State Cessna 180 Was Abandoned After 1966 Accident

The mystery surrounding airplane wreckage discovered earlier this month by a hunter in a Louisiana swamp could be close to resolution.

The Acadiana Advocate reports several callers to the St. Martin Sheriff's Office maintain the derelict Cessna 180 was abandoned by an oil company in the mid-1960s, following an accident in the Atchafalaya River.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Maj. Ginny Higgins said the wreckage is likely from a plane (similar to type shown above) that crashed in the swamp in either 1966 or 1967. Callers also reported the two pilots onboard survived the accident... and the oil company chose to leave the plane where it lay.

"I guess it was handled at the time in a certain way," Higgins said.

Those accounts match an NTSB record of a plane crash from July 14, 1966. According to the report, a Cessna 180 floatplane hit a low hanging tree branch while attempting takeoff from an area canal. The Probable Cause report lists the plane's operator as "Longhorn Air."

The report differs slightly from accounts given by callers to the sheriff's office. They maintain the plane crashed during an emergency landing attempt, not on takeoff.

Local authorities have no record of the crash.

FMI: Read The NTSB Probable Cause Report