I tried googling this, and couldn’t find any good answer. Do the laws of Salvage Rights apply to an aircraft that crashes on dry land? Or do Salvage Rights only really apply in maratime situations?
Good question… I know nothing and my opinion is worth all of the entry fee, but I’d guess you can only salvage something that’s both been abandoned, and is on public land…
For some reason thinking of salvage rights always reminds me of Clarke’s 2010, when Heywood Floyd is worried the Chinese will beat them to the Discovery in Jovian orbit, and claim salvage rights. If I recall, the counter-claim was that Discovery was just parked, and that boarding would therefore be piracy.
If you are referring to Columbia parts crashing in your property, I think the FBI made it pretty clear that keeping it would be illegal. It is government property and the government doesn’t abandon it’s property, especially property such as this. You might be able to sue if it damaged your property though. I wonder how many people’s cars and houses got hit.
Now about the Challenger. Where did the Challenger debris end up? Most of it was out to sea, I assume, where salvage rights are more questionable. I was young when that happened. Can anybody remember about discussions related to legal claims to Challenger wreckage?