Aircraft disappearances. The most mysterious disappearance of an aircraft in the history of aviation. Incident in Vietnam

Have you ever heard of mysterious cases during which passengers of aircraft and ships went missing? At best, people were found after a few days, and at worst, news of their fate never appeared again. No remains, no debris...
Sometimes long-awaited vacation seems like a real fairy tale, from which you don’t want to return home and work, but be careful in your desires, because sometimes they turn into real disasters. Here is a list of the 10 most mysterious cases of mass disappearance of people.

10. Airplane Amelia Earhart (Amelia Earhart)

Our first point focuses on one of the most high-profile disappearance cases in American aviation history. In 1937, the brave Amelia Earhart set out to do something unimaginable - to circle the globe in her Lockheed Electra aircraft, starting from sunny Florida, and planning to follow the equator. In such a long and dangerous journey the girl went with a partner - Fred Noonan (Fred Noonan). The ship disappeared, flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. All searches for the aircraft were unsuccessful, which gave rise to many different theories about what exactly happened to the brave couple of pilots.
In 2017, a version appeared that Amelia and Fred actually survived, but were captured by the Japanese military in the area Marshall Islands. This assumption came about thanks to old photo taken in 1937. The photograph showed a barge towing an unidentified aircraft. The frame also included a man of European appearance, reminiscent of Fred, and someone's female figure from the back. This version has not been confirmed in any way, but the most surprising thing is that even after almost 80 years, people are still trying to find an answer to the question of the fate of the travelers who disappeared so long ago and absolutely without a trace.

9. Ship "Madagascar"

8. Stardust plane

7. Steam yacht "SY Aurora"

6. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

5. Submarine "USS Capelin"

4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

3. The ship "SS Arctic"

2. Malaysian Airlines Flight 370

1. Steamboat "SS Waratah"

The recent story of a Boeing flying from Malaysia has shaken everyone's imagination. How could an airplane, an iron bulk with 227 passengers on board, disappear without a trace? Until recently, the search teams could not find any traces of the crash, no bodies, no black boxes - the fate of the aircraft was a real mystery. Recently it was found that the missing Boeing 777 crashed in the south indian ocean. However, planes disappeared even before him - he is not the first and certainly not the last.

1 Boeing 727 stolen from airport in Luanda, Angola

On May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727-223 was stolen from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport. It belonged to the American airline Aerospace Sales & Leasing and was leased from Angolan Airlines at the time of its disappearance. The plane was out of order, and two people had to work on fixing it - Ben Charles Padilla, a certified flight engineer and aircraft mechanic with a private pilot's license, and his assistant John Mikel Mutantu. None of them could steal the plane: the assistant could not lift it into the sky, and the law-abiding Padilla had only a private pilot's license. After they boarded the plane, it began to move randomly along runway. The crew of the ship did not contact the controllers and took off without turning on the transponders. Since then, neither the plane nor the people have been seen.

Theoretically, Padilla could have been at the helm. It is believed that Angola did not pay the lease installments and he was hired to return the aircraft to the US. Another opinion says that both citizens were kept on board against their will.

2. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, the plane with the US military disappears in the sky over the Pacific Ocean

On March 6, 1962, US Air Force Flight 739 departed California for Vietnam, carrying 96 passengers and 11 crew members. Having sat down for refueling in Guam, the plane went to military base in the Philippines, but never reached it. He disappeared somewhere in the Western Pacific. Could not find any traces of the crash, no bodies. After communication with the aircraft was lost, information was received from a nearby tanker that an explosion had occurred in the sky.

Sabotage? Problem? Engine problems? No one knows.

3. A popular musician disappeared on a plane over the English Channel

On December 15, 1944, Glenn Miller, leader of one of the finest swing bands of all time, boarded a plane in England to take him to Paris. This never happened.

The American musician went to war in 1942, at the height of his popularity. At the age of 38, it was too late for him to become a soldier, but an army band played under his leadership.

The official version of his death is as follows. The plane flew over the English Channel bad weather and crashed. However, this is not the only opinion. Someone believes that the plane was shot down by enemy forces, and someone - that Glenn Miller did fly to Paris and was captured by a German detachment.

4. Amelia Earhart went missing while trying to fly around the globe.

First female pilot to cross by plane Atlantic Ocean. She went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean, near Howland Island.

