.