When a Plane Crash Has a ‘Happy Ending’

Photographer Dietmar Eckell has traveled across four continents to photograph mangled aircraft that share a miraculous history: No one perished in any of these crash landings. “This series is not about wrecks that are not worth recovering,” Eckell said. “It is about heroes — the pilots who turned disasters into miracles and saved many lives.” The resulting collection of images and interviews, compiled in the book “Happy End,” present the viewer with disjointed images of bruised cabins and pristine landscapes. “While most planes get scrapped in junk yards — these found a place to ‘rest in peace,’” he said. “They are worth documenting ... before nature takes them back.”

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