55 YEARS AGO TODAY

[imarai]

At approximately 19:11 PST, on December 9th, 1956. The tragic crash and loss of 62 lives aboard TCA Flight 810, on Mt. Slesse, B.C.

[200hr Wonder]

imari thanks for remembering. My grandfather was a passenger on that flight during a rainy December so many years ago. I hiked the crash site in early September this year and took the following picture. The inscription is what is written on the memorial at the lookout site.

[PanEuropean]

200 Hour Wonder:

Without meaning to be macabre, was the wreckage of the aircraft removed from the accident site (or has it corroded/disappeared during the past 55 years)? There does not appear to be any evidence of the accident in the picture that you posted.

Michael

[200hr Wonder]

Hi Micheal,

The entire wreckeage is still on the mountain. It is a protected burial ground in fact. However the plane slammed into the face of the mountain at considerable speed and all but disintegrated. There are still large chunks of the engines, Rolls Royce Merlins, as well as the propeller caren which has a prop embedded in the rock. On this past hike in September I followed the wrong trail which heads out back behind the main culee rather than the one that descends down into. I only got as far as the snow line and turned back as I was not equipped for snow hiking that day. From what I understand the hike to the wreckage from the lookout is quite easy into the culee. Pictures perhaps next year.

[imarai]

Please do not climb on the mountain.

[Cam]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Cana ... Flight_810

[200hr Wonder]

Please do not climb on the mountain.

Imarai it is acceptable and OK to hike on the mountain but be aware that yoo are for all intents and purposes in a grave yard. As such the area is protected. Out of respect for the familes of the deceased if you do hike on the mountain do not disturbe or remove the wreckage. Take only photographs and leave only footprints.

[sidestick stirrer]

With the morning sun low to the horizon, it is possible to approach the third sawtooth to the south from the peak, flying from East to West, and be able to see shiny aluminum fused right into the rock only a few feet below the top, on one pass I think I also got a brief glimpse of a shiny control cable swinging in the wind, on the south side of the sawtooth.
Has to be the right time of year; no snow at that height. Several times since, I have overflown the same spot but not been able to pick the impact sight out again.
They were so close to making it over the ridge, although the next one to the West is almost the same height and they were descending the whole time, apparently due to the engine failure that prompted the return.
I was flying up there with a Captain who had been a Trans-Canada First Officer at the time of the crash, he was one of the crews who went out searching that night and next day, without luck.

[200hr Wonder]

I would lOve to be put in touch with anyone who had anything to do with the crash. sidestick stirrer can you PM me contact info? This is a family legacy I would like to explore.