Wreck of the USN Douglas A-4C BU No 148570

This place is on private property. Listing for informational purposes only. Please do not visit without express permission from the land owner. Hidden in a deep impact crater on the lava flow field along historic Route 66 lies the wreckage of a 1982 plane crash.  During a routine strafing run over the gunnery range of the Twenty-nine Palms Marine Corps Base, the pilot of this unfortunate craft began to notice a loss of power. Despite attempting numerous engine restarts, the aircraft began spiral into a descent, forcing him to eject from the aircraft. The pilot wound up with a hard landing on the lava field, breaking his leg, but otherwise made it out in good shape. The same, however, can't be said of the plane. Today, the wreckage of the aircraft still sits, torn and twisted, in the impact crater left from the crash in 1982. Nothing has changed aside from a big orange "X" that marks the debris as a known crash site, so as not to scare hikers who think they've stumbled onto a fresh or undiscovered accident. To see the wreckage for yourself, take a hike on to Pisgah Crater (worth a visit in and of itself), and follow the GPS coordinates 34.740484, -116.3594 and you'll find yourself smack in the middle of the debris.