Plane Wreck (Woodstock)

I’ve been having a very social week in the woods. Yesterday, I was invited to join my friends Stash and Joe to find a Cessna wreck from March 17, 1965. 

The plane was flying VFR. According to Wikipedia, “In aviation, visual flight rules are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. “ Unfortunately, like many of the 40 wrecks in the Catskills, the weather was not conducive to VFR. In this case, there was a snowstorm. The two people who died were young fathers aged 27 and 28. The flight was chartered to deliver a package and the crash happened on the way back.

I’ve been to 23 / 40 crash sites and people inevitably ask for the location, which I cannot give them. Some people react with indignation at the refusal, but I have my reasons. 

There are a handful of famous Catskills wrecks that can be located with internet research. But it’s best to let people find things after researching them because then they are more likely to value and not disrespect the wreckage they find. People take things or deface the remnants at the site, which is akin to doing that at someone’s grave, so the less traffic there, the better.

Joe Ferri has done tremendous research to find these planes. It entails hours in libraries searching for articles, contacting people who may still be alive and have useful information, then analyzing and synthesizing that information to do a grid search. Hence, he is selective as to who he shares information with, as he should be.

 

I think hikers should have more of a backcountry skier’s outlook on secret locations in the mountains. Backcountry skiers can see images from someone else’s excursion, be happy for the other person’s experience, and use that as motivation to search for their own locations. The more they get out there and do things on their own, the more likely others will share information with them. It’s a meritocracy. There’s a lot of cool stuff in the mountains of the Catskills, but some of it has to be earned through effort. This not only keeps places preserved, but it increases the chances people will be prepared.