Salvaging

This is an airplane we salvaged from the bottom of Lake Michigan. It shows how dangerous it can be to get cut and snagged by a wreck. There are several threads on the forum by people trying to figure out how to dive and salvage something. Maybe this can give them an idea.

 

Wow, Gonzo, that thing really got shredded! You never know what other kind of junk may be there from before to cause harm besides the wreckage itself.

 

True,
often silt stirs up & vis drops to your mask & you get a brown out.... imagine finding some broken plate glass or similar. Clear water to 60' is my limit & never go inside anything.

Jeff.

 

What happened to those on board ? Nothing good by the look of that.

 

Unfortunately they died. The pilot and co-pilot were still strapped to parts of the seats.

 

The nose wheel support arm looks like this once was a Piper Arrow, sure looks like a very bad crash, but there must be some more left of her ?

How come the salvaged parts in the picture are all hanging on to each other in this manner ?

 

Google ‘‘ Lake Michigan Piper Arrow ’’ gave me the below Kathryn's report with four links, is that the one in the opening post ?

Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow II, N1549X: Accident occurred July 27, 2013 in Lake Michigan, Wisconsin​

 

That's the one. The pieces are hanging together by the control wires, electrical harness and upholstery. We also collected several bags of miscellaneous pieces. The plane hit the bottom of the lake. It was going straight down.

 

Thanks for the info Gonzo