It was also noted that, despite being a pilot for four years and accruing a total flying time of nearly 2,000 hours for both the RAF and the BSAA, this was Cooks first flight across the Andes as Captain. Could it be that Stardust were informing Los Cerrillos that they were on course for Rodelillo Airfield near Valparaiso instead, diverging from their original route? [11] The head of BSAA, Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett, personally directed an unsuccessful five-day search. Read on these 10 strange mysteries that were solved later. Its fate became one of the most puzzling aviation mysteries of its time. [10], The staff of the BBC television series Horizonwhich presented an episode in 2000 on the Star Dust disappearancereceived hundreds of messages from viewers proposing explanations of "STENDEC". An aircraft finds itself off-course and in .. A FINAL WORDHorizon regrets that - due to the sheer volume of correspondence [5] The passengers were one woman and five men of Palestinian, Swiss, German and British nationality. 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. this method of communication. / -.. / . On this ill-fated day, a British South American Airways airliner called Star Dust carrying six passengers and five crew members crashed during its journey from Buenos Aires to Santiago. An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site. Los Cerrillos airport Santiago was given was SCTI. It was hard work at this elevation, and the Army had supplies for only thirty-six hours. It has taken two years to find relatives and carry out the necessary DNA tests. The flight was conducted in zero-visibility conditions, so its unlikely the crew had any idea their plane was about to impact a mountainside. . (STENDEC) Several body parts were found, mostly intact due to being frozen in ice, and were later confirmed through DNA testing as passengers of Star Dust. All Rights Reserved Jos Avery has been posting his impressive photos Twitter continues to crumble bit by bit. - / . Scherer, J. This is fascinating. At 17.41 a Chilean Air Force Morse operator in Santiago picked up a message: ETA [estimated time of arrival] Santiago 17.45 hrs. More debris is expected to emerge in future, not only as a result of normal glacial motion, but also as the glacier melts. Using the Mrs Coalwood said: "He was my older cousin, who I idolised hopelessly. You can post your own LGF Pages simply by registering a free account with us. (STENDEC) The crash was a result of controlled descent into terrain. The Stardust incident involved British South American Airways G-AGWH. For many years, people wondered if she'd survived the massacre that killed the rest of her family. However, while the aircraft was unpressurized, its crew had been supplied with oxygen. Since the programme transmitted we have received literally hundreds The International Civil Aviation Organisation had only recently implemented the airline code for Los Cerrillos just four months prior to the event in April 1947, so its more than possible that the airports radio operator was not yet familiar with the term and failed to recognise it. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. that a radio operator would resort to convoluted messages based code. / - / . / -.-. enigmatic radio message was meant to mean. amusing messages based on using STENDEC as a series of initials: One of those two people was Nando Parrado and in his book "Miracle in the Andes" he describes that their flight also left in poor, inadvisable conditions. In morse code, there are various short-hand acronyms and abbreviations which help convey much longer messages quickly. One final mystery lay in the last message sent out by the Star Dust. The Chilean operator wasn't able to read the airport code and prosign sign off as merely procedural.Possibly having English as a second language, he just wasn't sure what he was hearing. Morse allows a maximum of four dots and dashes in any letter, narrowing the possibility for mistakes. one mystery still remains. The actual It never landed in Santiagothe aircraft seemingly vanished from existence. of messages offering explanations of STENDEC. Its not even common practice for a plane to transmit its name at the end of a routine message, so this theory also unfortunately falls flat. in other words 'EC' without the space. Discussion Now the plane has been found we know that it wasnt spirited away between the letters). [21], The simplest explanation put forward to date is that the spacing of the rapidly sent message was misheard or sloppily sent. Discussion A WGBH-Boston NOVA: Vanished (2001) program about the crash commented: Some of the six passengers on board seemed to have stepped straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. They included a Palestinian businessman with a sizable diamond sewn into the lining of his jacket; a German migr, Marta Limpert, returning to Chile with the ashes of her dead husband; and a British courier carrying diplomatic correspondence. in other words 'EC' without the space. The dots and dash formed one letter, V: / . This was the case in 1947 when an airliner crashed in the Andes, killing everyone aboard. Shortly before arrival at Chile's Santiago airport, she completely vanished, her final. But there are no old, bold pilots. For those who aren't familiar, a flight carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and some of their family