California Drought May Have Solved Mystery of 50-Year-Old Plane Crash; Remains Discovered by Underwater Surveying Company

The drought experienced in the state may unveil the remains of a plane that crashed in a California lake 56 years ago.

1965 Piper Comanche 250 Crash

After testing their equipment at Folsom Lake last week, which is around 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, a local underwater surveying company discovered in their sonar an unexpected object.

Upon further inspection, workers with Seafloor Systems found out that the mystery object was an airplane. It was located in one of the lake's deepest points.

According to The Guardian, the company's CEO, Josh Tamplin shared that they could see the fuselage, the right-wing of the plane, and even its tail. In his interview with KRON-4 TV, Tamplin mentioned that the Seafloor technicians found the plane but they were not able to capture an aircraft number or had a chance to take a look inside the cabin.

While it is not clear what type of plane was found in the lake, a lot of local news outlets suspect that the aircraft is the Piper Comanche 250. Based on their initial investigation, it crashed into the water close to Folsom Dam on New Year's Day in 1965 after a midair collision.

Based on the report of CBS Sacramento, only the body of the pilot has been recovered in the area, while the plane along with its three passengers remains missing for more than 50 years.

The potential uncovering of the decades-old plane under the water in Folsom was due to the historical low water level in the lake. The lake only received a small amount of water this year from the usual flow it receives from the Sierra Nevada.

However, previous efforts in locating the missing plane had been unsuccessful. In 2014, during the state's last drought, dive teams and some individuals with a sonar boat tried to locate the missing plane and took advantage of the low water level on Folsom Lake.

Instead of easily locating the wreckage, the divers found themselves in a tough spot as the lake's low water levels made the water fuzzy, which made the previous search complicated.

But local officials hoped that it would be a different result this year. Next week, local sheriff's offices are expected to meet with Seafloor workers to discuss options for the retrieval operation that they will be conducting.

Frank Wilcox, whose brother was on board during the plane crash, looked for the plane and his brother's body until he died two years ago. For the family members of the victims of the plane crash, finding the plane may offer some closure on the tragedy.

Seafloor's Tyler Atkinson during his interview said that for him it was amazing for him that after all this time there had been a lot of research and a lot of effort put to discover what was down there.

On the other hand, across the state of California, the climate crisis has caused such severe dryness this year which prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a drought emergency in 41 of the state's 58 counties. It includes the three counties that encompass Folsom Lake - Placer, El Dorado, and Sacramento.