2014 August 09 - Fourth Expedition

Convair 600 MSN 56 N94230 Photos from our fourth expedition to the crash site in the Ouachita Mountains in SW Arkansas. The airplane collided with the mountain while flying around thunderstorms. The flight originated in Memphis, with several intermediate stops before finally arriving in Dallas. The flight was on the El Dorado to Texarkana leg when the accident occurred. This crash is well-remembered for the last words of Fred Tumlinson, the co-pilot. Just before the collision, he remarked that "The minimum enroute altitude here is forty-four hund...."

The crash site is rather compact. This looks downslope from near the fuselage crown. The empennage is in the background to the right, and the #2 nacelle is to the left.
Section of crew seat.
Closeup of the arm rest. I don't know which of the two seats this is from.
A step from the boarding stairs.
Portion of cowling.
Right nacelle/wing section, empennage, and left nacelle/wing section. The blue item in the lower right is interior flooring.
The overgrowth made some parts in the debris field hard to find.
Empennage in the background, with the remains of the #1 (left) engine nacelle and left-hand main landing gear strut in the foreground.
#2 engine nacelle.
Droplets of aluminum melted by the fire had dripped onto the structure and the right main gear strut. The chrome on the strut still looked good.
The axle broke away from the bottom of the right-hand main landing gear strut during the crash.
Hydraulic motor (flaps?) with a TTA serial number stamped into it.
Other side of the motor assembly.
#2 nacelle from the outboard rear quarter.
The #2 engine was destroyed in the impact.
This is where the aft ends of the burner cans were once attached.
A few burner cans could be found nearby.
Flap track.
Looking at the bottom of the empennage at the damage caused when the tail separated from the rest of the fuselage.
Damage to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer.
A portion of the aft fuselage and service door (right side of aircraft).
The top of the vertical stabilizer now points down hill. I don't know what happened to the stabilizer cap. It might be in the debris field.

Edit: Photos I've seen from the site right after the crash show the stabilizer cap (with an anti-collision light) in place. It was likely taken from the site.
One of the elevators.
Company ID tag on the end of one of the elevators.
The part number and some inspection stamps were still evident on this piece of structure.
At first, I thought this might be a portion of a fuel cell and access door.
Then I noticed the water injection line.
This has come a long way....
The #1 engine was damaged, but didn't look too bad overall.
I took this shot just before it started raining, and the clouds made it dark enough that I had to use a fill flash.
Scarring along the face of one of the blades from the #1 prop assembly.
Impact damage is still evident on the remaining blades of the #1 propeller assembly. In my four trips to the crash site, I've not found any evidence of where the missing blades might have ended up. I'm sure the pieces were slung quite a distance at impact.