Plane Crash at WA Pass?????

[Spliffy]

Does anyone have any information regarding a plane (or helicopter) crash that may have happened on the East side of North Early Winter Spire? The slabs right of the East colouir are littered for hundreds of feet with broken plastic, and shattered mechanical components made of various materials.

Just curious...

[klenke]

Was this a recent crash or old debris? There is old plane debris in the Early Winters Creek streambed about 500 yards upstream from the hairpin turn. It's from a long time ago. Not much superstructure left. That's the only one I know about in the area.

[Spliffy]

Yeah, old debris. Anyone else have any info?

[dbb]

According to one, the wreckage (by the hairpin) has been there since at LEAST the very early 80s. I was contacted this past fall about a picture I had of the wreckage by someone who knew that the wrecked plane by the hairpin was not in the state's database of known crashes. An intruiging mystery that was covered up by the winter snow and fall rains too quick last fall.

 

I'd imagine that with the fall line from the N. Spire, the debris I saw just off the hairpin could be from the same crash. Was any of the debris from a red and white paint job?

 

Here's a picture of what we (and countless others) found:

[klenke]

Ha ha! Phil posing like a Price-Is-Right model.

 

Checking the NTSB database for Winthrop, WA, I came up with this 1983 crash:

NTSB Identification: SEA83LA053 .

The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 20278.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation

Accident occurred Monday, January 31, 1983 in WINTHROP, WA

Aircraft: CESSNA 172P, registration: N52243

Injuries: 2 Minor.

THE AIRCRAFT WAS CRASH-LANDED IN THE SNOW AFTER THE PILOT FLEW INTO A BOX CANYON. THE PILOT WAS FOLLOWING A HIGHWAY OVERSNOW COVERED TERRAIN AND TOOK A WRONG TURN. BY THE TIME THE ERROR WAS REALIZED, IT WAS TOO LATE TO REVERSE COURSE OR CLIMB OUT. A FORCED LANDING WAS EXECUTED INTO A SNOW FIELD.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

 

IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION..IMPROPER..PILOT IN COMMAND

 

Contributing Factors

 

TERRAIN CONDITION..SNOW COVERED

TERRAIN CONDITION..MOUNTAINOUS/HILLY

TERRAIN CONDITION..RISING

WEATHER CONDITION..HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE

PROPER CLIMB RATE..NOT POSSIBLE..PILOT IN COMMAND

 

Not sure if this is the one. No conclusive info given (landmarks, etc.) to prove it is.

[Alasdair]

If you are talking about very small shards of plastic and metal then it is from howitzer shells used for avalanch control. I noticed a shit load of this type of debris when I was on those slabs.

[dberdinka]

Mystery solved......

Edited July 12, 2004 by dberdinka

[Alasdair]

I was there with spliffy this weekend. Checkout the following image. Road is in red, wreck referenced by Dave is up creek of the hairpin.

 

In the area enclosed by a blue line we found a lot of debris along the length of the East Gully of NEWS as well as the shelf just below the north face. Aluminum tubing, heavy chunks of machined iron etc. that had been sheared and twisted by very strong forces. We didn't find any pieces of debris bigger than a grapefruit, it was all heavily oxidized and looked really old to me.

 

A plane must have smashed head-on into the N/NE face of North Early and blown to bits. I can't imagine that the main fuselage would have been flung into the drainage there a mile away fully intact. My gut feeling would be that this was a very old wreck from pre-highway days.

 

Interesting tid-bit of history if someone knew more about it?

 

I am not saying your wrong, but they dont tend to use heavy machined iron on aircraft, and never have.

[Dru]

anybody find DB Cooper yet?

[dbb]

Darin-

 

If the debris is on the "east" side of the tower, (in the early morning couloir area) then I think it would be feasable for it to slide down to the hairpin. The crash would have occured to the right from you blue circle...

 

 

I don't think that it's the 1983 crash as there would probably be more plane left in the wreckage and I believe DavidW said that he saw this plane laying there in 1980.

[klenke]

While I realize this is not conclusive proof, the tail Phil is holding up looks quite like the tail of a Cessna 172P Skyhawk, which is what crashed in 1983.

An example:

.

Skyhawks are common, so the wreckage in the creek could very well be from another crash prior to 1980. Also, it seems like the location of the debris in the creek is too far upstream for it to be connected with dberdinka's blue circle.

[philfort]

Wow, I was holding up the tail fin of a jumbo jetliner!