members crashed into the Andes in 1972. Dennis Harmer at 17:41 on 2nd August 1947. Replies analysing and speculating over the mystery and possible explanations are encouraged. / -. This gives us the very Each letter in morse code consists of a number of unique dots and dashes, so to scramble a word like descent in such a way is highly unlikely, especially three times in succession. How police solved the mystery of a VHS tape depicting sexual assault. But in the absence of To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). -, Press J to jump to the feed. Imaginative souls speculated that aliens had snatched the large Lancastrian along with its passengers and crew. So mysterious was 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. The mystery of the word STENDEC took its place among the great unsolved cases so beloved in the lore of urban legendry. "STENDEC" in Morse code is: / - / . 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. Christie could have made something of this, but the passengers were quite unwilling and unwitting victims. Really neat, I hadn't heard of this before. Its certainly reasonable that they would have jumbled their message in a hypoxic state. 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. Something like "We're completely screwed.". In January 2000, a 100-man search party from the Argentine Army clambered 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) up Tupungato Mountain, a 6,552-meter (21,490-foot) volcano, where it located parts of the plane, as well as human bones, at the base of a glacier. _.. . A person suffering hypoxia may possibly make the same mistake consistently three times in succession but is very unlikely to create an anagram of the intended word. The Mystery of STENDEC - YouTube Avro Lancastrian (Public domain image)It was a story borne out all too often in the annals of aviation disasters. Then four years ago, several Argentinians climbing Mount Tupungato stumbled across part of a Rolls Royce engine, fragments of fuselage and strips of bleached clothing. British . It makes me want to write out the Morse code and play with the spacing. Terms of Use/Privacy Policy. The mystery became an obsession of the innumerable "Bermuda Triangle" crackpots, who attribute almost all unexplained losses of ships and aircraft within a 500,000 square-mile area to paranormal activity. / -.. / . Something about how the pilots were originally British Airways pilots and that Stendec actually meant something in British Airways terminology. So apparently the mystery hasn't been solved, because I don't see anything in the article suggesting anyone understands what Stendec meant. Perhaps the most plausible explanations we have heard are firmly Americas owner-flown aircraft enthusiasts and active-pilot resource, delivered to your inbox! I thought this had been solved in a documentary I watched. on nothing further was heard from the aircraft and no contact was But would they repeat AR too, not just the airport code, for clarity? STENDEC" That wasthe last message received from Star Dust, sent by Radio Officer Dennis Harmer at 17:41 on 2nd August 1947. name at the end of a routine message. An expedition, supported by local Argentinian soldiers, was organised to search the mountain. That was 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. "Stardust tank empty no diesel expected crash" Discussion 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. hypoxia (lack of oxygen) as the Lancastrian was unpressurised and UFO magazine. USGS. An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site. / -.-. (0), By Shiplord Kirel: Fan of Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie. just confirmed his time of arrival? Her sisters, boyfriend and sons knew nothing of her illness until suddenly, during a family gathering in October 2018 at a diner in Reading The Online Photographer lead me to this article. / -.-. So mysterious was the disappearance of the plane - coupled with it's final strange message - that Stardust became entwined in UFO theories. / -. [10], In 1998, two Argentine mountaineers climbing Mount Tupungatoabout 60mi (100km) west-southwest of Mendoza, and about 50mi (80km) east of Santiagofound the wreckage of a Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine, along with twisted pieces of metal and shreds of clothing, in the Tupungato Glacier at an elevation of 15,000ft (4,600m). up sign. 2023 Little Green Footballs One of the two main landing wheels was still fully inflated after a half century! As for the Avro Tudor, its safety record was deplorable even at the time. By 2002, the bodies of five of the eight British victims had been identified through DNA testing. Discussion Very good writeup! Whilst a reasonable theory on the surface, its unfortunately also quite reasonable to discredit. Sign in to continue reading. Tragically, that wasn't the last disaster in which Bennett and the Tudor were involved. When flying at high altitudes, oxygen molecules are harder to inhale, and if a plane is not pressurized, it can lead to hypoxia, a condition which can impair or even completely destroy your ability to function. Recent Pages by Shiplord Kirel (Shiplord Kirel: Fan of Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie): This is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. Full video here breaking down the story -, A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. the hastily sent morse message gives us : We will never Therefore a standard signoff would be sent as the After an exhausting search, no trace of the aircraft was found. the operator use a calling up sign in the middle of his message? Earlier this week Margaret Coalwood of Nottingham, now 70, was told that DNA extracted from blood samples taken from her last year had identified the remains of her cousin, Donald Checklin. Almost a year after the loss of Star Tiger, her sister aircraft, Star Ariel, also vanished in good weather while on a flight from Bermuda to Jamaica. 