The Sólheimarsandur Airplane Wreck
Most people have seen images of this plane wreck in Iceland before. Stripped of doors, windows, and most other elements, you’ll find the airplane hull lying on a black sand beach at Sólheimarsandur. It’s a very photogenic place in Iceland, a perfect stop on your Icelandic road trip, and ideal for taking dramatic photographs of the whole family.
The airplane might be a great photo background, but it raises many other questions for some curious visitors. We have compiled all the information you might need to satisfy your curiosity before visiting!
How did the plane end up here?
Let’s start from the beginning. The airplane was owned by the United States Air Force – it’s a Douglas DC-3 C 117 Super Dakota and was designed in 1950. Not being aviation experts, there are some different model numbers popping up for this plane. We believe the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið had it right when they called the plane DC-3 C 117.
In actual fact, 4 of these planes crashed over Iceland. They all came from the Korean War and ended up on Icelandic soil. One is now a summer cabin somewhere close to Höfn in East Iceland. Another one was destroyed when it went off the landing strip in northeast Iceland. A third one is now a museum piece in Keflavík.
The fourth one lying on Sólheimarsandur was en route from Keflavik to Stokksnes in 1973, just east of Höfn. While en route, the weather turned bad so they turned around to head back to their starting point. However, by that point, the weather in Keflavík had also turned bad so landing there was impossible. Due to low fuel levels, they had to make an emergency landing on Sólheimarsandur. All crew members survived the crash landing.
How to get to the plane wreck
The plane site itself is easy to find. If you are in Reykjavík, take Road No.1 to the south (towards Vík) and drive 155 km (96 miles). That will take you roughly 2 hours. When you have just under 2 km (1.2 miles) left before you have to take a right turn onto a dirt road, you will pass this sign to the left:
It’s a straightforward drive on the famous Ring Road. After you pass Skógafoss on your left, you have about 9 km (5.6 miles) left to the turnoff to the left. If you pass a second bridge, you have gone too far.
If you are driving from the West of Iceland, from Jökulsárlón, for example, this may take a little longer. To give you some indication of distance, the drive from Jökulsárlón will take visitors around 2 hours and 40 minutes.
From the parking lot, the walk is around an hour to the site of the plane wreck. This is a simple walk and you can enjoy stunning views of Sólheimarsandur black sand beach along the way.
How close can you get to the wreck?
If you are up for a simple hike, you can still access the site of the wreck. However, due to wet conditions and careless visitors, you can no longer drive right up to the location. There is an established car parking lot to access the site now.
GPS coordinates: 63.459523,-19.364618
So there you have it. Black sand beaches are very special to visit as there are not many of them in the world. This is known as one of the most popular must-visit places while you are in Iceland. As in other places in Iceland, it’s important to stick to the roads and not venture off-road to avoid damage to private land. The GPS coordinates you see under the pictures, you can copy and paste them directly to Google Maps or Earth.
