The Pilot Of That Famous Plane Wreck In Iceland Returns After 50 Years

U.S. Navy pilot Greg Fletcher, who flew the aircraft that became an iconic tourist attraction on Sólheimasandur beach in Iceland, is returning the now-famous wreck for the first time in 50 years. I spoke with Greg Fletcher ahead of his trip, to learn more about how that eery, Insta-worthy fuselage wound up on the beach.

A Sudden Frost

On a bitter November day in 1973, Fletcher fought for his life and the lives of those flying with him over the skies of Iceland. Severe icing struck his C-117D during a resupply mission. Within seconds, both engines quit. “We went from doing power transport to an overweight glider,” Fletcher recalls.

As other crew members onboard struggled to get the engines to restart, Fletcher worked to keep the aircraft steady and navigate a safe landing. Glaciers loomed beneath the cloud cover, and the North Atlantic lay ahead. “I realized that we were right over about a 5,000-foot glacier, and we were at 10,000 feet, coming down at about 800 feet per minute. I suggested to the aircraft commander that we turn south and ditch. Our chances were better in the North Atlantic than colliding with the glacier in the clouds.”

At 2,500 feet, the cloud finally broke. “I said, ‘XO, I think I see a shoreline.’ We were very, very lucky. We were right over a beach that had a broad expanse of sand.”

Moments later, the crippled transport slammed into the black sands of Sólheimasandur.

The Jet Pilot Who Crashed-Landed A U.S. Navy C-117D In Iceland

Fletcher had trained as a jet pilot and had little experience flying the C-117D. This cargo flight was meant to help him accrue flight hours.

“I was in training in this airplane,” he said. “This was a whole different kettle of fish for me.”

The training procedure was that the aircraft commander flew the leg out. Fletcher flew the return leg while the commander monitored the engines and the radios. The aircraft was returning from Hofn Hornafjördur Airport to Naval Air Station Keflavik, after delivering supplies for the radar station at Stokksnes. Their supply flight picked up passengers for the return. There were seven crew onboard, in all, including a Senior Petty Officer who was an aircraft engine mechanic.

The weather reports were mostly favorable. “There had been some moderate icing forecast,” Fletcher said. “I would say, 45 minutes after we departed, we encountered very severe icing.”

The aircraft’s anti-icing systems (carburetor heat and alcohol), weren’t enough. “This icing was extreme,” Fletcher said. He likened it to someone standing in front of the aircraft, shooting ice with a firehose.

The commander and the petty officer worked to restart the engines, to no avail, as Fletcher flew the aircraft and tried to find a safe landing. Ultimately, they found the beach. They landed without lowering the landing gear, due to concerns that it might catch on the sand and cause the aircraft to flip over. “I think the ground speed at touchdown couldn’t have been more than 50 miles an hour,” he said.

Fortunately, all aboard survived. They had radioed for help as they descended. Soon, Marine helicopters arrived to rescue them and guard the aircraft. Once the investigation was complete, the Navy salvaged the engines, radios, and seats, but left the fuselage behind, where it remains today. “The airframe itself was in such a remote area that it would have been very, very difficult for them to remove it,” Fletcher said.

A Legendary Wreck On The Black Sands Of Sólheimasandur

What remained was a haunting relic of aviation on an alien landscape. Over the decades, the broken frame has garnered international attention, featured in films and in Justin Bieber’s music videos. It has become one of Iceland’s most photographed landmarks. Each day, dozens of visitors trek the 3.5 kilometers from the nearest road to take pictures of the skeletal fuselage resting on black sand.

Fletcher admits he’s puzzled by the fascination. “Yeah, it’s a mystery to me why this has become such a tourist attraction, but I’m intrigued. I’m interested to go out and see it. I don’t know what my emotions are going to be until I get there.”

Setting the Record Straight On The Cause Of The Crash

For Fletcher, the return to Iceland is also about telling the true story of what happened on that icy night. “I’m eager to use this opportunity to correct the misinformation that’s out there about how the airplane got on the beach,” he says.

“If you Google it, there are all these tales, some of which were fantastic and some of which are absolutely wrong. The one that does irritate me is the notion that we ran out of gas or switched to the wrong tank. The aircraft accident report was very clear that the cause of the engine failures was ice accumulation in the carburetors.” Still, he does understand why some might get the facts wrong. The sudden atmospheric icing on the level that the aircraft experienced that night, enough to overwhelm the aircraft’s de-icing systems, was as extreme as it was sudden. But there is no accounting for the weather. “If you’re not in aviation, you don’t understand how powerful the atmosphere can be,” Fletcher said.

Born To Fly And A Fan Of The Defenders

Fletcher inherited his passion for flying from his father, a career naval aviator who served during the Second World War. He recounts his father’s heroic naval service in his book, Intrepid Aviators.

“My earliest memories, unaided by family photographs, are sitting in the cockpit of the [Grumman] F6F fighter plane at the Glenview Naval Air Station when I was about five years old,” Fletcher says. “I basically grew up in an aviation-infused environment. From the age of consciousness, I think I formed a plan—I wanted to become a pilot. So I went to the University of Colorado on a Naval ROTC scholarship, and then went directly to flight training at Pensacola and got my wings.”

Still, after completing his service, Fletcher pursued his second passion: the law. He enjoyed a 40-year-long career as an attorney in Memphis, Tennessee. “I watched a lot of The Defenders when I was a kid—it was a TV show—and Perry Mason, and I was intrigued by that,” he said. Even so, “I love flying, and I continued to fly.”

A First Meeting, 50 Years On

Fletcher will stand again on the beach at Sólheimasandur where his plane came to rest, and meet three local men who assisted with the wreck—all now in their 90s. Due to the military recovery operations, he didn’t have a chance to meet them half a century ago.

“I don’t know what my emotions are going to be until I get there,” he said. “Quite frankly, the airplane saved my life. It’s a great airplane. But I don’t know exactly what I’ll feel.”

Fletcher returns to Sólheimasandur, accompanied by his wife. With him also is Christine Negroni, author of Deadly Departure and The Crash Detectives, who is including Fletcher’s story in a new book that chronicles her 30-year career studying and reporting on aircraft crashes.

“In my last book, The Crash Detectives, I dedicate an entire section to the idea that happy landings like Fletcher’s, or the Miracle on the Hudson flight, the Southwest flight 1380 depressurization event so well handled by Captain Tammie Jo Shults, or British Airways Flight 38, teach us about success. There is a lot more at work than luck,” Negroni told me. “After a crash, the immediate focus is on the who and the why. Time passes, and public attention moves on. But the lives of those affected have been changed forever in ways that are fascinating and poignant, incredible and sometimes comical.”

While his plane wreck in Iceland has become an icon, to Fletcher, the country has plenty of appeal.

“It’s a beautiful and sophisticated country,” he says. “From that point of view, I’m simply glad to go back, and I’m eager to see how life’s changed in the last 50 years.”