50 year old crash in the Andes found?

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31236398

Bit slow BBC ! According to ASN, the plane was found seven days after the crash. C-47 - Lan Chile.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19610403-0

Original post

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 2,841

It's quite common for plane crashes to come to light in very mountainous areas when snows melt or snowlines recede. This one is not the secret it is made out to be and the location is known almost exactly.

Looking at the propeller it looks like it was windmilling when it hit but not under power. Perhaps this is the reason for their descent into mountainous terrain - engine failure, unable to feather affected propeller (or even the wrong one), heavily loaded plane couldn't maintain enough height to clear terrain and went into the mountain. Having said that, if this had have been the scenario, they should have had enough time to make a Mayday call.

There's been significant movement of the loose scree over the wreckage. I would think that if the bodies weren't recovered soon after the crash that what was left will be almost impossible to find. On sites like this, with a lot of people on board and their corresponding bags and baggage, there is usually lots of tatty clothing, shoes and personal effects scattered around though it's possibly all buried now.

Very sad, all the same. One cannot help but feel for the families of all the young, fit and healthy young men tragically lost all those years ago.

Anon.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

It sounds very similar to the 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident, which wasn't discovered for 50yrs.

Member for

17 years 7 months

Posts: 1,861

It's a bit irritating - the datas from the ICAO report (1963) and what is now mentioned in new reports (2015)
The two locations are about 48 miles apart, and the elevation of the two places differs between 7.000 ft and 10.500 ft.

This is from the ICAO report:
"From the wreckage's position it was determined that the flight was on a southweat heading, although owing to the aircraft's being entirely destroyed and burnt out it was not possible to state i t s speed or altitude, or whether the left engine had failed, At impact it appeared that the right engine was functioning normally."

What have they found in the past and what today?

Martin

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Are you suggesting there might be two incidents Martin?

Moggy

Member for

17 years 7 months

Posts: 1,861

@Moggy
Looking at the ICAO report and the ASN report on the one side and all the articles that appeared the last days on the other side -
the "old" crash site is located around 44 km SE of Linares at an elevation of 7.000 ft
the "new" crash site is located around 77 km NE of the "old" and at an elevation of 10.500 ft!
These are two different locations!
Here you can find a photo - it shows the horizontal stabilisers
[ATTACH=CONFIG]235242[/ATTACH]
Such a remarkable piece of the plane - why haven't they took a shot from this piece during the January 2015 expedition?
"Rescuers found the tail end of the aircraft and some human remains a week after the crash, an official who asked not to be named told Reuters, but the recovery effort was abandoned near the snow-capped peaks due to its dangerous and remote location."

The main question remains: Which plane do they found April 10, 1961 and made a detailed describtion of the crash site in the ICAO report 1963??

Martin

edit: to be precise - it is a ICAO circular (69-AN/61) mentioning the report of the Directorate of Aviation - Chilean Air Force Headquarters, Chile.

Attachments

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Certainly interesting.

Moggy

Member for

17 years 7 months

Posts: 1,861

I have a question for DC-3 specialists:
If you compare the old foto from 1961 in post #8 with these detail of a photo taken on January 26, 2015, assuming it is a tail wheel section of a plane, than it's a different plane they found last month.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]235247[/ATTACH]

But over to the experts!

Martin

Attachments

Member for

19 years 2 months

Posts: 819

It is the same aircraft, comparing the recent photo with the party sitting on/around a piece of wreckage and one of the 1961 photos which shows a good amount of the background shows that the location is the same.

I have marked some features which are in both, the most unique is the trident shaped fissure in the rock marked A. Obviously the position of the camera is different so the two have slightly different views but they are close enough to compare.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]235383[/ATTACH]

Attachments

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 797

The answer might be that the crash position published at the time was deliberate misinformation by the authorities to prevent looting or disturbance.