Mystery Plane

[yank51]

A mystery going on in North Carolina's Lake Norman. I drive by this whenever I head up north. I'm curious to see whatever they find out about this one. Probably involved with drugs would be my guess....

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2013/09/21/dnt-nc-plane-found-in-lake.wsoc-charlotte-fire-department.html

[srgalahad]

Short, bulbous forward fuselage, straight wings and horizontal stab., slim rear fuselage .... a Seabee isn't a good candidate for a drug runner (drug-crawler, maybe)

it wouldn't be the first one...
http://www.shipwreckworld.com/articles/lost-aircraft-found-after-50-years
http://www.seabee.info/seabee_stories_morin.htm
http://www.lcmm.org/shipwrecks_history/shipwrecks/airplane_seabee.htm
http://www.nwrain.net/~newtsuit/recoveries/lkwash/cb/cb.htm

[IFlySWA]

Yep. Looks like a Seabee to me too. It would also explain why nobody knows of an aircraft crash at the lake. Probably sank quietly...never making the news.

Brian

[Skyhawk_310R]

Agree with the likelihood it is a Seabee amphibian aircraft. However, I think it is likely a case of drug runners using the plane to delivery a drug payload to people awaiting in boats on Lake Norman. Then, the aircraft would have been deliberately sunk since it could have been too low on fuel to fly back to where it came from. The risk of notice had it landed to refuel at a nearby airport outweighed the loss of the aircraft.

The reason I say this is because a legitimately owned aircraft would have been recovered or at least reported. Worst case if the pilot died in the crash and lies at the bottom, odds are that a relative would have signaled the alarm. Dirty truth is that a number of these aircraft used in drug transport are stolen and used once, then abandoned or deliberately destroyed. When you can make millions off just one successful delivery, the value of an aircraft worth something in the $50,000 to $250,000 range isn't a big deal, especially as repeated use exposes the drug coyotes to surveillance and capture.

Delivering the payload in the middle of Lake Norman, especially at night, would be a good way of escaping notice, with the added advantage of dumping the drug payload to the bottom of the lake should an unlikely encounter with law enforcement result on the lake. Then, boats laden down could go to any remote shoreline and transport to waiting vehicles. It would be very difficult for law enforcement to anticipate the delivery and even harder to intercept.

Ken

[aeromed202]

True enough about drug runners and aircraft, subs too. They use them like we use envelopes.

[ViperPilot2]

I'm just wondering if this isn't an old wreck, and the sonar just picked it up in the same general area as the report sighting. I understand drug running and all, but like srgalahad said, a Seabee isn't the best airplane for that mission, both from a performance and the 'attracting attention' aspect.

I mean an old, old crash... perhaps from the 50's or 60's, when the Seabee was actually a fairly popular airplane for taxi services and charters. It might have been so far back in the collective memory that the current 'locals' might not have heard about it?

93535

[Brian_Gladden]

Few years back, a Seabee was found on the bottom of lake Champlain in Vermont. No one knew how it got there. Ran the tail number and the plane was de registered in the late 50's. Apparently they were able to contact the family of the registered owner. Plane made a normal water landing... With the gear down :icon_eek: oops. Plane flipped and sank. Pilot got out and just left it there. The Old CAA isn't like the FAA of today.