Did you know that a lot of flights have disappeared to only God knows where? The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has left
experts perplexed, leading to a variety of unsubstantiated theories about what might have happened. Unfortunately, if history is any judge,
it’s possible we may never know. Here are five other examples of missing flights that vanished without a trace, and remain unsolved to this
day.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. March 2014
The missing Malaysian Airlines plane, flight MH370, had 239 people on board and was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8,
2014, less than an hour after takeoff, when air traffic control staff lost contact with it. The plane’s planned route would have taken it north-
eastwards, over Cambodia and Vietnam, and the initial search focused on the South China Sea, south of Vietnam’s Ca Mau peninsula. But
evidence from military radar revealed later, suggested the plane had suddenly changed from its northerly course to head west.
In September 2016, Australian investigators said that a piece of an aircraft wing found on an island off Tanzania on June 20 came from the missing Flight 370. They said the flap would offer the best new clue to the jet’s final moments, including whether it was under pilot control when it went down. Satellite-communication data suggests the flight ended thousands of miles off course in the Southern Indian Ocean, where more than 120,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor is being searched. The search for the missing jet, however, may be suspended by the end of the year if the current area doesn’t yield results, Australia, Malaysia and China said in a joint statement in July.
The Boeing 777 was introduced in 1994 and is generally regarded as having an excellent safety record. Since its first commercial flight in
June 1995, there have been only four other serious incidents involving hull-loss: British Airways Flight 38 in 2008; a cockpit fire in a parked
EgyptAir Flight 667 at Cairo International Airport in 2011; the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in 2013, in which three people died; and
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down over Ukraine with 298 people aboard in July 2014.
Boeing 727-223. May 2003.
On May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727-223 aircraft disappeared from the Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola. The plane began taxiing
along the runway with no communication between the crew and the tower. The mid-sized plane manoeuvred towards the runway and took
off without clearance. The jet then headed west over the Atlantic Ocean with its lights off and its transponder not transmitting, and has
never been seen since. Onboard were two men, neither of whom were believed to have been capable of flying the aircraft. A worldwide
search by the FBI and CIA failed to locate either the plane or its crew and was eventually called off. To this day, the whole incident remains
a mystery.
Norseman C-64. December 1944
On December 15, 1944, big band leader Glenn Miller was scheduled to fly from an RAF base in England to Paris to play a show. His plane,
a Norseman C-64 aircraft never arrived. The official information on Miller’s disappearance was that his plane had hit bad weather over the
English Channel, but rumours ran rampant. Some believed the aircraft was shot down by a German assassination squad, while others
believed he made it to Paris but was killed by a Parisian member of parliament. The craziest theory came from a German journalist, who
claimed Miller died of a heart attack in the arms of a French prostitute and the American military covered up the episode. Still another
explanation came from RAF navigator Fred Shaw who claimed to have seen Miller’s plane hit in a “friendly fire” accident while bombs were
being jettisoned after an aborted raid on Germany.
Varig Brazilian Airlines plane. January 1979
A cargo plane belonging to Varig Brazilian Airlines disappeared in January 1979 just 30 minutes after it took off from Narita International
Airport in Tokyo. Adding to the mystery of the plane’s disappearance, onboard were 153 paintings valued at more than $1.2 million. Neither
the plane, its crew or nor the paintings have been seen since.
U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers. December 1945
On December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers – Flight 19 – took off from Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station on an
overwater navigation training flight. All five planes and the 14 men on them disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle. Two hours into the
flight, Flight 19’s squadron leader reported his compasses had failed and his position was unknown. The other planes also reported similar
malfunctions. Two more hours of confused messages occurred, with the last one being from the squadron leader calling for his men to
ditch their aircraft because they were running out of fuel. An hour later, a Mariner aircraft took off on a search and rescue mission for Flight
19 with a 13 man crew. It too disappeared. A tanker cruising off the coast of Florida reported seeing an explosion 20 minutes after the
Mariner took off.
Amelia Earhart’s aircraft. June 1937
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared in her Lockheed Model 10 Electra somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean on June 2,
1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. In spite of a multi-million-pound search effort, no remnants of her plane have ever
been found. Earhart was officially declared dead in 1939, but speculation about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance
continues to this day.
DC-4 Canadian Pacific Air Lines jet. July 1951
A DC-4 Canadian Pacific Air Lines jet vanished en route from Vancouver to Tokyo on July 21, 1951. When the plane was 90-minutes out
from its stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, it was on schedule, but it soon hit bad weather. There were heavy rain, icing conditions and poor
visibility. That report was the last anyone heard from the aircraft and though an extensive search was carried out, nothing was ever found.
The flight consisted of 6 Canadian crew members and 31 passengers – some were serving and civilian members of the U.S. armed forces.
Northwest Airlines Flight 2501. June 1950
In June 1950, 58 people lost their lives when Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 disappeared over the waters of Lake Michigan, en route from
New York to Minnesota. Boats and planes scoured the lake for a week after the disaster, but with the exception of a small amount of debris
and human remains floating on the waters of Lake Michigan, no wreckage has ever been found and no explanation ever given as to the
cause of the crash.
