Authorities Hopeful Wreckage From Accident That Resulted In Four Fatalities Will Finally Be Found

Drought conditions in central California may lead to the recovery of wreckage from an airplane that went down in a lake northeast of Sacramento nearly 50 years ago.

On New Year's Day in 1965, a Piper Comanche carrying four people took off from Phoenix Field in Fair Oaks, CA for a sightseeing tour over Folsom Lake. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with a Beech Debonair, which was also on a sightseeing flight, and fell into the water. The Comanche was never recovered, and the remains of only one of the people on board was found following the accident. The Debonair managed to land safely back at the airport. The NTSB said the pilots did not see one another as they flew over the lake and collided.

Television station KTXL reports that now, drought conditions in the state have dropped the water levels in the lake to historic lows, and the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department hopes it can finally locate the wreckage using advanced sonar technology.

The search was being led by a husband and wife team from Idaho that specializes in underwater recovery, according to television station KXTV. They said the lake is relative clear, but obstructions on the bottom such as still-standing 50-60 foot trees make operating the side-scanning sonar difficult.

While the low water levels may make it possible to find the plane, they also made it very difficult to launch the boat that would carry out the search last week. They eventually got the boat in the water, and divers were prepared to go take a look at anything that resembled airplane wreckage. But very safety issues such as the trees still on the bottom of the lake are making the search slow going, sheriff's department officials said.

The effort continued through the weekend.

(Piper Comanche pictured in file photo. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.edcgov.us/Sheriff