Armed with the SR-71A (61-7970/Article 2021) accident report, Pete Merlin and Tom Kinzel searched for the crash site on 27 March 1999. They drove east from El Paso and entered an area where numerous roads and trails crisscrossed the desert scrub. It was easy to get lost in there, or stuck in the sand. Tom nicknamed it "The King's Maze."

Only sparse information about the crash site was available from books and newspaper articles. Due to an administrative error it took over two years to get the accident report from the Air Force, but it was worth it.

Using photos from the accident report, Pete and Tom worked their way through the "King's Maze" and gradually closed in on the crash site. Suddenly a metal object reflected a glint of sunlight. Pete got out of the Jeep and picked up a piece of titanium. He saw that the surrounding desert was covered with debris. It took only a few minutes to identify the site of the impact crater. The crater itself had been smoothed over, but the location was obvious. The bare depression was clearly the epicenter of the debris field.

Pete and Tom found numerous interesting pieces including aircraft structural components and skin, a few cockpit items, pieces of the inlet spike assemblies. There were numerous engine components including a turbine wheel with the blades sheared off. One structural piece from the right wing was marked with the Lockheed article number 2021.