Airplane in Swamp

[Bigcypresshunter]

Camped out in nice weather the past 4 days. Found airplane out in a SW Florida swamp. Appears to have been stripped of its engine, probably for someones airboat... This plane made its last landing. Can anyone tell me anything by these numbers?

 

[DiggerBug]

Wow! That blows my strange find out of the water!
My first thought was drug runners. Maybe the alligator ate 'em. Glad he didn't get you. Be careful in that there swamp.

 

[jeff of pa]

my neighbors would dislike me more then they do now

Does it Matter ?

That's a Bonus Reason

 

[privet12]

And yes our FAA does reuse N#s. When they are deregistered then the #s are up for grabs again.

 

[cryptodave]

And yes our FAA does reuse N#s. When they are deregistered then the #s are up for grabs again.

Good to know, I had thought there was something about not using them again if crashed and not located or something or other.

 

[DJ_Quinn]

My opinion is that it is a drug plane that crashed, and they were using others FAA numbers to not attract attention.
I could be wrong, but thats my best guess.

That's what I think also. Watch out for those gators!

It could still have its cargo.....

 

[privet12]

You can apply for an N# change anytime that you want and if it is available you can have it and surender your old one. Some people want to sell their plane and keep their old N# to put on their next plane so they deregister the one that they are selling and the new buyer has to apply for a new one. The aircraft paint shops are always doing N# changes but have to be real careful to make sure you dont end up with the wrong #. And some times they put on the permentant N# that they have applied for and then if it does'nt get to them in time they have to put on a temporary N# over the top of it out of wipe off paint. Then when they get the new one approved all they have to do is wipe of the old one off and the new one is under it, saves a lot of time and money haveing to go back and redo the N#.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

We find bottles, buttons, bullets, buckles, coins, rings and whatsits but you find an entire plane in the middle of gator country

I would rather find bottles, bullets, buckles, coins, or rings. I looked in the ashtray and only found matches and cigarette butts.

you got yourself there about a 1000 worth of aircraft grade aluminium big cy

A freind and I cut a trailer size piece of aluminum off of an abandoned passenger jet one time and trailered it to the scrap yard thinking we would get rich and the man said that aircraft aluminum has too many alloys and rivets, and the environmentalists would jump all over him if he tried to melt it. He felt sorry for us and paid us $15, which I used my share to fix the broken tail lights on the trailer I borrowed. But that WAS years ago.

My opinion is that it is a drug plane that crashed, and they were using others FAA numbers to not attract attention.

There was a lot of pot smuggling in the area back in those days, (google Evergades City drug smuggling) but I cannot say.
2/3rds of the city's population were arrested.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Con...avel/2002/05/29/etflorida26.xml&site=3&page=0

 

[privet12]

Another interesting thing that most people dont know is that lots of the manufactures have a bunch of N#s reserved for their planes that they are building, like all of the Mooney 201s were all N201W or N201WA and so on but they had all of the 201s that were available. Some of your government agences also do lots of N# changeing pretty regularly, like the DEA for covert operations. We had a group of people came into Mena a few years ago and leased a big hanger there for a couple of months. They had several planes that they only flew at night and kept them in the hanger all day. Well to make a long story short, I slipped in the door one day while they wasnt looking and copied all the the N#s down before i got run out and checked them. Guess what they all came back to some company out of Langley Virginia, now does that say CIA or what lol.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Well I just emailed that website and asked what the deal is.I also asked why this guy(owner/former owner or whomever) left his freaking garbage out in the Everglades.People think they can just dispose of junk anywhere,makes me sick.

At first I thought the plane had landed there, and maybe it did, but now that I think about it, someone had a hunting camp on this site and tried to repair the plane or salvaged the engine (missing) and prop for an airboat. There are bullet holes in the side and nothing of value inside that I could see. Someone may have taken the wing for scrap aluminum. I think when the National Park Service took over to make it part of the Big Cypress Nat. Preserve on or about 1974, the owner of the hunt camp left his garbage when he was forced to leave in anger. In other words: if you want my hunt camp, you clean it up! This is what I am now thinking.

