Help identifying an unidentified aircraft wreck on Galiano Island, BC.

[AerialTorpedoDude69]

Hello everyone, I found an "unidentified" crash site on Galiano Island, BC while hiking. Other hikers have found the aircraft before me and reported the wreck is unknown. It's also unknown what aircraft the wreckage is of or who died in the crash (and someone definitely died).

The wreck appears to be to be the remains of an aircraft similar to some kind of Piper or a Cessna 172 but I can't tell for certain. I have other photos in case anyone would like additional details.

All I can make out is that the single visible wheel fork (the wheel of which melted off in a fire) appears to be the type mounted in the nose. But everything else is a horrible mess. I wanted to see if there were any records available on missing aircraft from BC. The plane itself appears to have been made in the 60s or 70s so my guess is it went missing around that time as well.

 

[Snautzer01]

Hello everyone, I found an "unidentified" crash site on Galiano Island, BC while hiking. Other hikers have found the aircraft before me and you can see the picture of the crash site here. But everyone has reported that it's unknown what aircraft the wreckage is of or who died in the crash (and someone definitely died).

The wreck appears to be to be the remains of an aircraft similar to some kind of Piper or a Cessna 172 but I can't tell for certain. I have other photos in case anyone would like additional details.

All I can make out is that the single visible wheel fork (the wheel of which melted off in a fire) appears to be the type mounted in the nose. But everything else is a horrible mess. I wanted to see if there were any records available on missing aircraft from BC. The plane itself appears to have been made in the 60s or 70s so my guess is it went missing around that time as well.

I prefer a picture uploaded here instead of site that attacks.

 

[AerialTorpedoDude69]

Snautzer01 it sounds like malicious ads. Sorry for linking to it. Do you have an adblocker?

 

[fubar57]

Not a lot of info here.... A light aircraft with one person aboard crashed on... - UPI Archives

 

[AerialTorpedoDude69]

fubar57 thanks so much for looking this up. Google has been completely useless for me and I don't have archive access at Lexis Nexis anymore.

Thanks to you, I was able to look up the original article which was published in the Vancouver Sun. The aircraft was a Piper Cherokee model (probably a single engine) and the pilot's name wasn't released at the time of the article's publication. However, we do know he or she flew for charter airline based out of Sydney. I looked the weather up for that day and it was cloudy and raining, like always. My guess is that the pilot flew into the side of the mountain in bad visual conditions.

In case anyone else is searching online for this, this is in regards to the Galiano Island trail, airplane crash/wreckage. RIP to the pilot, although that is 44 years too late. Hopefully someone turns that wreckage into a memorial because it just seems in poor taste to have someone's death place casually tossed to the side of a trail.

 

[AL90]

Pilot was Richard Danielson aged 22 from Nanaimo and the Cherokee belonged to Flight Centre Victoria. Now only need the registration to find the report.
Link to the article here:

https://www.saltspringarchives.com/driftwood/1980/v21n46Nov19-1980p1.pdf