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Workers testing underwater surveying equipment say they found the wreckage of a small airplane deep underwater in California's Folsom Lake -— and they may have solved a 56-year-old aviation mystery.
Sonar images show the outline of the plane, covered in a thick layer of silt, about 160 feet below the lake's surface, Seafloor Systems environmental technician Jeff Riley told CNN.
Riley said they first realized that something might be down there when they were going through data that his colleague Tyler Atkinson had collected while testing a small, unmanned surveying boat. Seafloor Systems, based in Shingle Springs, California, is a surveying company that specializes in mapping marine areas like lakes and ponds.
It was able to detect the wreckage because water levels at Folsom Lake are low because of the extreme drought conditions plaguing much of the Western United States. The lake is located about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento.
They went back to the area with a small remote controlled mini sub, or ROV, but couldn't get a good look because visibility was only about six or seven inches, Riley said.