Earhart was searched, but no trace was found. It is believed that she failed to land on Howland Island and ran out of fuel. There are even crazier theories: allegedly she was a secret agent, flew on a mission to Japan, where she was discovered and imprisoned. The most pleasant version: Earhart returned home, changed her name and began to live a quiet, ordinary life.

There are witnesses (I wonder how they could see this?) who claim to have seen her plane land on the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro. In 1989, this version was tested, human bones, women's cosmetics, shoes and a jar of freckle cream were found on the island. Who to believe?

5. A squadron of five planes disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle

On December 5, 1945, these aircraft were on a navigational exercise and disappeared while flying over the Bermuda Triangle. There were 14 people in the squadron in total.

Two hours after the start of the flight, the squadron commander reported that his compass had broken and he could not determine his location. The same thing happened with other planes. After another two hours, incomprehensible confusing messages began to arrive. The last was the squadron commander's call to leave the planes as they were running out of fuel.

An hour later, a US Navy plane went to search and rescue the squadron, but the planes and people were gone. A nearby tanker reported seeing an explosion 20 minutes before the departure of the search engines. Hundreds of ships and planes searched for the missing squadron, they combed thousands of miles, but found nothing.

Source 6Brazilian Cargo Plane Carrying $1 Million Artwork

In 1979, a Brazilian airline Varig plane disappeared half an hour after taking off from Narita Airport in Tokyo. On board were 153 drawings by Brazilian-Japanese artist Manabu Mabe, valued at $1.2 million. The plane, the drawings and six crew members disappeared without a trace. Robbery or technical malfunction? No one knows.

SourcePhoto 7The plane vanished en route from a Pacific atoll to Los Angeles

In 1964, a plane with nine passengers on board disappeared en route from Wake Island to Los Angeles. When he was 500 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the pilot reported engine problems. Searchers found an oil slick on the surface of the water, and some even claimed to have seen the plane's tail plunge into the ocean, but no trace of the plane or passengers was ever found.

The mysterious disappearance of aircraft gives rise to many rumors, arguments and theories around it. It would seem that in the 21st century, with the advent of modern technologies it is not difficult to track a huge aircraft. However, they continue to disappear, giving rise to new questions.

Flight 370 Disappearance Malaysia Airlines

From time to time, reports surface in the media about the discovery of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared under mysterious circumstances on March 8, 2014. On Thursday, March 24, Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said that the wreckage of the aircraft found in March off the coast of Mozambique almost certainly belongs to the missing Boeing 777.

In July last year, a fragment of a wing was found on Reunion Island. The French prosecutor's office confirmed that it belongs to the missing plane. In December, Australian authorities said the missing Boeing 777 could be in the southern part of the search area in the Indian Ocean.

AHeneen/wikipedia.org/CC BY 3.0

Boeing 777 route established based on information from military radar
According to official version investigation, the plane was hijacked by unknown persons who had good air training. However, this version has many inconsistencies. In particular, there was not a single suspicious person on board, and not a single group claimed responsibility. In addition, the plane flew for seven hours in an unknown direction instead of announcing the hostage-taking.

Boeing 727-223 hijacking

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is not the only plane crash which left behind many questions. In 2003, a strange incident occurred at the airport in Angola. Ben Charles Padilla, a certified flight engineer and aircraft mechanic with a private pilot's license, and his assistant, John Mikel Mutantu, handled the repairs Boeing aircraft 727-223. The aircraft belonged to the American airline Aerospace Sales & Leasing and was leased from Angolan Airlines at the time of its disappearance.

RuthAS/wikipedia.org/CC BY 3.0. Boeing 727-223

Unexpectedly, the plane disappeared along with the workers, none of whom were active pilot. According to the official version, the plane was hijacked by a flight engineer and his assistant, but the law-abiding Padilla had only a private pilot's license, and the assistant could not fly the plane. According to one version, Padilla was hired by the United States to return the plane, according to another, both technical workers were forcibly kept on board. After that, neither the plane nor the people were seen.

Missing Amelia Earhart

In 1937, the monoplane, on which the famous pilot Amelia Earhart tried to fly around the equator, disappeared without a trace. Earth. However, at one of the sections of the flight, communication with the pilot was interrupted. The search operation for Amelia Earhart was the largest and most expensive in the history of the US Navy, but it did not bring results.

