A 56-Year Aviation Mystery May Be Solved: Plane Found In CA Lake

SACRAMENTO, CA — A plane carrying four people "fell like a rock" at 3,000 feet after it collided with another plane over California's Folsom Lake in 1965 — the aircraft was never located, the Sacramento Bee reported. But workers testing surveying equipment this month may have solved the mystery, CNN reported.

The wreckage of a small airplane was discovered in the depths of Lake Folsom, 160 feet below the lake's surface. After the plane crashed 56 years ago, only the pilot's body was recovered.

Read more from CNN: Airplane discovered at the bottom of a California lake could be from 1965 crash

Sonar images detected the outline of the plane since water levels at Folsom Lake are low due to extreme drought conditions in California, Jeff Riley, an environmental technician at Seafloor Systems, told CNN. Seafloor Systems is a California-based surveying company that maps marine areas.

A team was dispatched to the lake earlier this week to take a closer look at the wreckage with a small remote-controlled submarine. After the team mounted a sonar unit on the mini-sub, which reached the mostly intact aircraft 160 feet below the surface, the plane was "as clear as day," Riley told CNN.