Hiking to Plane Crash Sites in the Southern Appalachians

Some people hike for exercise; others are looking for views or waterfalls. Jeff Wadley hikes for plane crashes.

That's the lead-in to an article on Blue Ridge Outdoors. The article is actually an interview with Wadley who was a volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol for 30 years, leading search and rescue missions for downed planes throughout the Southern Appalachians. He now spends his time hiking to the sites of planes that have crashed throughout aviation history.

Interestingly, there have been 54 crashes inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He says there are little pieces of airplanes all over the Southern Appalachians, in fact, you can still find pieces from the wreckage of an F-4 Phantom that crashed near the Snake Den Trail in 1984. There are about five or six aircraft that have never been located at all.

You can read the full article by clicking here.




Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.