Wikipedia.org/public domain. Amelia Earhart, Los Angeles, 1928

Various versions of the reasons for the loss of the aircraft were put forward - from its abduction by the Japanese to landing on desert island. There are even those who believe that Earhart returned home, changed her name and began to live a quiet, ordinary life. One way or another, the search for her plane continues to this day, and the exact reasons for the disappearance have not been established.

The disappearance of the Boeing 707

The disappearance of the Boeing 707 in 1979 is also a mystery that still cannot be solved. On board the Boeing 707-323C cargo flight were six crew members and cargo, including 153 paintings by Japanese-Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe. The cost of the paintings was $ 1,240,000. While flying over the Pacific Ocean, the plane did not get in touch. Nobody saw him again.

Marmet/wikipedia.org/CC BY-SA 3.0. Boeing 707-323C

Before the disappearance, the aircraft did not give distress signals. No debris, as well as oil stains from the fuel, were found. Among the versions of what happened, they called the depressurization of the aircraft, the attack of the collectors, the navigation error, the attack Soviet fighters and others. However, all these versions had many inconsistencies. In history civil aviation this case is considered one of the most mysterious.

Disappearance of L-1049 over the Pacific Ocean

The disappearance of L-1049 over the Pacific Ocean in 1962 was the largest unexplained tragedy of the 20th century in terms of the number of people. The plane flew from the Marianas to Philippine Islands, but two and a half hours after departure, communication with him ceased. Large-scale searches have yielded no results. All 107 people on board were presumed dead.

RuthAS/wikipedia.org/CC BY 3.0. Lockheed L-1049H

According to the testimony of the crew of the tanker, which was in the area of ​​​​the alleged disappearance, an unidentified aerial object exploded in the air. According to the official version, L-1049 exploded, but no debris was found in an area of ​​144,000 square miles. Thus, there is no evidence that the sailors from the tanker observed the crash of the disappeared aircraft.

These are not all cases of mysterious disappearances. At the same time, in a strange way, the scenario repeats itself in the same details, differing from other cases only in the duration of time intervals. The plane takes off, and after some time, communication with the crew first disappears, and then the display of the ship's trajectory on the controllers' radars disappears. Searches sometimes end with the discovery of a wreck, and sometimes nothing.

Pixabay.com/CC0 Public Domain

At the same time, everything alternative versions are immediately swept aside and classified, leaving ordinary citizens with only questions. Where are the planes going? We may never know the answer to this question. In the entire history of aviation, more than enough aircraft have disappeared, and there is not a single unraveled disappearance. And the next loss of the aircraft will simply be recorded in the list of similar phenomena.

IN different years planes disappeared without a trace in different parts of the world. Some have found. The mystery of the disappearance of some has not been solved so far ...

The plane that was found half a century later

On April 3, 1961, a Lan Chile plane disappeared in the Andes. There were 24 people on board, including 8 football players and two coaches from the Chilean football club Green Cross. The tail of the plane and part of the remains of people were found a week later. The plane crash was a big shock for Chile and for fans of professional football. There would be nothing mysterious in history if this plane had not been found again almost half a century later. In February 2015, Chilean climbers discovered the fuselage of an aircraft near the country's capital, Santiago. In addition to the wreckage, the remains of the dead were found at the crash site.

The Disappearance of Antoine de Saint-Exupery

On July 31, 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupery went on a reconnaissance flight from an airfield on the island of Corsica in a Lockheed P38 Lightning fighter. The plane did not return to base, the writer disappeared. It was assumed that the writer could have deserted, had an accident or committed suicide (he suffered from depression). In 1998, a Corsican fisherman fished out a silver bracelet engraved with the name of the writer and his wife, the address of the publisher of The Little Prince. In 2003, after an underwater expedition, the wreckage of the aircraft was found near the island. Remains of a writer sea ​​water rapidly dissolves bones) were not found. In 2008, the book "Saint-Exupery: The last secret by French journalist Jacques Pradel. In the book, 88-year-old German journalist and fighter pilot during the Second World War, Horst Rippert admitted that he shot down the same plane. In an interview, Rippert also said that he was a fan of Exupery, and if he had known that he was at the helm, he would never have started shooting. The wreckage of Exupery's plane is now in the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget.

