Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 21 November 1973 |
Summary | Icing conditions |
Site | Near Sólheimasandur 63°27′32.70″N 19°21′53.37″W / 63.4590833°N 19.3648250°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas C-117D |
Operator | United States Navy |
Registration | 17171 |
Flight origin | Hornafjörður Airport (HFN/BIHN), Iceland |
Destination | Naval Air Station Keflavik |
Crew | 7 |
Fatalities | 0 |
Injuries | 0 |
Survivors | 7 |
The 1973 US Navy C-117D Sólheimasandur Crash, commonly known as the Sólheimasandur Crash, is a crashed US Navy Douglas C-117D located in Sólheimasandur on the southern coast of Iceland. The remains of the aircraft - which crashed in 1973 - have remained relatively intact, leading to the crash site becoming a tourist destination.
The aircraft involved in the accident was flying from Hofn Hornafjördur Airport to Naval Air Station Keflavik, after delivering supplies for the radar station at Stokksnes. En-route the aircraft encountered severe icing and the crew were forced to land on a frozen river at Sólheimasandur. All 7 crew members survived and were rescued by helicopter, but the aircraft was written off ('surveyed' in USN parlance). The unsalvaged remains of the aircraft were left at the scene. [1]
The aircraft serial number 17171, was designated C-117D and was based on the Super DC-3, first flown in 1944. [1] Note that this R4D-8 was built as an R4D-5 (msn 12554) and converted to R4D-8 (msn 43309) in November 1951. All R4D-8 aircraft still extant were re-designated as C-117D in the tri-service designation system introduced from 18 September 1962.
As of 2024, the fuselage of the aircraft remains relatively intact, leading to the site becoming a popular tourist destination. [2] [3] [4] The wreck has accumulated superficial damage from graffiti, gunfire, and tourists over the years. [5] [6] Tours to the site are available [4] and the trek back-and-forth takes about two to three hours.
In January 2020, two Chinese tourists died of hypothermia near the wreckage after getting caught in a storm that went over the area. [3] [7] A month later, SAR units had to rescue several tourists that had ignored a warning from the police to not trek to the wreckage due to deteriorating weather in the area. [8]