. aircraft were usually referred to by their registration (in Stardusts The STENDEC mystery, referring to the cryptic message sent by a Lancastrian airliner before it vanished in the Andes, is a staple of the UFO culture. / -. Neither men were taken to the jail. On board the British South American Airways flight were five crew members and six passengers, including the Captain, Commander Reginald J. Cook, an experienced and former RAF pilot during World War II. case G-AGWH) rather than the romantic names airlines gave them. of the station they wish to contact. While the fate of Star Dust had finally been solved, remaining in its wake was still the mystery of the crews final messageSTENDEC. Back to 'Vanished: The Plane That Disappeared' programme pageTranscriptFurther information On August 2, 1947, the Stardust, a Lancastrian III passenger plane with eleven people on board, was almost four hours into its flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. 1947 an British South American Airways aircraft named Star Dust disappeared, it's last message was simply "STENDEC". On August 2, 1947, the "Stardust," a Lancastrian III passenger plane with eleven people on board, was almost four hours into its flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. by John . radio operator in Santiago, where the plane was due to land. On Saturday 2nd August 1947, at around 1:45pm, an Avro Lancastrian Mk.III passenger plane known as Stardust departed from Buenos Aires, Argentina to make a roughly 3 hour 45 minute trip to Santiago, Chile. Another noticeable similarity is that the word STENDEC has some resemblance to the word STARDUST, and perhaps Harmer misspelled the name of the aircraft in morse code. this correspondent conceded that "the last bit may be a bit muddled"). Variations suggested that the crew might have been suffering from The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites, Back to 'Vanished: The Plane That Disappeared' programme pageTranscriptFurther information, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 56K views 8 months ago #Disasters #History For over 50 years the fate of Flight CS-59 remained a mystery. Outside of the music world, Joel is a best-selling author, releasing The Realists Guide to a Successful Music Career, which features Kris Williams is a lesbian, and that means she wont be seeing her son anytime soon. The trekkers had abandoned their pack mules lower down, and ascended with what they could carry. The first letter has to be V, and the rest just fall into place-ALP-a perfect match in Morse. The Theory It has therefore been suggested that, in the absence of visual sightings of the ground due to the clouds, a navigational error could have been made as the aircraft flew through the jet streama phenomenon not well understood in 1947, in which high-altitude winds can blow at high speed in directions different from those of winds observed at ground level. Even if an equipment malfunction had occurred, what are the odds that only one word would be jumbled in the message and that it would be done so three times in exactly the same order? The North Texas Skeptic On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes. [1][2], The last Morse code message sent by Star Dust was "ETA SANTIAGO 17.45 HRS STENDEC". With morse code being a binary combination of dots and dashes, something as simple as one or two incorrect inputs can make a drastic difference to how a word is interpreted. Any explanation for STENDEC depends on an understanding of Morse Morse '._._.' BSAA ran out of money and passengers' confidence in 1949, with the result that it was forcibly incorporated into the state-owned British Overseas Airways Corporation, a component of today's British Airways. . Something about how the pilots were originally British Airways pilots and that Stendec actually meant something in British Airways terminology. . Relatives of the crew and passengers aboard a British plane which plunged into an Argentinian glacier 55 years ago have been told this week their DNA samples match human remains recovered from a crash site 15,000ft up in the Andes. 'Star Dust' did, however, broadcast a last, cryptic, Morse message; "STENDEC", which was received by Santiago Airport at 17:41 hrs - just four minutes before it's planned landing time. The Morse for AR is.- /.-. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, STENDEC - The Worlds Most Mysterious Morse Code, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_(RAF). State Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-OK) has penned several bills loosening gun restrictions, including the nation's first anti-red flag MUNICH (AP) The United States has determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday, insisting that justice must be served to the perpetrators. The Army unit also discovered that the wheels on the plane were in an upward position, so the crew had not attempted an emergency landing. The experienced crew of the "Stardust" apparently realized the plane was off course in a northerly direction (it was found eighty kilometers off its flight path), or they purposely departed from the charted route to avoid bad weather. The problem? As one of the pilots was dying he kept repeating, "We passed Curico," still bewildered as to how they had ended up in the peaks. Below we include a As only one young woman was on board, it was assumed to have been that of Iris Moreen Evans, a 26-year-old from the Rhondda valley. -, Press J to jump to the feed. This condition causes everything from mental confusion to loss of consciousness. Understanding STENDEC has been the quest for many experienced and avid radio operators, with online forums dedicated to deciphering what Dennis Harmer was trying to say. It was concluded that, being his first Trans-Andean flight in command, and in view of the weather conditions, Cook should not have crossed via the direct route, and despite the absence of a wreckage, the plane likely perished somewhere along the snowy peaks of the Andes Mountains. The final apparently unintelligible word "STENDEC" has been a source It is now believed that the crew became confused as to their exact location while flying