Everglades Flight 401 Disaster.

[Bigcypresshunter]

The 35th anniversary of the Eastern Airlines Everglades passenger jet crash was recently in the news. I am thinking about detecting this disaster site in the shallow waters of this sawgrass swamp. We often metal detect disaster sites but is this one too recent? I would like to hear members comments for and against. http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/flight401/

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

WHY? Do you remember the guards standing by so the divers weren't eaten by all the gators?

I added an option in the voting.

Now that you mention gators, here is Wally, a "pet" Im holding that lived in my friends old swimming pool. We fed him/her dried dogfood. Became too large and was donated to zoo, were he spends his days sunning in the grass.

 

[finders.keepers]

I would go for it. You might be lucky enough to find items that can be returned to surviving family members and pick up a few pieces for yourself.
I see nothing different to searching a battlefield. People died at both sites..
Good luck

 

[david33884]

I think it's the same as indian mounds. If there are bodies there it should be left alone whether it is legal or not. I once dove on a German U-Boat theat was sunk off of North Carolina in 130 of water. It was hours to get out there and you could only stay on the bottom for 10 to 15 minutes so there wasn't likely to be much of a digging problem. They wanted to make it illegal to dive on that sight and make it a memorial like the Arizona in Pearl Harbor. I don't believe that ever happen. I don't remeber how many crewman were under the sand, but there were bodies there. I don't think it matters what date.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I think it's the same as indian mounds. If there are bodies there it should be left alone whether it is legal or not. I once dove on a German U-Boat theat was sunk off of North Carolina in 130 of water. It was hours to get out there and you could only stay on the bottom for 10 to 15 minutes so there wasn't likely to be much of a digging problem. They wanted to make it illegal to dive on that sight and make it a memorial like the Arizona in Pearl Harbor. I don't believe that ever happen. I don't remeber how many crewman were under the sand, but there were bodies there. I don't think it matters what date.

As far as I know, all bodies have been recovered. Because the location is remote, and access so difficult, I dont think it was necessary to give the location any protection.
Thanks for your input.

 

[finderzzs]

I agree with you BigC, it's no different than hunting a CW battle site. The only difference is time. I think all the bodies were recovered, I can't find anything stating otherwise. I would go with you but I will be leaving the country for an extended period of time in a couple weeks. I won't even have computer access for a good while. Here is a little reading that might interest you, you may have already read it but just in case you haven't here you go-http://eastern401.googlepages.com/home I like the ghost stories part in the epilogue.

WHENS THE LAST TIME A GATOR ATE YOU ON A CIVIL WAR SITE?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

WHENS THE LAST TIME A GATOR ATE YOU ON A CIVIL WAR SITE?

We dont have any Civil War sites here in South Florida, unfortunately, very few in the entire state. We have to use our imagination in order to find good MD areas outside of the beach and ocean.

 

[G.I.B.]

Hunt it.

Personally, I would not. It's because of the excessive amount of trash and the zillion small metal parts everywhere. I can imagine that the ratio of something worthwhile vs another thousand pop rivets, would be back breaking. I can envision every sweep of the coil producing multiple hits.

I was recently at an archelogical dig. They unearth the remains under the auspices of educational archeology, for profit. Which, is basically the same thing your talking about. The sites are separated by nothing more than time on a clock. The theory is the same.

The funny thought I had was, 'I wonder if they would have went to so much trouble to bury them if they knew we would go to so much trouble to dig-um-up?'

 

[xXx]

For God's sake, just do it!
xXx

 

[diggummup]

I agree with you BigC, it's no different than hunting a CW battle site. The only difference is time. I think all the bodies were recovered, I can't find anything stating otherwise. I would go with you but I will be leaving the country for an extended period of time in a couple weeks. I won't even have computer access for a good while. Here is a little reading that might interest you, you may have already read it but just in case you haven't here you go-http://eastern401.googlepages.com/home I like the ghost stories part in the epilogue.

WHENS THE LAST TIME A GATOR ATE YOU ON A CIVIL WAR SITE?

What's your point exactly? Or do you actually have one? And quit screaming would ya?

WHENS THE LAST TIME A GATOR ATE YOU ON A CIVIL WAR SITE?

We dont have any Civil War sites here in South Florida, unfortunately, very few in the entire state. We have to use our imagination in order to find good MD areas outside of the beach and ocean.

Yes, unfortunately we live in a part of the state where with the exception of a few buildings in downtown areas nothing is older than 50-60 years old. You have to think "out of the box" in order to find the "older" sites down here.

 

[jeff of pa]

And quit screaming would ya?

Ear Plugs

 

[Jason in TN]

I say go for it. Most great treasures that are found or were lost because of a tragedy. Other wise they would not have been lost.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I went to my warehouse today and pulled out my old 1978 Honda ATC90. Put some air in the tires, need to rebuild the carb, put on the front fork extensions for added height, maybe a new larger front tire, orange flag, buy off-road permit and I will try to go. I have used this three wheeler all throughout the East Everglades but I dont know about the crashsite area. The sawgrass may be too tall. Im gonna find out.