by Experts who searched for aircraft wrecks in Michigans Lake Superior found tribes and stones on the underside, but no debris of an aircraft that collapsed almost 60 years ago and promoted three people with a scientific mission.
A team from the Michigan Technological University returned the boat last week to achieve 16 destinations that appeared on Sonar last autumn, more than 61 meters below the surface of the huge lake. The crew used Side-Scan-Sonar and other remote technology.
“We have not found a sign of the missing aircraft,” said Travis White, research engineer at the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Tech. “However, we have confirmed our technical approach because we found physical objects at every destination.”
The beech aircraft with pilot Robert Carew, co-pilot Gordon Jones and doctoral student Velayudh Krishna Menon let Madison, Wisconsin, on October 23, 1968 for the superior lake superior.
Seat cushions and stray metal pieces have washed on land over the years along the Keweenaw Peninsula. But the ruins and the remains of the men were never found.
“We will probably not find a completely intact aircraft,” said Wayne Lusardi, State Maritime Archaeologist.
Last September, an autonomous ship was launched on the market in which Sonar readings and other data were recorded. After examining these results in winter, White, Lusardi and others return to Lake Superior.
“Unfortunately, the goals proved to be largely natural: large, sunken trees, tree trunks, stones,” said White via e -mail.
Metal cans on the lake floor, which are believed to be 75 years old, give “hope that the aircraft wreck is reasonably well preserved and not buried,” he said.
White said the next challenge would be to continue the work.
“We can try a crowdfunding model to see whether we can collect some funds for future mapping activities that could help us locate the plane or other historical wrecks,” he said.
The first search last autumn was organized by the Smart Ships Coalition, a group of more than 60 universities, government agencies, companies and international organizations that are interested in autonomous maritime technologies.