10 Missing Bermuda Triangle Planes

This is the story of how the Bermuda Triangle gained its infamous glory. On December 5, 1945, five torpedo bombers disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, along with 14 crew members. A rescue seaplane went in search, which also disappeared. There were 13 people on board. Neither the wreckage nor the bodies of the crew were ever found. The reason for the disappearance is unknown: supposedly experienced military pilots who repeatedly flew in the area lost their orientation in space and crashed when they ran out of fuel. As for the seaplane, it most likely exploded due to a fuel leak (a technical flaw in this model). Traces of the accident were hidden by a hurricane - the area is considered meteorologically difficult.
After this incident, bermuda triangle between 1948 and 1965, four more aircraft and 92 people went missing. There were no more air crashes in the area.

Become a cannibal to survive

On October 13, 1972, a plane crashed in the Andes, carrying a team of Uruguayan rugby players and their relatives. 12 people died in a collision with the ground, some of the passengers died from severe injuries. On the tenth day after the accident, 28 people survived. The fuselage was at an altitude of 3600 meters, there were almost no food and water supplies, as well as medicines. The survivors heard on the radio that the search for the missing flight had ceased. Desperate people decided to eat the bodies of their dead comrades. Water was extracted from snow, which was drowned on metal fragments exposed to the sun. By the end of October, eight more people had died due to the avalanche. Wounded and weak people continued to die.
The two survivors decided to go for help. After twelve days of travel, they met a shepherd in the mountains, who reported the accident. 16 miraculously surviving passengers were found 72 days after the crash.

Malaysian Boeing

March 8, 2014 in the sky above South China Sea Missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. The plane was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There were 239 people on board. During the investigation, it was found out that someone turned off the communication systems, then the plane changed course and circled in the sky for about 7 hours. In January 2015, the flight was officially recognized as missing, and the passengers and crew members were dead in order to start paying compensation to relatives. On March 8, 2015, on the anniversary of the tragedy, a report on the progress of the investigation was published - there was nothing new in it.
On July 29, a fragment of an aircraft wing was found on one of the beaches of Reunion Island to the east. The fragment was covered with sea shells, indicating that it had been in the water for a long time. The fragment was sent for examination. The assumptions were confirmed.

It was the usual planned passenger flight on the route Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Beijing (PRC). On March 8, 2014, a Boeing jet lifted off runway and disappeared in the sky over the South China Sea 40 minutes after takeoff.

There were 239 people on board. In January 2015, everyone was declared dead as a result of an "accident". The circumstances of the crash remain unclear. The aircraft gained altitude, took the flight level set by the dispatcher, and then followed the route. No reports of problems on board, suspicious passengers or other irregularities. All systems worked normally, there were no reasons for alarms.

At one o'clock in the morning the flight was to enter air space Vietnam. The controller instructed the Boeing to switch to a new frequency, the pilot acknowledged the information, and the operator said goodbye to him: "Good night, Malaysian three seven zero."

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A few minutes later, the devices on the plane turned off, which transmit information about the location of the aircraft. The Boeing disappeared from the locators of dispatch services. Being at an altitude of more than 10 thousand meters, the plane disappeared.

The situation "distress" was announced 6.5 hours after the loss of the aircraft. One of the reasons for the delay was information from the airline, which continued to reassure everyone that the plane was moving according to plan. 1.5 years after the disappearance of the aircraft, at distances of more than 4,000 kilometers from the alleged place of its fall into the ocean, 6 fragments of the hull were accidentally discovered.

Paintings by Manabu Mabe and pilot of two disasters: Boeing 707

The 1969 Boeing 707 incident is considered one of the most mysterious in the history of world aviation. On board a cargo airliner flying from Tokyo to Los Angeles, there were only 6 people and 153 paintings by the famous Japanese-Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe, their cost was $1,240,000.

The plane's commander was Gilbert Araujo da Silva, known as one of the few survivors of the plane crash near Paris. The Tokyo sky that day was cloudy, but the crew decided to start. After 20 minutes, a message came from the board that the flight was proceeding normally. The next time the plane was supposed to get in touch after forty minutes, but after the specified time, the plane did not get in touch. They tried to contact him, but to no avail.

