As a Delta Air Lines jet was flying over Arizona on a clear day, the co-pilot was providing his passengers with a running commentary about landmarks over the PA system. “Coming up on the right, you can see the Meteor Crater, which is a major tourist attraction in northern Arizona. It was formed when a lump of nickel and iron, roughly 150 feet in diameter and weighing 300,000 tons, struck the earth at about 40,000 miles an hour, scattering white-hot debris for miles in every direction. The hole measures nearly a mile across and is 570 feet deep.”
From the cabin, a passenger was heard to exclaim, “Wow! It just missed the highway!”
That’s called the Barrenger Crater and one time two airline captains rented a Cessna 150 to fly out there to look at the crater up close. They flew down into it only to find they could not climb out. They flew circles inside it until they ran out of fuel and crash landed at the bottom. Destroyed the airplane but only minor injuries. Over the years tourists have carried the airplane out, piece at a time.
Jim Foreman