A man hiking around Death Valley looking for rare plants discovered something completely different.
On a hike looking for rare limestone endemic plants in Death Valley, a botanist spotted the wreckage of a plane.
After several hours of hiking and many interesting plants, the botanist managed to scramble over to the wreck. It turned out the plane has been there for 68 years.
In January 1952 this SA-16 Albatross was flying from Idaho to San Diego supporting classified CIA Cold War operations when its left engine caught fire over Death Valley, California and the plane began losing altitude and velocity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBX7RP8OoXg
The pilot gave the order to evacuate the plane and all 6 people on board jumped out the back door! They parachuted and safely landed 14 miles north of Furnace Creek which they then hiked to.
The abandoned plane then smashed into the steep limestone hillside in the Panamint Mountians.
