It’s Halloween! And what better to write about than unsolved mysteries? Here are some of the plane mysteries our PHL Airport parking company finds interesting and memorable:
Amelia Earhart
The first female pioneer of American aviation, Amelia Earhart set off with her navigator, Fred Noonan, to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. As she approached Howland Island, she radioed and said that her twin-engine monoplane’s gas levels were low and then lost contact shortly after. After a wide-spread search that included the U.S. Navy, nothing was found that could solve the mystery of her disappearance.
Angola Airplane Theft
In May 2003, a Boeing 727 took off from the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola. The plane had no legal clearance, no flight plan, and because it was no longer part of an airline fleet, no airline logo. The plane disappeared and was never seen again.
Flight 19
Linked to the alleged supernatural events of the Bermuda Triangle, Flight 19 disappeared in December of 1945 and were never recovered. This flight consisted of five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers and 14 crew members that set off on a training mission from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After training began, he pilots became disoriented and went missing. A rescue plane with 13 crew members was sent out to search for the flight and also disappeared that same day.
Flying Tiger Flight 739
In 1962, the U.S. military chartered Flying Tiger Flight 739 to transport 107 soldiers and various supplies from California to Saigon, Vietnam. After the plane stopped to refuel in Guam, it went missing. No distress calls were made and after numerous military searches involving over 1,000 people, no evidence of the members, supplies, or plane was ever found.
Pan Am Flight 7
In 1957, Pan Am Flight 7 was on its way around the world when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean. All 44 people on board were killed; when they were discovered in the water a week later by a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, they mysteriously had high amounts of carbon dioxide in their systems. No distress call was made while the plane was in the air and today, no one knows for sure what happened.
BSAA Flights
In January 1948, British South American Airways Star Tiger flight was flying from Santa Maria, California to Bermuda when it mysteriously vanished. While it was in the air, control stations were unable to contact the plane and no distress call was ever made. After a five-day search, no evidence of the plane or its 31 passengers and crew members were found.
A year later in 1949, another BSAA flight, Star Ariel, was traveling from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica when it disappeared. The plane’s Captain had made contact with the control station an hour into the flight, but was never heard from again. After a search effort, no evidence was ever found.