Underwater Cessna?

[ehbuddy]

I was watching an episode of Hawaii Five-0 filmed in 1975 and went onto Google Earth to look for an area where one of the scenes were filmed. The scene was filmed on Sand Island at the entrance to Honolulu harbour.

Upon locating this spot I noticed an aircraft submerged in the harbour.

[Beefitarian]

I'm going to start my investigation by stating, "The aircraft looks like a single engine Cessna." I would like to observe also, "The aircraft in comparison to the vehicles in the picture is very large."

If you move the map to the north west you can look at planes on the tarmac of Honolulu international airport. The light twins are smaller. I will conclude the aircraft in your picture is at a higher elevation or altitude than below sea level.

It's a really cool looking picture though. It still apears to be under water. I don't know why it's so blue looking instead of bright white.

[Kilo-Kilo]

Also, the shadows of the structures indicate the sun is very low on the horizon. If the aircraft were at a much higher altitude in a descending attitude, then the top surfaces may not be in direct sunlight resulting in the bluish colour. As well, with a long, high powered zoom lens the depth of field is diminished making comparison of distance based on size difficult.

[ehbuddy]

I agree.....the Cessna is larger than the cars in the parking lot. That was something I did not compare when I initially saw it. I attached another pic. Its odd that this airplane is not casting a shadow on the water at all.

[CID]

There's a shadow of a tall structure like a tower in the shot. If you look carefully in the shadow you'll find that the white stripe painted on the road is the same colour as the airplane. It looks like the airplane was in the shadow of something. Maybe a cloud. The white paint on the airplane is reacting the same as the shadowed white paint on the road.

[Beefitarian]

I was hoping to find a shadow. My theory on that is the cessna was going as fast as it could to get to Honolulu int. The plane taking the survey pictures was higher and attempting a relatively slow ground speed. Possibly going in the opposite direction. When the photo was taken of the area where the shadow would be at the time the cessna is in the picture we're looking at. The cessna was probably a fairly large distance away and it was only by luck it was captured in the frame of the picture we're seeing for that portion of the area mapping.

I'm really enjoying the picture and the thread. I also was enjoying some nostalgia of being in Honolulu while looking at the area on google maps.
Thanks ehbuddy!

[FlyGy]

It's nice to speculate, but here's my take....The aircraft is in flight.

Here's why.

It's too big compared to vehicles on the ground, additionally, the wingspan measurment is over 50 feet. I don't know of any single engine, high wing planes with a 50 foot wingspan, but I don't know them all.

There is no shadow because the adjoining photo where the shadow should be was taken at a different time. Let me explain...

Using the length of the shadow of the pickup truck parked on the dock compared to the standard height of a pickup truck, we can determine that the sun was at roughly 35 degrees off the horizon. The seam for the adjoining photo is 1363 feet to the West of the aircraft, one can tell because the shadows are different beyond that point. This would mean that the aircraft would have to be flying at an altitude of 950 feet ASL or lower to have a visible shadow before reaching the seam and having it lost. The pattern altitude at Honolulu is 1000 feet and the aircraft is less than 3 miles from the airport, The aircraft appears to be doing a left hand turn from base to final, the right wing is longer than the left, but I admit, this could be a trick of the camera angle. Finally, one can see the shadow of the vertical stabilizer on the fuselage of the plane.

Therefore, I conclude that the aircraft is at 1000 feet ASL and that the shadow was cut off by the seam on the adjoining photo because it would be located approx 1450 feet on a bearing of 290 degrees from the aircraft.

[Beefitarian]

I went back for another look and noticed if you scroll out the cessna is near the edge of a bright rectangle that is the tourist center of the island including Waikiki Beach. The area where the shadow would be cast is in an area that matches a larger region surrounding most of the brightest rectangle part of the map. The shadows in that area are not nearly as long as the ones in the brighter area. The pictures of that area were most likely done on a different day or at least different time of day, they could be newer pictures, possibly by years.

Put 21.298491,-157.869158 into the google map search box and it will put an arrow right on the plane.

[Kilo-Kilo]

There is a filter on google earth that you can get off of the community link for aircraft caught in flight on the photos that make up "Earth". Hours of time was wasted when I found that option a few years back.

[Ghost Rider]

I'm stickin with submerged

Using the google maps measurement tool, you get a wingspan of approx 50 feet, coincidentally close to that of a Caravan

Cross checked the tool with the 747s parked at HNL .. and its spot on

The only hmmmmmm factor for me is why it wasn't salvaged

[ehbuddy]

My first thought when I saw it that it may have place in that spot intentionally as a tool for rescue divers to train on. I googled and found no info on any aircraft that may have crashed in that location and the a/c does look undamaged.

[Kilo-Kilo]

I think I see Elvis in the pilot seat..

[Apollo]

I was thinking - if the aircraft was in fact submerged, wouldn't the satellite taking the picture have the same limitations as our own two peepers? That is there will be a bit of distortion of the object in the water, when viewing it from the air? And if my memory serves me well (which some times it does not) that distortion makes things appear bigger then they actually are?

[flyalmaguin]

I don't have access to Google Earth here at work, but is that not a possible shadow of the aircraft at the top left corner of the original picture directly below the top edge, just right of the file name (caption)? Very small, but looks like a cross shaped shadow....

[Redneck_pilot86]

I think its a caravan in flight, if you go to the airport and look at the yard in front of fedex, there are several aircraft there which I would bet are caravans, and they look to me to be just slightly smaller than the one in question, which makes sense.

[kevenv]

Check out maps.bing.com

Although the water is rippled there is no hint of the a/c.

[Sasquash]

Ok, the judges have made their decisions:

1. Best scientific and/or technical explanation: Flygy (I should check and see if we could get a guest appearance on Hawaii 50 as a CSI)
2. Funniest one: it was a tie, but I go with Kilo-Kilo. I always like a good Elvis reference.

Overall very good research work by all!!

[sanjet]

What's this?!!? A professionally discussed topic using facts and science on avcanada? Maybe 2012 may not be the end!!

[pile_it]

Wow...I cannot believe how much of a sh*t about this I do not give!

[FlyGy]

What's this?!!? A professionally discussed topic using facts and science on avcanada? Maybe 2012 may not be the end!!

Or maybe it is, and this is a harbinger?

Wow...I cannot believe how much of a sh*t about this I do not give!

Aaaaaaand here we go.

[Jack In The Box]

Caught the plane in the air! Neat pic!

[Guido]

More than likely this is a case of two images being "stitched" on top of one another - I think this is particularly likely given that it's at the edge of another image just to the southwest. Also the aircraft is on a direct line with the runway at the airport to the west... probably not a coincidence

[Stan_Cooper]

Google Earth has a feature where you can pick the date of the images as well, if you click the little clock with the year beside it you can scroll through various images. The airplane only appears on 9/27/2008. It's not there on the previous image 7/30/2006, or the subsequent one 12/30/2008.