FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Authorities have recovered the wreckage of a small aircraft that crashed in the Grand Canyon in 2011 and are awaiting identification of bones found in the cockpit and near the plane.
A group of river rafters discovered the wreckage this month on a hike from a seldom-used campsite off the Colorado River.
“It was so smashed, so compressed that it was really hard to find an actual skeleton, but then we did notice vertebrae in the cockpit,” said John Weisheit, who was part of the group.
Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Emily Davis said the size and color of the aircraft match the cherry red RV-6 homebuilt plane that was piloted by Joseph Radford.
The National Transportation Safety Board
listed the cause of Radford’s crash as undetermined in a 2011 report that indicated he probably crashed intentionally.
“It was obvious he wasn’t trying to do a safe landing,” Weisheit said. “Whatever it was, it either was deliberate or he ran out of gas and lost control.”