 

[privet12]

If there is a road close then you mite contact the park service and they mite even pay you to haul it off and clean the place up and what ever you got out of the plane would just be gravy. You say the wing is missing there should be two of them left and right, is one still there. I know we loose quite a few in the moutains around here and the insurance companys have to pay to clean them up depending on where they end up most of the lands in the mountains is forest service and unless it is in a park or something like that they dont make them remove it all. Most of the crashes around here are totaly destroyed. The one that you found dont look that bad, looks like the landing gear is still under it. I bet it was a big surprise when you walked up on it. I have had guys out hunting around here and walk up on one and call me to see if I knew it was there. I know where most of them are. Anyway it is still a good find, bury that thing and it would drive your detector crazy would think you had found the mother load lol.

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Big Cy,

wow, what a find, neat.

Thanks for the photos.

Your 3-4 day trips seem very interesting.

Can I come camping with you someday :P
What are the bugs like this time of year?

have a good un............................

 

[cottonjim]

Hmmm...going by the tail #N200WM, it says it's a 1972 Cessna 421B.

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N200WM.html

Looks to small to me to be a 421B, looks more like the fuselage of 177 cardinal, R,G,or B. Maybe even a 172 hard to tell from the pics. but the tail numbers don't match, thats for sure.

 

[Kas]

who found it first, you or your tector, lol.javascript:void(0);
Grin

 

[Skrimpy]

you got yourself there about a 1000 worth of aircraft grade aluminium big cy

Salvage that puppy. 1K is 1K no matter how you slice it.

 

[stoney56]

Sorry that should have been N200MW.

Comes back an A36 to a corporation called Sky King Inc. BTW used to love that show. LOL

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N200MW.html

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Where did those numbers come from? the tail?
This plane will not fit 6 people.

Your 3-4 day trips seem very interesting.

Can I come camping with you someday :P
What are the bugs like this time of year?

have a good un............................

No bugs. They seem to disappear when a cool front comes down. (50's at nite, 70's daytime high). I try to plan my non-hunting trips on cool fronts. Any temp above 80 is uncomfortable. I will send you a PM.

I would like to search the 96 Valujet Flight 592 crashsite someday. The jet crashed nose first into the muck and disappeared almost completely. I believe something will surface. I stopped by the memorial on my way home.

 

[EDDE]

i still say cut that puppy up and to the scraper 15 bucks your guy got burned
make it not look like an airplane cut chop saw-z-all it torch it pneumatic chisel the rivets off
get it done
or just make it into a pig roaster

 

[gldhntr]

there was a show like unsolved mysteries or something like that years ago that highlighted stolen boats/planes used for drug running....most all, after a short stint ended up being sunk or purposely crashed..the planes most often were crashed into the everglades as there was small chance of getting caught unloading the cargo....the story also related how locals often scoured the swamps there looking for these crashed mules to strip parts/engines from for resale.......gldhntr

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

i still say cut that puppy up and to the scraper 15 bucks your guy got burned
make it not look like an airplane cut chop saw-z-all it torch it pneumatic chisel the rivets off
get it done
or just make it into a pig roaster

A road does not go to it. Maybe at one time, but not anymore.

....the story also related how locals often scoured the swamps there looking for these crashed mules to strip parts/engines from for resale.......gldhntr

The engine, prop, seat and maybe wing has been stripped some time ago. I used to find shiny silver metallic balloons, with a long cord tied to it, all the time while hunting. The smugglers would tie these balloons to packages when they kicked them out of the plane to be easily spotted and picked up. Either that or a quick landing, unload, and take-off on makeshift runways. It was so popular that I was offered a job more than once, but said no thanks. 2/3 of the population of Everglades City was arrested in the 80's. They were doing what their parents did--bootlegging and rum-running made locally from sugar cane. Al Capone operated a Casino (called "The Icehouse") about one mile from this airplane and remnants of old stills can still be found deep in the oak hammocks. Im afraid much of this history is being lost.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Con...avel/2002/05/29/etflorida26.xml&site=3&page=0

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I bought this fulltrack swamp buggy from an alledged pot smuggler back in the late 70's. He was so bold and brazen that he painted pot leaves on the side boxes. If you look closely you can see them. This was a mean machine that could easily outrun and outmanuever the halftracks that the game commission had at that time. Of course, I refused to get involved in any illegal activity. I used it for hunting and had a lot of fun. This was the only way to access the sawgrass muck area of the Glades when the water level was low.