at high altitudes through the (then poorly understood) jet stream. In 2000 the Argentine Army detachment found the debris scattered over one square kilometer, a relatively small area, so the bomb theory was discarded. The STENDEC mystery, referring to the cryptic message sent by a Lancastrian airliner before it vanished in the Andes, is a staple of the UFO culture. It seems message from Star Dust -. I personally believe that the word was a misinterpretation of the code, but theories span far and wide on what the now notorious phrase stood for. Recent Pages by Shiplord Kirel (Shiplord Kirel: Fan of Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie): This is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. The Star Dust Mystery Damn Interesting Since the programme transmitted we have received literally hundreds In either case, they attempted to contact what they thought was the nearest airport, Valparaiso, not Santiago. Banksters, Peasants, and Kim Jong Un's Grandpa: A Parable for Our Times. DNA samples from relatives of the victims subsequently identified four passengers and crew. [14] Human remains were also recovered, including three torsos, a foot in an ankle boot and a manicured hand. that final message from the ill-fated Lancastrian. one mystery still remains. Morse allows a maximum of four dots and dashes in any letter, narrowing the possibility for mistakes. [18], Star Dust is likely to have flown into a nearly vertical snowfield near the top of the glacier, causing an avalanche that buried the wreckage within seconds and concealed it from searchers. much harder in Morse code.-.. / . [13] Some BSAA pilots, however, expressed scepticism at this theory; convinced that Cook would not have started his descent without a positive indication that he had crossed the mountains; they have suggested that strong winds may have brought down the craft in some other way. . word is meaningless in almost every language, and trying to use It even inspired a new name for a UFO magazineSTENDEK. message from Star Dust - "E.T.A. [citation needed], Mistakenly assuming their ground speed to be faster than it really was, the crew might have deduced that they had already safely crossed the Andes, and so commenced their descent to Santiago, whereas in fact they were still a considerable distance to the east-north-east and were approaching the cloud-enshrouded Tupungato Glacier at high speed. In Britain, the news led to a hunt for surviving relatives. / - / . See link for the answer to this 63 year old question. [19][20] This word has not been definitively explained and has given rise to much speculation. ATLANTA (AP) The woman flying out of Philadelphias airport last year remembered to pack snacks, prescription medicine and a cellphone in her handbag. NOVA Online | Vanished! | 1947 Official Accident Report Explanations based in Morse code This condition causes everything from mental confusion to loss of consciousness. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Thanks SK. Full video here breaking down the story - STENDEC - The World's Most Mysterious Morse Code [Transcript From Video Below] The Stardust incident involved British South American Airways G-AGWH. Some things can be said with some degree of certainty. The theory They were so far off course they were trapped in the mountains struggling to survive for 72 days before they were rescued, and then only because of an incredible hike out of the mountains by two of the severely weakened survivors with no climbing gear or experience or any idea where they really were. In 1997, an ultra-low frequency, weird but loud noise . [21], The simplest explanation put forward to date is that the spacing of the rapidly sent message was misheard or sloppily sent. The central route via Mendoza was considered to be the quickest of the three, yet potentially the most dangerous depending on weather conditions. What was radio operator Dennis Harmer, a highly trained wartime and civilian operator, trying to say? This gives us the very The letter was not C. Nor were the first two letters of this strange message ST: / . The dots and dash formed one letter, V: / . On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes. With the disappearance occurring less than a month after the now infamous Roswell incident, unexplained events such as a vanishing plane were easily connected to the possibility of alien interference. Mystery solved. All Rights Reserved [13], A 2000 Argentine Air Force investigation cleared Cook of any blame, concluding that the crash had resulted from "a heavy snowstorm" and "very cloudy weather", as a result of which the crew "were unable to correct their positioning". Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled. Full video here breaking down the story -, A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. / - /. This button leads to the main index of LGF Pages, our user-submitted articles. But what was Jon Stewart asks when we will have enough guns -- watch to the end to watch him absolutely stick the landing. the last message received from Star Dust, sent by Radio Officer . Furthermore, whilst it is relatively easy There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. The word simply has no meaning in any language, not even in Morse code. The unit had to finish quickly. Its meaning, however, is astonishingly simple. otherwise it would not have been repeated three times. Los Cerrillos airport Santiago was given was SCTI. The fate of the aircraft and its occupants remained unknown for over fifty years, giving rise to various conspiracy theories about its disappearance. The letter was not C. Nor were the first two letters of this strange message ST: / . Dear NOVA, I am a radio amateur who actively uses the Morse Code. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In the late 1990s, pieces of wreckage from the missing aircraft began to emerge from the glacial ice. 10 Unsolved Airplane Mysteries | HowStuffWorks But in the absence of As mentioned previously, the standard morse code for a distress signal is SOS, which is much easier and quicker to communicate than STENDEC. They may be similar, but it is still hard to imagine an experienced