Iceland is of class very best recognised for getting the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’, many thanks to its quite a few volcanoes and glaciers. There are nevertheless some other intriguing and somewhat unconventional sights, and a person of these is the aircraft wreck on Sólheimasandur, a black seaside on the south coastline of Iceland.
It’s about a 20-moment generate from Vik but first a shout-out for The Soup Enterprise in Vik where we initially stopped for some lunch right before going to the aircraft wreck.
The Soup Corporation is a great place to check out Iceland’s famous purple incredibly hot lava soup. It’s their signature beef goulash soup, is whole of flavour and arrives in a black lava bread bowl with yoghurt on the side.
But they do lots of other soups, too, such as an Icelandic lamb soup, a curried fish soup with Iceland cod and shrimps, and an Indian winter season soup (with carrots, onions, lentils, coconut product, crushed pineapple and Indian herbs and spices). If you can not determine, simply opt for the tasting menu (for just one) where you get to test 3 soups in 3 bowls.
Whichever you decide on, they are wholesome and filling, and they’ll even refill your bowl if you’d like a lot more!
Feeling suitably refreshed, we hopped again into the motor vehicle and manufactured our way west along Route 1 to see the aircraft wreck.
But 1st, I’ll give a minor qualifications to the crash. It was back in 1973 that a US Navy transport airplane ran into trouble and crash-landed on the seaside at Sólheimasandur. The plane was traveling from Hofn Hornafjördur Airport to Naval Air Station Keflavik, just after delivering materials to the radar station at Stokksnes. While described as the wreck of a Douglas DC-3, it is basically the stays of a transformed Douglas C-117.
Distinctive theories abound as to what caused the crash. The Airline Basic safety Community states theat the plane expert severe icing, resulting in the crew getting not able to manage altitude, forcing thet airplane to land. Some say, although, that the crash happened simply because of a failure by a person of the pilots when switching between fuel tanks, resulting in the aircraft functioning out of fuel and staying pressured to land. Apparently there was thick fog and visibility was so poor that there were being instances when the crew was unable to see the ideas of the wings.
There’s even confusion on the day of the crash. Lots of reports say it arrived down on 24th November 1973, but the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið reviews, on the 22nd November 1973, that it had crashed the day just before the day of publication. This date of 21st November 1973 would seem to be exact, and is backed up by the Aviation Security Network summary.
Whatever happened, and on whatever day, every single crew member survived without sizeable accidents and the stays of the plane were abandoned on the seashore. The aircraft was subsequently stripped by the US Navy of anything of benefit, but the most important fuselage nevertheless lies in which the aircraft crashed. It has earlier been applied as storage by the farmer whose land it had crashed on, as effectively as for concentrate on observe by area hunters (which accounts for the bullet holes you may see), but has considering the fact that come to be a tourist attraction in its personal right, probably aided by coverage it has acquired in tunes video clips and on Television set (see down below).
You applied to be in a position to generate all the way to the crash internet site, or even stay right away there, but each are no for a longer period achievable. While it is located on private land, you can, nevertheless, continue to check out and there is a large vehicle park just off the primary Route 1 ring road.
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Most individuals go to on foot from below, but there is the selection to just take the Plane Wreck Shuttle. While individuals waited a shorter while for this when we have been there, it before long materialised that it was not running. In the previous, there has been the possibility to use a ‘fat bike’ but we observed no proof of this at the time of our check out.
A indicator tells guests that it takes 3-4 hours to hike each ways. This doesn’t appear to be all that sensible in my feeling – on a excellent day, I imagine it can be done a single way in about 30 minutes if walking briskly or inside of an hour if going for walks at a more cozy pace. That claimed, possibly a generous time estimate is specified for excellent rationale given that the temperature can alter immediately and can adversely have an impact on visibility, so it’s very best to err on the side of caution. Do acquire care – an American vacationer died in 2017 near to the aircraft, as did two Chinese visitors in their early 20s in 2020, presumably caught out by adverse weather disorders. It is as a result a excellent idea to check out Iceland’s temperature support (vedur.is) prior to venturing out. And never forget the crisis number in Iceland which is 112.
The path to the airplane wreck is a lot more obviously described currently than it has been in the past, served by occasional reflective markers in the floor, ideally reducing the hazard of people today receiving lost. As walks go, it is not a quite enjoyable 1 – you’re in essence strolling more than a glacial outwash plain that seems like this.
Ultimately, after about two miles of this virtually article-apocalyptic landscape, the route monitor veers to the remaining and the aircraft comes into see in the distance.
When we arrived, there ended up people climbing all above it. I have browse that this is illegal but am not certain if this is real. Regardless, I would not endorse it – first of all, there are pieces of the plane that did not seem really secure next, it would not be a terrific location to slip and twist an ankle (or even worse continue to, split a leg) and thirdly, it’s just not pretty considerate to other people today viewing and seeking to acquire photographs.
Although the aircraft wreck is quite fascinating to see and glance all around, I do not imagine you are going to need to have that extensive there the moment you have noticed it. It is a intriguing scene in the center of nowhere, surrounded by mile on mile of nothingness – just black sand as significantly as the eye can see.
You can see inside of the dilapidated fuselage. Apparently the aircraft served in both equally Korean and Vietnamese wars right before becoming deployed to Iceland’s Keflavik Airport.
As opposed to a lot of of Iceland’s points of interest, the airplane wreck differtiates itself for the reason that it is totally artificial, supplying a putting contrast with its otherwise untouched organic natural environment.
This surreal scene – a grey fuselage established versus a black backdrop and normally a grey sky, appears additional like a scene from a science fiction movie that it does actuality. For this rationale also, of training course, it represents a photographer’s paradise.
For a number of yrs, the area Icelandic folks did not regard the wreckage to be a thing of international curiosity and fascination and even talked over have it eliminated simply because it was a blot on an if not untouched and pristine landscape.
Offered its enduring level of popularity currently, it seems not likely that this will at any time materialize. Nevertheless, I’m sure quite a few would concern the appeal in checking out this wreck offered the quite a few natural miracles that you could stop by in Iceland as an alternative.
Possibly it’s the otherworldly landscape that the wreck is established in as well as the mystery that surrounds the crash that provides to the intrigue. One issue for confident is that the publicity that the wreck has received via many media has unquestionably enhanced recognition of, and fascination in, the website. Potentially most famously of all, Justin Bieber’s movie for the track I’ll Demonstrate You capabilities him skateboarding on the prime of it. View from 2 mins 11 seconds.
The tunes online video for the song Gerua in the Bollywood movie Diwale sees actors Shah Rukh Khan (aka SRK) and Kajol posing on top of the airplane. Observe from 1 min 31 seconds.
And the new music video clip for the song Let Me In, from Korean girl group Loona, also options the aircraft. Check out from 53 seconds.
Mercurio by Emis Killa is nonetheless a further music online video to attribute the wreck. Watch from 1m 38 seconds.
Ultimately, the aircraft wreck also appears when Mikael encounters it in the Netflix sci-fi drama, Katla.
Planning a excursion to Iceland by yourself? You can look at a video clip from our excursion to Iceland below. You can briefly see footage of the airplane wreck among 5m 23s and 5m 29s:
Disclosure: Our journey to Iceland was also sponsored by Helly Hansen.
