2020-11-13 Mount Mitchell Plane Crash Search

The Search for the 1949 Mount Mitchell Plane Crash
With Captain John and Sean
Somewhere along the East Side of Mount Mitchell
Yancey County, NC
Friday, November 13th and Saturday, November 14th, 2020

Captain John and Sean with a fuel tank from the 1949 crash!

My friend Captain John who is a commercial airline pilot has an obsession with seeking out old airplane crash sites.  I have had the pleasure of joining him on several of these searches over the past few years.

On October 5th, 1949 a Douglas C-47D (DC-3) crashed somewhere on the side of Mount Mitchell.  So far we have had four failed attempts at finding this crash site.

Since the crash happened over 70 years ago before GPS was commonplace, we do not have exact GPS coordinates.  It has been like looking for a needle in the haystack.  Especially since we believe the largest pieces of the wreckage were removed many years ago.

Some additional research since our last attempt led to a few more potential spots to check out.

But first a few photos from before starting the search!

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Obligatory Selfie at the Mount Mitchell Summit Sign
 

 At the Mount Mitchell Summit

Once John arrived, we began our search.  We've seen parts of the Mitchell Mountainside that no humans have ever laid eyes on!

After about 7 hours of searching around the cliffs and forests on Mount Mitchell, we were about to give up for the day.  However,  I spotted a piece of crumpled aluminum mostly buried under 70 years forest growth.

 

The first piece of debris spotted

We found a few more pieces of debris nearby and knew we were close to the crash site.

With the time change, we were running out of daylight and still had a hike to get to our evenings accommodations!  (Thanks again Chip for letting us use your Cabin!)

Sunset from the Trail

 

The Cabin at Night - The stars were amazing!

At the Cabin, we formed our plan of attack for the next day.

Leaving The Cabin on Saturday Morning.

Thanks again Chip!

We returned to where we left off the previous day and continued our search.   

 

Success!

 

John inspecting one of the fuel tanks

Engine Exhaust

John checking out some of the wreckage

Captain John at one of the many cliff faces we bushwhacked to over the course of this adventure

 

Landing Gear Wheel Hub  

More of the wreckage

 

 

After many hours of research and bushwhacking through some of the must rugged terrain east of the Mississippi, we believe we can finally call the search complete!

 

It was a fun and memorable multi-year search!  And my friendship with John and Sean has grown because of it!

 

My complete set of photos is posted here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157716927876013