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. That part of the puzzle wouldnt be solved until half a century later. After the third time, communications ceased, and the aircraft disappeared, never reaching its final destination. Procedures for sending and receiving messages were and are standardised whether you are services or civilian operators.Regarding the 'mystery' surrounding Harmer's last transmission.Firstly, an operator always has in front of them a written copy of the message being sent. - . SAR It would have been The radio operator meant to say Stardust. Among the grisly remains scattered over a radius of more than a mile on the glacier were three human torsos, a foot in an ankle boot and a hand with fingers outstretched. In January 2000, a 100-man search party from the Argentine Army clambered 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) up Tupungato Mountain, a 6,552-meter (21,490-foot) volcano, where it located parts of the plane, as well as human bones, at the base of a glacier. 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. With that in mind, and the fact that the operator himself mentioned that Harmer sent the message extremely quickly, its likely that this was the message after all. message from Star Dust -. A popular photographer who has amassed almost 30,000 followers on Instagram has admitted that his portraits are actually generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The last two possible mistranslations both involve an input mistake of some sort, but there is another phrase which uses the exact same morse code sequence as STENDEC but with different spacing. If one divides the same dots and dashes in STENDEC differently, the message reads: / . 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. In 1947 the official report into Stardusts disappearance had this In either case, they attempted to contact what they thought was the nearest airport, Valparaiso, not Santiago. Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? The searchers discovered one propeller, its tips scarred and bent backward, indicating that the prop had been revolving when the Lancastrian plowed into the Tupungato glacier. 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. Some politicians have irresponsibly suggested that every new IRS employee will be a gun-toting enforcement agent. Explanations based in Morse code STENDEC Solved (Mystery message from 1947 Andes plane crash) - LGF Pages ntskeptics.org 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. A solution to the word "STENDEC" has not been found. In 1997, an ultra-low frequency, weird but loud noise . this correspondent conceded that "the last bit may be a bit muddled"). The problem here though is that, even if this was the case, it would be unusual for Harmer to use a phrase which was not internationally recognised, and only specifically known to allied participants of the war. All these variations seem implausible to a greater or lesser extent. Its meaning, however, is astonishingly simple. Things like air turbulance (in my case, rough seas) also affect that rythm. [10] The Chilean Air Force radio operator at Santiago airport described this transmission as coming in "loud and clear" but very fast; as he did not recognise the last word, he requested clarification and heard "STENDEC" repeated twice in succession before contact with the aircraft was lost. - / . Cook had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Well that was fascinating and, while kinda sad I'm not going to pretend is not kinda funny hearing you explain all the ways that the Tudor sucked shit. With the plane supposedly minutes away from the airport, the final word from the Lancastrian became shrouded in mystery when the plane, along with everyone on board, vanished into thin air. Imagine your last communication with someone being the equivalent of covfefe and it turning into a mystery that people puzzle over for decades, I still have no clue what covfefe means and suspect people will puzzle over it for decades, British South American Airways (BSAA), the operator of the doomed aircraft, was a particularly unfortunate air carrier. case G-AGWH) rather than the romantic names airlines gave them. . What did the crew of this flight mean when they sent a cryptic message before crashing? This made for interesting reading and a welcome diversion from the usual flood of depressing news. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). More interestingly, the morse code for STENDEC is only one character off from instead spelling VALP, which is almost the call sign for the closest airport to Valparaiso, 110km northwest of Santiago. A common example of this would be SOS, which is the internationally recognised distress signal in morse code to call for help. recognized signoff or 'end of message' signal was 'AR' (with no space