Despite extensive searches, no trace of the aircraft or signs of its crash could be found. One of the versions says that the plane was attacked by art collectors, but none of the artist's works have surfaced in the information space even after so many years.

This is one of the few incidents in which one person was involved in two plane crashes.

"This is not a plane": "abduction" of Frederic Valentich

Pilot Frederik Valentich was only 19 years old. Born in Melbourne, he was always interested in aviation and believed in UFOs. His abilities as a pilot were repeatedly questioned: he twice failed all five pilot's license exams and repeatedly got into dangerous situations.

The latter cost him his life.

The case was really strange, and incomprehensible details around it are more than enough. To begin with, Valentich was going to fly to King Island to pick up a load of lobsters and passengers there and return with them to Murrabin. After the disappearance, it turned out that there was no cargo or passengers on the island.

Valentich had to fly 235 kilometers from Murrabin Airport. The weather was fine, all the equipment was on board, and the plane could stay afloat even if the ship crashed for at least a few minutes.

But then something strange happened. During the flight, Valentich contacted Melbourne Air Traffic Control several times and reported an unusual aircraft that was following him. Valentich could not determine either the type of aircraft or its speed, he assumed that it was a military ship. “I think he is playing some kind of game [with me],” Valentich told the dispatcher. “He flew over me two… three times at speeds I can’t determine.”

His last message read: “This strange plane hovered above me again. It hangs... and it's not a plane."

These words were followed by 17 seconds of noise, described as "metallic, grinding sounds", after which the connection was cut off. Neither Valentich himself nor his aircraft were ever found.

The disappearance of the "flying tiger": L-1049 over the Pacific Ocean

The plane crash of the L-1049H aircraft of the American airline Flying Tiger Lineruen is considered the largest disappearance of an aircraft by the number of people in the 20th century. There were 107 people on board, the flight was flying from Mariana Islands to Philippine.

During the flight, the pilot contacted the International Flight Center and, without explanation, requested an increase in cruising altitude. After some time, interference was heard on the air, as if someone was trying to get in touch, but the dispatcher could not make out a word. After that, the connection was lost.

On board the aircraft were life jackets and an emergency radio transmitter, as well as a flare gun with 25 rounds of ammunition. That is, if you had to make emergency landing on the water, emergency means would allow the evacuation of all people on board.

To search for the missing aircraft involved 1300 people, 48 aircraft and 8 surface ships. All efforts to find the aircraft failed. The board disappeared without a trace.

A commission from the Civil Aviation Board concluded that they could not find the cause of the accident.

Amelia Earhart's last flight

The first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, dreaming of world tour and child. Amelia went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island.

Amelia was forty, she spent 16 years of her life in the air: she flew over the very crests of the waves, got into a storm, repeatedly flew over the Atlantic and performed feats that cost the lives of many experienced pilots, but luck did not spare her.

In 1936, Amelia was given a twin-engine Lockheed Electra monoplane for her birthday, a small aircraft with which Earhart decided to fulfill her old dream. She planned to fly around the world on the longest route, as close to the equator as possible. Amelia convinced the press and friends that this would be her last flight. And so it happened.

She said: "Soon records will no longer be the main engine of progress in the aviation industry, and the main person in aviation is no longer a dashing daredevil pilot, but a well-trained aeronautical engineer."

The first attempt to take off was unsuccessful - the landing gear could not withstand the weight of the aircraft, the tire burst. The plane miraculously did not explode. But that didn't stop Amelia.

In May 1937, together with navigator Fred Noonan, she took off from Lae, a town on the coast of New Guinea. The flight was long and very dangerous - the pilots had to find pacific ocean tiny island after 18 hours of non-stop flight. The press and officials of the country were already waiting on Earhart Island. The plane was supposed to appear over Howland any minute ... But this never happened.

A search and rescue expedition was immediately organized, and it was the largest and most expensive in the history of the American Navy. In January 1939, Amelia and her navigator were declared dead.

In 1940, a skeleton was discovered on the uninhabited Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro. It was considered to belong to a man, but in 2016, scientists conducted an anthropological examination, and it showed that the remains could also belong to a woman - the same height and ethnicity as Amelia Earhart. They also found things that may have belonged to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan: the remains of a flight jacket, a mirror, fragments of aluminum sheets and freckle cosmetic cream.