On December 28, 1948, the flight Douglas Dakota DC-3 (NC16002) took off at 10.03p.m. from San Juan airport of Puerto Rico heading for Miami (Florida).
While it was only 50 miles south of Florida, it sent the last message to indicate its position.
Only 20 minutes to go, the flight was never seen or heard of again.
It disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle area with all its 28 passengers and 3 crew members.
This was the first instance of a DC-3 aircraft disappearing. There were subsequently two more such cases, all of them happened within 50 miles of Florida Keys. The Keys is a string of small islands just south of Florida.
Here is the full story of DC-3 / NC16002 disappearing in Bermuda Triangle:
Douglas Dakota or the DC-3 has been probably the most reliable aircraft ever designed and built. There were more than 10,000 DC-3 planes manufactured, and still hundreds remain in use. These are propeller driven aircraft and not jet planes.
The economics and practical consideration have still kept them in use although small jet planes are now gradually replacing them.
You will see lots of these aircraft in Florida and also in the whole of Caribbean and Bahamas. Their job is mainly island hopping. Because of small distances between the islands and also short runways, the big jumbo jets are usually unfit for such activities and DC-3 is ideally suited for this.
The DC-3 is also widely used as private charter planes by many airlines and also for spraying pest controls from the air, particularly mosquito killers.
At 7:40p.m. on 27th December 1948, the DC-3 landed at San Juan airport in Puerto Rico. It came from Miami and was scheduled to return after a short halt at San Juan.
Captain Bob Linquist reported to the ground engineers that the light indicator for the landing gear did not come on at the time of landing. The ground crew immediately started the checks and figured out that the battery was weak and running low on water.
The stewardess Mary Burkes was busy deplaning the passengers and the co-pilot Ernest Hill was going around the aircraft for routine checks.
The ground crew refilled the battery and informed the captain that it would take several hours for the batteries to recharge fully.
The captain however decided not to wait that long and rather charge the batteries in the air from the aircraft's own generator.
So at 8:30p.m the DC-3 was all set to depart for Miami. By this time, Mary Burkes had on-boarded 28 passengers for the return trip.
However, there was lot more annoying wait before the plane could finally take off. The radio transmitter in the aircraft was not working properly due to the low battery. So the aircraft was asked to wait at the end of the tarmac. The head of Puerto Rican Transport drove to the plane to talk to the captain. Linquist informed him that he could clearly receive the messages but could not every time send messages due to the low battery.
Finally at 10:03p.m. when all seemed to be okay, the flight was allowed to take off. The captain was advised to stay close to San Juan till the two way communication was fully established from the air.
The flight circled the San Juan city for 11 minutes, and once the both way radio communication was confirmed, it started its journey out towards the sea for Miami.
Next, at 11:23p.m, the captain Linquist sent his routine radio transmission to indicate the flight position - it was at 8,300 feet altitude and reported ETA 4.03a.m at Miami. But funnily, while the message was received at Miami control tower which was some 700 miles away, there was no transmission received at San Juan which was much closer.
The captain next reported the flight position when it was 50 miles south of Florida and only 20 minutes to land.
Strangely again, the message this time was received at New Orleans which was about 600 miles away and not Miami that was so close by. New Orleans radio tower forwarded the message to Miami station.
And that was the last time a message was ever received from the DC-3. The weather was normal. Repeated radio signals from the control towers did not get any response. The flight DC-3 had suddenly disappeared with all its passengers and crew.
An explosion could have explained the aircraft getting disintegrated in the air keeping no trace of anything. No one from near or around Florida had heard any explosion. Also the waters at the Florida Keys area is so shallow that any debris could easily be seen. Even after long intensive search, there was nothing found.
Many believe that the transmitter of the aircraft was faulty and therefore the captain did not receive a message sent from Miami radio station at 12:15a.m informing that there was a change in wind direction from North West to North East. As a result, the plane could have been blown 40 to 50 miles south and off its course by the wind. Then they would have got lost, had run out of fuel and crashed. The gulf stream would have dispersed all the debris and bodies.
This also looks improbable because when the captain last reported its position, it was 50 miles south of Florida. There was no need for the aircraft to go south of Florida to reach Miami. So the captain knew that they had been moved off course by the wind and would have used the in-flight positioning instrument to fix the position of the flight.
One thing for sure. Whatever may have happened, would have happened suddenly and very fast. The real mystery of Douglas Dakota DC-3 in Bermuda Triangle remains unsolved till date.
No comments:
Post a Comment