Crash site on Papua New Guinea mountain side
The Army describes the harsh conditions at the site, part of one of the world 2nd largest rain forests
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A. The crash site was located in "Hidden Valley" along the Upper Watut River drainage at 8300 feet above sea level. The wreckage was scattered along the southern exposure of this high, narrow, steepsided valley, which ranged from 36' to 40' slope and represented a major work hazard throughout the project. Three wide, seasonal stream gullies run down the hillside and provide an undulating surface across the entire site area. The steep hill topography was broken only by small, flat terraces just above the Watut stream where the site camp was constructed. B. The local weather conditions were variable. Temperature ranged from 35 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 65 degrees at middav. The region was humid and damp with varying amounts of rainfall about every other day. Daily high winds made cloud cover and rain patterns very unpredictable. Their rapid movement into the valley often dictated helicopter travel to and from the site, and therefore daily/weekly work schedules. Several minor earthquake tremors added another unusual dimension to the local environmental conditions in the project area. More about Papua New Guinea |
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A. The crash site was located in "Hidden Valley" along the Upper Watut River drainage at 8300 feet above sea level. The wreckage (crash map 2) was scattered along the southern exposure of this high, narrow, steepsided valley, which ranged from 36' to 40' slope and represented a major work hazard throughout the project. Three wide, seasonal stream gullies run down the hillside and provide an undulating surface across the entire site area. The steep hill topography was broken only by small, flat terraces just above the Watut stream where the site camp vas constructed.
B. The local weather conditions were variable. Temperature ranged from 35 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 65 degrees at middav. The region was humid and damp with varying amounts of rainfall about every other day. Daily high winds made cloud cover and rain patterns very unpredictable. Their rapid movement into the valley often dictated helicopter travel to and from the site, and therefore daily/weekly work schedules. Several minor earthquake tremors added another unusual dimension to the local environmental conditions in the project area.
C. The region was covered with dense, plush temperate montane rain forest, dominated by a high canopy of straight, tall trees and a thick ground vegetation consisting of an upper blanket of lush, light-green moss (average: 10cm thick) overlying a thicker layer of soft, black humus or peat (average: 15cm thick). The humus consisted of thick, moist, decayed plant debris which represented a serious obstacle to team members when walking because of unexpected deep holes and obscured roots below ground. Dispersed throughout this understory were dense clusters of moist ferns, hazardous creeping vines and occasionally, low-lying thorn bushes.
D. The two most common trees in the area were Nothfagus spp. (montane beech) and Podocarpus sp. Most trees were mature, averaging 112cm in diameter, including many fallen logs. Though saplings (average: 56cm in diameter) were less common overall, more were observed in the project area. This was probably due to the destruction of larger trees during the crash (Photos 1, 2, and 3). Numerous sapling trees growing in and around wreckage were ample evidence of forest growth since the crash (average diameter 38cm), Deep trunk scars exhibited on a few large trees probably resulted from the plane impact or embedded crash debris.
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| Steep terrain at crash site | Aerial view of site | Excavation team members |
E. As noted, the upper layer at the site was a thick carpet of live moss over humus. Below this was a fine, light brownish yellow clay (Munsell soil color chart #10YR 6/6). This nonporous, moist, highly organic soil was usually 10 to 30cm deep. However, on the western side of the site, it was much deeper in certain areas (1.6m) and was a slightly darker yellowish brown color (10YR 5/6). Many fragments of wreckage were embedded in the upper clay, but onlv a few large pieces were recovered from deeper levels. The lowest layer at the site was a highly weathered bedrock of Granodiorite characterized bv a whitish-yellow, very, loose, porous, coarse-grained, micaceous sand. This material ran beneath the entire project area, and its thickness varied front 60cm to several meters in exposed areas.
See crash report for more details about excavations.
According to a Discovery Channel report broadcast on 12-16-98, Papua, New Guinea is the 2nd largest rain forest remaining in the world. Today it is still 70% tropical wilderness with thousands of square miles of steep mountains as high as 16,000 feet. It is home to one of the "last great undiscovered" native cultures, many of them highlanders and mountain tribes who navigate amid sheer limestone cliffs. Papua New Guinea is home to moths that are a foot wide and the world's largest butterflies. It has 38 species of Bird of Paradise, and its many eucalyptus trees are home to flying "sugar glider" squirrels, bats by the millions, and a huge population of snakes, the island's largest predator.
Among the tribal customs reported by Discover: men sleep by themselves and women sleep with pigs, their primary helpers in tilling the soil. In some tribes, men wear wigs made of human hair and bird feathers. Some tribal men wear bones pierced through their noses.
The first white men to come to Papua New Guinea were Australian prospectors looking for gold discovered on the island in 1930.
Some parts of the island experience over 400 inches of rain a year.
Copyright 2000, Peter V. Owens
Last revised, Feb. 22, 2000
