Beech Skipper Was Underwater Over 24 Years

A staggering drought in the Texas Panhandle is responsible for the unearthing of a plane crash mystery. Canoeists on Lake Meredith, about 35 miles north of Amarillo, discovered the wreckage last week of a Beech Skipper that crashed in 1984.

The Associated Press reports the fuselage of the two-seat trainer (type shown above) was found Friday. It's not known whether the canoeists found any remains of the 25-year-old pilot and the passenger who died in the accident.

According to the cryptic NTSB report on the crash, within the first two days after the January 27, 1984 accident a fisherman came across one of the plane's wheels floating in the lake. Search crews also found a jacket, believed to be the pilot's.... but no other remnants of the crash were found, and the search was cancelled after six days.

Lake Meredith is now at only eight percent of its 500,000 acre-feet capacity. A park service spokeswoman told the AP the area around the wreckage has been closed off, while investigators get to work determining the cause of an accident that, until recently, remained a mystery.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 3829D        Make/Model: BE77      Description: 77 Skipper
  Date: 01/27/1984     Time: 1712

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: AMARILLO   State: TX   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT WRECKAGE DISCOVERED IN RECEDING LAKE ON 5/31/08, AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN
  MISSING SINCE JANUARY 27, 1984, THE TWO PERSONS HAD BEEN FATALLY INJURED,
  LAKE MEREDITH IS 35 MILES FROM AMARILLO, TX

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: UNKNOWN

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: LUBBOCK, TX  (SW13)                   Entry date: 06/02/2008

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.nps.gov/lamr/