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SultanHiker
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PostMon Aug 14, 2017 1:51 pm 
Schroder wrote:
Shakawkarl wrote:
I came across the wreckage on Wing Peak a couple years ago while summiting Wing and Gunn. At first I thought it was the remains of a weather station but then I realized it was a covering about a 300-500 foot radius of the summit. Found a radio device. Looks like some of the wreckage was hauled out at some point.
That's Wing Luke's plane that crashed on May 16, 1965
I've been under the impression that it was Wing Luke's crash based on the local climbers calling the peak "Wing", peakbagger.com, and the reports on this site. But I'm now convinced that it isn't Luke's plane. Maybe Wing Luke's plane is somewhere on Wing. But... neek (from this site) went up there just after me. And while combing through the wreckage found a plane ID from a 1953 Navy plane crash. Pick up our conversation in progress on my trip report here He was just below the summit and took these pics, clearly showing it was the Navy plane from 1953. http://www.baaa-acro.com/1953/archives/crash-of-a-consolidated-pb4y-2-privateer-on-black-peak-10-killed/ Aircraft Wrecks of the Pacific Northwest Volume 2 has a chapter: P4Y-2 59937 Lost In Mysterious Cascade Mountain Accident Using the "Look inside" feature on Amazon, i clicked on the table of contents and then on the chapter mentioned above (pg 119). The picture of the guy holding a prop blade at the end of the chapter is right at the base of Wing with Tailgunner in view behind him. The descriptions of the witnsesses is more proof. Could Wing Luke have also crashed into the same mountain? His plane is mentioned to have hit Merchant (and Wing is close by and I chalked it up to being unnamed at the time. And the book above says the navy plane hit what locals called it Black Peak, not to be confused with same-named peak in the North Cascades). But there were reports of the helicopter that spotted Luke's crash describing it in and near a waterfall. That doesn't describe the talus to the south of "Wing". Also, the recovery of the remains of the Wing Luke crash is described as such: "two commission officials had lowered themselves 500 feet down the mountainside, using ropes, and confirmed that the wreckage was the Cessna" That doesn't seem necessary on the peak known as "Wing". Any thoughts?

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bk
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PostSun Mar 07, 2021 1:26 pm 
Sky Hiker, on page 6, mentioned the crash above Lake Dorothy. That crash is cited here: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/128078 It happened Tues. Sept. 5, 1967. The next day, The Seattle Times (or "The Seattle Daily Times", back then) had an article on page 25 of the Wed. Sept. 6, 1967 issue with a first-person account of one of the passengers. The two passengers were two men in their mid-30s doing Fire Patrol lookout . . . and flew low to Lake Dorothy to try an eyeball a plane number off of a float plane that didn't look authorized to be on the lake. Exiting, they found themselves funneled up the canyon/ravine/whatever south of Lake Dorothy on the way to Gold Lake....unable to climb high enough, fast enough....and started clipping trees with their wings. They both thought they were goners, for sure. A wing came off.....then another one.....then plop, etc. They both walked away from it. The pilot, Gunars Grauds, (born 1932, Germany, came here about age 18-ish...worked for the forest service in 1967 piloting fire lookout flights) only could make it partway back towards Lake Dorothy before having to sit it out, with eyes nearly swollen shut, etc. The passenger, Andre Lavigueure, was in better condition and was able to walk all the way back out to the forest service road and hitch a ride from a motorcyclist who brought him to the ranger office where a helicopter was summoned to rescue his resting pilot buddy. The article has a photo of Andre with his arm broken in two places, bandaged up, smiling at the camera. Pretty impressive. It looks like the pilot, Gunars Grauds, died young at age 41 or 42, without much obvious info. Andre (the passenger) passed away about 16 months ago, Nov. 2019 (at age 84). His wordy obit. mentions a lot of interesting endeavors (like Ski Patrol, love of boats, etc.). His walking away from a mountain air crash to call for help for his buddy barely even gets a passing, vague reference in the one sentence, "Andre then started working for the United States Forest Service where he had many notable experiences." That's it. It was one of his "notable experiences." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Probably the easiest way to see the full article is to "browse by issue" (Sept. 6, 1967, page 25). Use your Seattle Public Library (SPL) card (or other local lib. card w/your "Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement" rules...Google it) to access SPL's Seattle Times archives (pre-1985). - - or also - - If you subscribe to the Times online, go under My Account and choose "Newspaper Archive" (a new feature, the past year or two, for online subscribers.)

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oldwild
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PostTue Mar 09, 2021 3:43 pm 
way back when I was in boy scouts, we came across a wreckage of a small plane on the ridge above Echo lake in the Greenwater area. I think it was called Jug Camp. The wreck was tagged as being reported and there wasn't a lot of it left. It looked like they were just a little too low to clear the ridge. I seem to remember a map somewhere that showed all the wrecks in Washington. I seem to remember there being a bunch just off I90 near the pass on "airplane ridge".

