On 3/8/75 the Rockwell International Aero Commander 500S N711LZ went missing while on a flight from Apple Valley, California to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was found four days later on 3/12/75 when a Civil Air Patrol search plane spotted the wreckage on mountain in the Mojave desert, California. The first responders to the site were two Air Force paramedics that parachuted onto the snow covered mountain side in hope of finding survivors. They discovered that both the pilot and passenger were killed in accident. The NTSB stated that the cause of the accident was the instrument rated pilot continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions that consisted of rain and sleet with visibility of a quarter mile or less in terrain with high obstructions.

On the hike to the Aero Commander crash site.

I've known the general location of this site for years, but thought it would be a micro site. Recently photos were posted of the site showing the large amount of wreckage that remained. Got me interested in visiting and photographing the site.

The first piece of wreckage that I came upon as I climbed up a small canyon.

A short time later I arrived at a site with large pieces of wreckage.

The wreckage turned out to be both wings. There was also one of the engines and a few other pieces in this area.

A view of the right engine nacelle. This is the bottom side of the wing.

The landing gear wheel well on the nacelle. The main gear rotates 90 degrees as it retracts, the doors only cover the strut.

Another view of the engine nacelle.

Closer view shows the broken engine mount.

Looking along the wing towards the tip.

Looking under the wing, this view is of the engine exhaust ports on the top side of the engine nacelle.

This piece with a strobe light was under the wing. Looks like it's from the fuselage.

The main landing gear mount can be seen in the nacelle. There was no sign of any of the landing gears at the site. They must have been recovered along with the tail section which was also missing.

The outboard flap.

The red X marks the wreckage as a known crash site.

Damage on the wing tip.

View of the left wing.

Another view of the left wing shows the fire damaged center section.

Wing center section and engine/landing gear mount. This is the bottom side of the wing.

Closer view of the center section.

Close up of the engine/landing gear mount.

Engine mount area.

Looking out towards the wing tip.

A large portion of the outboard wing section was torn off.

An overall view of both wings.

The cabin door.

This looks like a piece from the fuselage.

Single channel analyzer, no idea what this is used for.

The airplane's tow bar.

The right aileron.

One of the two Lycoming IO-540 engines that powered the 500S.

Damage on the remaining propeller blade.

Heads and valve covers.

View from the rear.

View of the other side.

Damage on the heads and crankcase.

The hole in the crankcase showing the part of the crankshaft, bottom of a piston and a couple of the connecting rods.

A panel from one of the engine nacelles. The lettering at the small opening reads "OIL FILLER".

Oil cooler from one of the engines.

Looking down at all the wreckage in this area as I climb up the slope towards some other pieces that I spotted up above.

One of the first pieces I came to on the slope, looks like it's from the fuselage.

Checking it out, saw that it had part of the plane's registration number on it which is N711LZ. Replaced it back the way I found it.

Farther up found a piece with latches on it. Probably from one of the engine nacelles.

This piece had a hand written "FOWARD" marked on it. Must have been placed there during assembly.

Same piece turned over. It's from the fuselage and has a hinge on it. Looks like an opening for a door.

Continuing upslope, came upon this group of pieces. The large one looks like it's from an engine firewall.

Looking down on the same group of pieces. The wings can be seen down below.

Another piece from the fuselage.