Transcription
The year is 1938. Jerry and Sylvia Valti were flying in their Stinson Reliant trying to outrun the snowstorm between Winslow, Arizona and home.
"Yeah, this is crazy. Pretty surreal."
"I don't know if we are right next to it. If we're one canyon too far, this is a proper adventure."
"Trail is vaguely here, but it's covered by a lot of stuff."
Tucked deep in this rugged terrain is the sight of their crash. And today we're hiking out to it to find what's left of one of Arizona's most haunting aviation stories. Picture this. It's a snowy January day in the mountains of northern Arizona. The year is 1938 and just outside Sedona, the clouds hang heavy over the Red Rock cliffs.
"The snow is falling hard now, and as it piles up, freezing temperatures make everything brittle. Somewhere above the canyon, an airplane is flying blind, caught in blizzard conditions it was never meant to handle. Jerry and Sylvia Valti were flying in their Stinson Reliant SR9C, racing west towards California, back to their six-month-old son, trying to outrun the snowstorm between Winslow, Arizona, and home."
"And that's the scene we're stepping into because they never made it to California."
"Just down the road from where we are right now, tucked deep in this rugged terrain is the site of their crash. And today, we're hiking out to it to find what's left of one of Arizona's most haunting aviation stories."
"Go. Let's go. Let's go. We're on our way to the trail head now. So, let's get into this story."
Gerard Jerry Valti rose from a young California engineer to become one of the most influential figures in early American aviation. He helped pioneer major innovations like a fully retractable landing gear, replaceable fuselage panels, and Valti large wing flaps that make it possible to reduce landing speeds. After graduating college in aeronautical engineering, he worked his way up to chief engineer at Lockheed, contributing to iconic aircraft like the Vega, Orion, and Cirrus, flown and adored by legends like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. Despite setbacks during the Great Depression, Jerry rebounded by developing the Valti V1 and later converted it into a military aircraft that was sold worldwide as tensions were increasing up to World War II. By 1938, his company Valti Aircraft had grown significantly to over a thousand employees. And it was during this time that he met Sylvia Parker Valti, a Hollywood debutant. The two married and flew to locations all over the world together. They just shared a love for aviation and for adventure through flying in these planes together.
"Sylvia was gorgeous. Just look at these photos. They were a beautiful couple, man. I mean, flying planes around in the early aviation period, like exciting time. Definitely living the dream, living a life of privilege. No doubt about that."
"What an enchanting time in American history. The development of all these early planes and Amelia Earhart. I mean, yeah, the whole early aviation development and like as it was really expanding is super intriguing. There's a lot of great stories. Yeah. Obviously Amelia Earhart that's a legendary mystery and really big story, but there's a lot of them from that era and they certainly captivate the mind."
The thing about finding this plane crash site is that we don't actually know the exact location. We're mostly just using context clues from old articles and searching in a general area. So planning was very important. We did all our research for finding this plane crash site in the OnX app. So, we want to take a moment to thank OnX Off-Road, who's the sponsor of today's video, and the app that made this adventure possible. All our adventures are remote, but this one is particularly exploratory because we have so little information. So, we used OnX to map out our route, check coordinates, leave pins to possible crash sites, view elevation profiles, and move around the 3D maps to see the terrain. All to prepare for this journey and make the unknown a little more predictable. OnX helped us feel more confident by downloading our maps before we left camp and by checking the guided trails on the way to the trail head. Guided trails are the color-coded trails on the map you can see here. Trails mapped by real people that tell you critical information such as distance, difficulty, and photos so you can see what you're getting into. If you want to try OnX Off-Road, you can use the link in the description or scan this QR code to sign up now. Trust us, you won't regret it.
The crash site is about a mile and a half down this road just past the gate and it's out kind of in the middle of nowhere. To the best of our knowledge, there are still remnants of the plane left. So, we should be able to see some of the pieces and then there's a memorial there as well. So, let's talk about the actual crash.
