WreckageThere are many stories about how "The Plane" ended up where it is. But recently I got an eyewitness account from a local guy who has been working in South Caicos aviation for over 50 years. Most of the stories say the plane was full of drugs being run from Cuba or Columbia. Some of them say it was shot down and others say it ran out of fuel trying evade the authorities. But Mr Bassett from the airport told me that it was actually a cargo plane from Miami that was carrying hurricane relief supplies to a destination East of here. The plane was heavily overloaded and had engine trouble. The first engine failed, which required the pilots to overtax the second engine to keep the plane in the air. The second engine failed as they were coming in for an emergency landing at South Caicos. It crashed just short of the runway and was eventually towed out of the shallows and dumped at the site where it currently sits. It's a somewhat more believable story.
Drawing her map.
Close-up
More Wreckage
Posts
You are correct about the plane. It was actually moved by the owners of the hotel that is now the School for Field Studies. It was originally put down so that it was on the edge of the wall. A strong storm broke it up and moved it to its current locations. The nose of the plane (a dive site commonly called the nose cone) is just west of where you dived.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, we call that "The Warhead" or sometimes "The Bell." Are you sure it is the nose? The shape doesn't seem right, and it has a large eyelet at the top, as if it hung from something. Your guess is probably best because it is certainly neither a bell nor a warhead.
ReplyDeleteAre you from TCI? How do you know these sites?