Thanks for this update Grizzlie. I am very pleased to hear that the Venom and Owen Watkinson's grave are now protected. Last time I was there (in 2008, see my post 15, above) I was sad to see people jumping on the wings, and that the new road to the Saiq plateau had enabled anyone to get up there easily, and had opened up building sites for housing. It is amazing to read that there will soon be a new hotel. There was just one modest one when I was last there. I presume that the site of the crash is still army ground (a firing range), across which I was able to trace the wreckage trail with bits of aluminium and perspex still visible. What used to be a secluded, almost inaccessible and rather barren (but beautiful) place is now becoming a suburb (not quite, I admit) of Muscat.
Your say that your guide thought it was a helicopter: interestingly on my first visit to the plateau in 2003 I stayed at the then only hotel, where the only information I could get as to the crash site was there there was a wrecked helicopter just up the road: in fact there WAS a wrecked Huey on the army base not far from the Venom. For my account, and some pictures see:
https://sites.google.com/site/lgarey/jebel-akhdar