On January 29th of 1938, Jerry and Sylvia departed Winslow Airport in their Stinson Reliant SR9C and they were headed back home to California after a month-long business trip on the East Coast. They were eager to return to their six-month-old son, but between them and home stood a fast-moving winter storm. They flew west over the Red Rocks near Oak Creek Canyon just outside Sedona and unknowingly entered worsening conditions. Valti had limited experience flying in low visibility conditions, no instrument training, and reports suggest there was no radio equipment on board. So, he lacked critical information about the storm ahead.
As the snowstorm intensified, witnesses across Oak Creek Canyon began hearing the aircraft struggling through the weather. The roar of the engine echoed through the canyon as the plane flew dangerously low beneath the cloud ceiling. Several people reported seeing the aircraft briefly through breaks in the clouds, describing it as disoriented and erratic. Some heard the engine change pitch repeatedly, suggesting Valti was climbing and descending in an attempt to find a way through the storm. The owner of a local lodge said he heard a sound as a quote awful unusual screech followed by sudden silence. While others recalled the plane making multiple passes across the canyon as if the pilot was searching for an escape route. Accounts of the final moments varied. Some witnesses believe the plane's engine sputtered and died before impact, while others reported seeing what looked like flames tailing the aircraft as it descended.
"Once again, what seems to be common in this area, a lot of fire damage. So, we are out here kind of bushwhacking a bit and having to deal with a lot of down trees and trail finding. Trail is vaguely here, but it's covered by a lot of stuff. So, it's a bit of a grind, but I think we're getting close. We can see the remnants of a very old road here, but yeah, a lot of tree damage in this area. A lot of wildfires over the last couple decades."
"I have to keep checking the map to make sure that we're on this road. It is on the map, but none of it is incredibly clear. We're making it work. But we have a general pin for the crash site. Nothing really concrete. We're just going to get there and walk around and see what we can find. Yeah. No real distinct trail to follow, that's for sure."
"Well, Pablo, it's a really nice hole, buddy. This is a crazy view. It's pretty good. Wow."
We do have a photo from the crash site that somebody took. So, we're trying to kind of match up the mountains to get an idea. Definitely feels like we're close if it is still here. So, yeah, trying to sort of match up the geography here. And like that one kind of looks like that. Feel like we're in Goonies or something right now. Yeah, we're going to keep looking. I think we're getting close. This is close to the view, but it looks a little off. I think it's maybe that that way. We're out here trying. We're giving it a shot. Has to be a little farther down the ridge as long as that picture is accurate. So, we're going to head over here, a little bit farther north, and see if it's over there.
"Well, they've really hid this thing out here. Yeah, we've been walking for several hours. It's very hot."
"Yeah, it's deceivingly hot today."
"Yeah. And we're going off of pretty sparse information to begin with. The not even coordinates, but like screenshot of a map with an X on it, which sounds very piratey, like somebody drew with a crayon."
"It literally is an X on a map. I don't know if we are right next to it, if we're one canyon too far, if we didn't bring any snacks."
"If they removed it completely, cuz that's definitely possible."
"This is a proper adventure. Like an X on a map. No coordinates, just a a shot of the horizon and you have to find it. It's like a really awesome scavenger hunt."
"I know you want to come up on my lap. I know. There you go, buddy. Take a break. Thank you."
"I don't know if we're going to find this thing. This is difficult."
"Oh, there it is. That's got to be it, right?"
"I see the crosses. There it is. We found it. That was a close call."
"I truly was not sure if we were going to find this thing. Oh my god. Yeah, we way overshot it."
"Yeah, we hiked way too far, didn't we? Weird. I cannot believe we're actually here after learning so much about Jerry and Sylvia."
"Yeah, this is crazy. Pretty surreal. A lot of metal."
"Yeah, there's metal everywhere you look. There is just pieces of twisted tubing all over the place. And you can kind of recognize some of the parts over here. This is the biggest piece still left. And so you can see it goes all the way up here. Not to be confused with the sticks behind it of that tree. This is all plane."
"Hard to make out what everything is. This definitely feels kind of like the main piece of the whole plane. It continued underneath where the tree is now for quite a bit further, another 10 ft almost. And then it's just lots of little pieces of metal."
