AirWest 706 take 3
I've gone searching for these sites twice (here and here).
This was another nice, clear post-storm day to come back, and this time stonehillnews joined in.
We went to the F-4 site first. Apparently I already found ground zero: above the area where the debris was most concentrated there's no debris at all. And this turned into a genuine archaeology dig: I hung around in the gully for a bit, moving dirt around, and unearthed a whole pile of stuff, bit by bit:
ALL this stuff was completely buried. Mostly it's pieces of skin, but there're some gems. Some sort of adjustable dial to control the brake motor:
External access panel:
Motor? Pump?
Label for something
One piece was too big, and we couldn't dig it out. I need to come back with a shovel, but in the meantime, it's not going anywhere:
More stuff. This used to say "danger":
The "lubricants" bottle from the last time turned out to be a "use no lubricants" bottle. Close enough:
We spent too much time digging around, but we really needed to go check out the other sites. So off we went. I'll let the photos do the talking here
Humans for scale:
We had some theories about the location of the main DC-9 impact site, but there wasn't enough time to go check them out fully. There're a handful of candidate gullies that I will check out eventually. This time I briefly ventured across the ridge to the nearest one, which took me to an area much less impacted by the 2016 Fish fire. I.e. it was a brushy mess:
This extra excursion uncovered the fact that the tail is in a very waterfally area of tail gully. Directly above the tail is this sheer drop of maybe 50ft:
Directly below is another:
And immediately past that is another. I can't see over the lip, so no idea how tall it is.
Anybody rappelled these? AW?
So yeah. These sites are cool. Stonehillnews took some video footage that should be pretty cool too. Anything else to add?
This was another nice, clear post-storm day to come back, and this time stonehillnews joined in.
We went to the F-4 site first. Apparently I already found ground zero: above the area where the debris was most concentrated there's no debris at all. And this turned into a genuine archaeology dig: I hung around in the gully for a bit, moving dirt around, and unearthed a whole pile of stuff, bit by bit:
ALL this stuff was completely buried. Mostly it's pieces of skin, but there're some gems. Some sort of adjustable dial to control the brake motor:
External access panel:
Motor? Pump?
Label for something
One piece was too big, and we couldn't dig it out. I need to come back with a shovel, but in the meantime, it's not going anywhere:
More stuff. This used to say "danger":
The "lubricants" bottle from the last time turned out to be a "use no lubricants" bottle. Close enough:
We spent too much time digging around, but we really needed to go check out the other sites. So off we went. I'll let the photos do the talking here
Humans for scale:
We had some theories about the location of the main DC-9 impact site, but there wasn't enough time to go check them out fully. There're a handful of candidate gullies that I will check out eventually. This time I briefly ventured across the ridge to the nearest one, which took me to an area much less impacted by the 2016 Fish fire. I.e. it was a brushy mess:
This extra excursion uncovered the fact that the tail is in a very waterfally area of tail gully. Directly above the tail is this sheer drop of maybe 50ft:
Directly below is another:
And immediately past that is another. I can't see over the lip, so no idea how tall it is.
Anybody rappelled these? AW?
So yeah. These sites are cool. Stonehillnews took some video footage that should be pretty cool too. Anything else to add?
- headsizeburrito
- Posts: 279
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:18 pm
Bummed I couldn't join you, well done!
Idk...I think the first internet of the canyon was a descent from Silver Fish road in 2008, western creek.....so if that covers it, then yes its been done.dima wrote: Anybody rappelled these? AW?
Thats some dedication to track down the plane wreck!
- stonehillnews
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:31 pm
Thanks @dima for letting me in on the adventure. It took me a few hours yesterday to stitch together the photos and drone video I got on Saturday with some of the research material. If you have the equipment, I recommend holding off watching this video until you're on a 4K monitor, or the highest res you have available. A mobile device won't do it full justice.
Also, using reverse image search, I found some cool images on a Hungarian website, keptelenseg.hu/retro. This site is hosting mp4 rips of a CGI reconstruction of the actual crash. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of expert amateur 3D animator or what, but later I found this on another (of seemingly many) air disaster re-blogging sites, alchetron.com. This particular site apparently used to have the same materials as keptelenseg, but they embedded them via YouTube, and subsequently those got copyright takedowns. So now that site had dead links. Still it did have this information:
https://static.keptelenseg.hu/v/4801ad4b474c60552aca3bf1d7cf8c5e.mp4
https://static.keptelenseg.hu/p/f2f5e1a127401b5f9b61e93511cfecf5.mp4
Also, using reverse image search, I found some cool images on a Hungarian website, keptelenseg.hu/retro. This site is hosting mp4 rips of a CGI reconstruction of the actual crash. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of expert amateur 3D animator or what, but later I found this on another (of seemingly many) air disaster re-blogging sites, alchetron.com. This particular site apparently used to have the same materials as keptelenseg, but they embedded them via YouTube, and subsequently those got copyright takedowns. So now that site had dead links. Still it did have this information:
Here's a direct link the Hungarian mp4 vids and screen caps. I downloaded them in case they ever disappear of this mirror. Also, be patient if you're trying to stream them off the Hungarian site. Who knows what their bandwidth situation is. Maybe try saving them locally first, before you try to watch them. Worth the trouble though.The story of the accident was featured on the thirteenth season of the Canadian TV series Mayday (known as Air Emergency in the US, Mayday in Ireland and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and the rest of world) in an episode entitled "Speed Trap". It was also the feature of "Air Disasters" episode on The Smithsonian Channel.
https://static.keptelenseg.hu/v/4801ad4b474c60552aca3bf1d7cf8c5e.mp4
https://static.keptelenseg.hu/p/f2f5e1a127401b5f9b61e93511cfecf5.mp4
I've seen that reconstruction! I think it's part of a way-too-long dramatization here: http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x3qkxj3
Not sitting through the whole thing again to confirm
Not sitting through the whole thing again to confirm
- headsizeburrito
- Posts: 279
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:18 pm
First pictures and now drone footage too! Very cool. So where was the tail section in relation to the bits we found on the first trip?
- stonehillnews
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:31 pm
Yes, that's obviously it, just from the first few scenes.dima wrote: I've seen that reconstruction! I think it's part of a way-too-long dramatization
Next big gully to the North, further downstream. Tail is clearly visible in the recent (post-fire) aerial imagery.headsizeburrito wrote: First pictures and now drone footage too! Very cool. So where was the tail section in relation to the bits we found on the first trip?