The Tragic Story of a Plane Crash in the New Mexico Mountains

If you want to hike in New Mexico, one of the most popular destinations are the Sandia Mountains located near Albuquerque. However, if you do hike up the mountains, keep your eyes open not just for the wildlife in the area, but for bits & pieces of an aircraft that have remained up there for for decades. To find out why, we need to travel back to 1955.

February 19, 1955 was the day of the ill-fated TWA Flight 260 crash

Trans-World Airlines Flight 260 was a Martin 404 aircraft that took off from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Shortly after takeoff, the plane was heading towards Sandia Ridge. Due to the cloudy weather conditions, the pilot was unaware of where he was flying until it was too late...

The plane was discovered the next morning 13 miles northeast of the ABQ airport just under the crest of Sandia Mountains. Because of the steepness of the mountains, the recovery of bodies was difficult but all the victims were recovered over the course of 4 days.

All 16 people on board died. To this day, it remains one of the worst plane crashes in New Mexico's history.

Today people still find pieces of TWA Flight 260 in the Sandia Mountains

Yes people can travel up the Domingo Baca Trail & that's where people have spotted pieces of the wreckage belonging to TWA Flight 260. People have found pieces of the crash while hiking, or by taking the Sandia Peak Tramway.

Today's the resting area of TWA Flight 260 is known as TWA Canyon & the ridge that was struck is called the "Dragon's Tooth". There's also a memorial plaque that remembers the events of what happened that day & the names of all 16 people who were killed in the accident.

R.I.P. to all the 16 lives lost that fateful Saturday morning.

Get our free mobile app