"Anything that was wood or fabric is long gone. The plane of course caught on fire when it crashed and so everything burned up in that moment. You can see all the metal pieces left. And right here is a very interesting piece. I believe this is the main landing gear of the plane and it still has the serial number on it. This was apparently the Cadillac of airplanes. It had leather seats and windows that rolled down and room for passengers in the back. It was very, very comfortable. And they were trying to start making these airplanes comfortable like they were automobiles. And so this was apparently a very, very nice plane. And there is a baby diamondback sitting underneath one of the pieces back here. It didn't even rattle at me or set up. hasn't done much of anything, but it's very, very small. Just sitting under there getting some shade, I guess."
"Certainly a sad story and feels more sad actually being here. It's cool to see, but unfortunate ending for a couple people. This is a somber experience knowing the people that died here."
When their plane failed to arrive in California, a massive search effort was launched all across this rugged terrain in the north of Sedona. Forest rangers, civilian conservation corps crew, and local hunters came out here to push through the deep snow because remember this was January. We're out here today and it's 85°, but this was the dead of winter. Just trying to navigate and search through these dense forests and what officials at the time called some of the roughest country in Arizona. By midday on January 30th, the following day, they had located the aircraft on this snowy mesa right here. The plane had slammed into the ground just a short distance from the canyon edge, leaving behind this burned and twisted mass of debris just lying here in the snow. Investigators searched through this crash site and later concluded the crash was caused by the storm and by Valti's lack of instrument training. The storm was just too thick. It was whiteout blizzard conditions. He got lost and turned around and had no idea where he was headed.
When they recovered the bodies, they saw that Jerry's watch stopped at 9:56 a.m., marking the time of the crash. He was just 38 years old and Sylvia was 27 when they died. Their deaths not only ended two lives, but marked the loss of one of aviation's most promising pioneers right at the height of his career. They also had a six-month-old son in California who now would never know his parents. In my research, I found that the two white crosses that are here at the crash site were placed by their son who came here later in his life as a memorial to his parents' lives. And I think they're a beautiful marker of the lives that these people lived. Not the way that they died and the tragedy that happened here, but the people that they were and to continue to remember them. The crosses were actually the first thing that we saw of the site. It's kind of difficult to see the plane wreckage because it's just mangled up brown tubing. It sort of looks like all the trees around it, but you can spot those two white crosses. And I think that's a beautiful thing out here in the middle of the wilderness.
"You already know we're cooking up burritos tonight because I mean it's burritos. They're the best. I'm going to caramelize the onions first."
"I got pretty much torched today by the sun. If you'll notice in most of our videos, I'm usually wearing a sun shirt like this. And today I decided to wear a tank top and it ended up being the day that we were just wandering around the forest in full sun."
"It was cooking out there, so like it got me too. Uh I'm a lot more tan than you, so I can tolerate it a little bit."
"Can you see that? Oh wow. I'm red. Look it like the pepper. That's a lot for my fair skin."
"We ended up hiking like 4 and a half miles today and we only really needed to do a few miles. We overshot the plane crash site. We hiked way past it and then basically on the way back to the truck, we decided we were going to check one last spot and that's where it was."
"Oh yeah, look at all that good stuff. These are going to be great burritos right here. It's ready."
"Drew also made some guac. So, we have the full spread tonight. Heat up those tortillas."
"Yeah, you have to heat up the tortilla. Don't insult the tortilla. Don't insult the whole country and culture of Mexico by not heating a tortilla."
"Agreed. A little bit messy, but always delicious 100% of the time."
"I don't know. I think mine's better, even though it's basically the same thing. But I do have red peppers. And bam, jalapeno achieved. Let's go."
Okay, so the final part of this story is that Valti's legacy continued to live on long after his death. The company that he started went on to be a major aircraft producer in World War II.
"And today, his name still lives on as you can go see the Valti Arch, which isn't too far from the crash site. If you ask me, that's a pretty cool memorial."
"That is a really cool memorial. Having an arch named after you in Sedona is not a bad way to be remembered."
"Yeah, it's pretty solid. Pretty solid."
"What a journey we've been on today."