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Blowdown
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PostSat Mar 13, 2021 8:40 pm 
Back in the '70s we parked at the hairpin curve on highway 20 below Liberty Bell and followed the climbers track up the valley above the hairpin to do some scrambling on the ridges above. We came across the wreckage of a small plane, looked to be a Cessna, partway up the valley. Looks like the pilot was trying to follow the highway, missed the hairpin, then got caught by rising terrain. It had been pretty much picked over when we found it. I still have the magneto switch, with "Off-L-R-Both". All in all, an interesting area to hike. Haven't thought about it for awhile, might have to go back to see whether anything's left.

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Brian R
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PostSun Mar 14, 2021 11:14 pm 
Came upon the wreckage of a plane just below the summit of Glacier Peak in spring 1983. Four dead. They hit the headwall just above the bergshrund of Scimitar Glacier the winter (?) before, the wreckage scattered on the upper glacier but some of it still hanging from the rock above. Bad weather was the cause, I think. If they had been 200 feet higher, they would have made it. I didn't return to Glacier Peak until I reached the summit again--on Sept 11th, 2001. Sheesh.

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Malachai Constant
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PostSun Mar 14, 2021 11:27 pm 
We heard that crash when we we were training for the Himalayas. We were near Chipmunk Basin. We heard a small plane overhead in the clouds then an explosion. Reported it to the FAA when we got back. It was a father flying his daughter and friends back to Seattle from Pullman. We think about it every time we see Glacier Peak RIP.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Blowdown
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PostMon Mar 15, 2021 9:40 am 
When we were gearing up to climb Glacier Peak, we asked the ranger about the wreckage. We asked whether it was okay to take parts away from it. He replied, "You're not allowed to take anything NATURAL from the wilderness. We consider the wreckage to be an illegal dump site. You're welcome to pack the whole thing out if you like." Because it's so close to the summit on the route from Boulder Basin, you can't help but walk right by it.

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Schroder
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PostMon Mar 15, 2021 11:22 am 
Brian R wrote:
Came upon the wreckage of a plane just below the summit of Glacier Peak in spring 1983. Four dead.
The crash was on June 19, 1983. Phillip Strathy was the pilot and his 3 daughters and the fiancé of one of them were also killed. The recovery was hampered by good-intentioned climbers that found some remains and threw them into crevasses, which we then had to recover.

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Brian R
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PostMon Mar 15, 2021 5:15 pm 
The scene was undisturbed when we passed by. A Chinook flew in as we descended and lowered a couple of guys down to examine the site. Not sure if they were the recovery or just assessing.

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sooperfly
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PostTue Mar 16, 2021 10:06 am 
Blowdown wrote:
Back in the '70s we parked at the hairpin curve on highway 20 below Liberty Bell and followed the climbers track up the valley above the hairpin to do some scrambling on the ridges above. We came across the wreckage of a small plane, looked to be a Cessna, partway up the valley. Looks like the pilot was trying to follow the highway, missed the hairpin, then got caught by rising terrain. It had been pretty much picked over when we found it. I still have the magneto switch, with "Off-L-R-Both". All in all, an interesting area to hike. Haven't thought about it for awhile, might have to go back to see whether anything's left.
Same here!! I was just a kid in the 70's and our neighbor took us up there to check it out. Kinda freaky to a kid looking at a plane wreck - there was still luggage there, some open, some not, clothes, shoes, etc spread out... I was told " I can pick one thing to take home" So, I decided on a tube about 10 inches long, had like an internal collar on each end with bearings. You could poke your finger in and spin the bearings. I'm guessing it was some sort of actuator arm housing that the rod had come out of. Had that thing until it burnt up in a fire years ago.

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Norm
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PostSun Oct 29, 2023 3:24 pm 
Wow nice photo! I was out searching for that engine yesterday except I had no idea what we were really looking for. Friend just said it was a 9 cyl. engine. So that would mean a much larger plane than I imagined. Seems like a Boeing 40 Y Biplane Mail Plane perhaps. IF its a Double "Wasp" 18 cyl engine than even larger plane !? Curious how you approached and were you climbing Devils Peak? We started on the 1960's era logging branch rd off of Deer Crk Rd. There was a huge excavator there and area has been logged very recently. They absolutely inundated the first 1/3 mile of this road with huge berms, stumps, logs and tons of logging debri. A person can't even hike thru it. We tried for awhile then went strait uphill until we ran into upper switchback of road. Then went up to maybe 4,000 ft before Ice & Snow stopped us. Came strait down to lower road and hiked entire man made debri obstical. It's extrodinary how much effort put into total destruction of road and any former footpath. WHY?! A tank wouldn't be able to drive it. I swore I would never go back but IF a 1929 era Boeing Biplane is up there I might try again! Can't seem to find anything about this crash site which seems odd doesn't it? Would be interested in any diff approach ideas. There were some massive trees still up there!

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