Is that the one where they all started eating each other? operator to scramble the message. It was delivered to BSAA on 12 January 1946, was registered on 16 January as G-AGWH and given the individual aircraft name "Star Dust". That is the official ruling of an Oklahoma court. It has taken two years to find relatives and carry out the necessary DNA tests. one mystery still remains. Hence we have: It's reported as looking luminous and spherical, and can vary in diameter - from pea-sized to several metres long. Fiddling with Morse code seems to offer the best chance of getting 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. I thought this had been solved in a documentary I watched. Improperly loaded, it crashed on landing, killing 80 of the people on board -- at the time, the worst air disaster in world history. The public, still reeling from the now-famous flying saucer incident in Roswell, New Mexico, a few weeks earlier, went wild with theories, speculating everything from sabotage to alien abduction. By 2002, the bodies of five of the eight British victims had been identified through DNA testing. It was firstly noted that the Trans-Andean journey from Buenos Aires to Santiago can be taken via three routes: The Central (and most direct) via Mendoza, The Southern via Planchon and The Northern via San Juan. According to experts, if an additional space had been added between the first two letters, STENDEC would translate to: ATTENTION END END OF MESSAGE. It seems a bit redundant to say END and then END OF MESSAGE, however. The weather on the day consisted of snowstorms in the Andes Mountains with moderate to intense turbulence, whilst visual contact with the ground would have been extremely low and unfit for flying. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). 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. course. Conspiracy Theory Watch: Don't Drink the Kool Aid. know for certain, but I believe this is by far the most likely meaning of losing the first two dots) yields ETA LATE - apparently a common tower aircraft now descending entering cloud") Also, in the 1947 report, the oxygen system was noted as being fully charged, along with nine emergency bottles before leaving Buenos Aires. 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. The misunderstanding of their actual location reminds me of Uruguayan Flight 571, the subject of the book and movie Alive! That would leave just "END", sandwiched between a signal attracting The official 1947 report into Stardusts disappearance highlighted a number of possibilities as to what likely happened to the ill-fated flight, with multiple factors potentially playing a role in its demise. 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. 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. Seems very unlikely. But would they repeat AR too, not just the airport code, for clarity? The fate of the aircraft and its occupants remained unknown for over fifty years, giving rise to various conspiracy theories about its disappearance. 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. 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. The word STENDEC was corrupted into Stendek and became. I remember him in his RAF uniform during the war. Four letter ICAO codes for airports had Full video here breaking down the story - STENDEC - The World's Most Mysterious Morse Code [Transcript From Video Below] STENDEC." That was the last communication sent in Morse code on August 2, 1947, by an Avro 691 Lancastrian aircraft flying for British South American Airways from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. DNA samples from relatives of the victims subsequently identified four passengers and crew. Mystery solved. The Stardust could not be raised and no wreckage could be found. Just before the plane disappeared, it But before that, to help understand the "STENDEC" in Morse code is: / - / . The Theory that final message from the ill-fated Lancastrian. It even inspired a new name for a UFO magazineSTENDEK. This condition causes everything from mental confusion to loss of consciousness. / -.-. method of signalling a late arrival amongst RAF radio operators.. / - / .- / .-.. / .- / - / . STENDEC. It would be the last anyone ever heard from Star Dust. 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. 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. The 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 / -. simple message SCTI AR (or in layman's terms "Santiago, over"). No trace of the missing Lancastrian aircraft, named Star Dust, could be found. 'ETA [estimated time of arrival] Santiago 17.45 hrs STENDEC' The final apparently unintelligible word "STENDEC" has been a source 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. Using the 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 flight itself was the last leg of a journey which originated from London, with the trip across the Atlantic taking place in a York aircraft, transferring to the Stardust for the crossing of the Andes Mountains. were all supplied with oxygen. What did the crew of BSAA Flight CS-59 mean when they sent and repeated the cryptic message STENDEC via Morse code seconds before crashing? Their discovery revived interest in solving the mystery of what had happened to Flight CS59 and its 11 passengers and crew. of messages offering explanations of STENDEC. Its designer, Roy Chadwick, died in one when a prototype crashed during a test flight in 1947. The Chilean operator did mention how Harmers messages came through unusually fast, so there is every chance that some letters were incorrectly spaced and caused confusion to the control tower. 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. To put it simply, Cook chose the worst route possible in consideration of the conditions, which more than likely played a key role in the planes disappearance. Again, this is the same as ST, only with different spacing.- (V) The crash was a result of controlled descent into terrain. In Britain, the news led to a hunt for surviving relatives. Similarly, another Morse expert has pointed out that to attract The mystery of the word STENDEC took its place among the great unsolved cases so beloved in the lore of urban legendry. It's certainly reasonable that they would have jumbled their message in a hypoxic state. 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). Presumed to have crash landed somewhere along the route, a five day effort began by both Chilean and Argentine search teams, including fellow BSAA pilots, yet no trace of the aircraft or its passengers were found. [6] Marta Limpert, a German migr, was the only passenger known for certain to have initially boarded Star Mist in London[7] before changing aircraft in Buenos Aires to continue on to Santiago with the other passengers. The theory about it meaning emergency crash landing is interesting but given a lack of sources outside of a few people telling anecdotes I don't know how believable it is. Many people wrote pointing out that STENDEC is an anagram of descent. (0), By Shiplord Kirel: Fan of Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie. of the station they wish to contact. of Stendec. "Stardust tank empty no diesel expected crash" If not V, then the first letters might have been EIN, or IAR, but these combinations lead nowhere. Americas owner-flown aircraft enthusiasts and active-pilot resource, delivered to your inbox! / . But the budgetary toll of persistent underfunding is unmistakable. The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable even has an entry for STENDEC. Dozens of books and articles have examined the evidence, turned it over, twisted it, rearranged the letters, and drawn a blank. [22] Alternatively, the Morse spelling for "STENDEC" is one character off from instead spelling VALP, the call sign for the airport at Valparaiso, 110 kilometers north of Santiago. [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). At 5:41 p.m., a Chilean Morse code radio operator for the Los Cerrillos Airport received a message. a new clue the truth is we will never know for sure what that final What was experienced radio operator Dennis Harmer trying to say? The Stardust could not be raised and no wreckage could be found. Cook had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). They had nothing to do with the crash, other than being present. (STENDEC) Almost certainly Star Tiger ran out of fuel before reaching Bermuda, a consequence of stronger-than-predicted upper-level winds. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris Joel is a founding member and the resident keyboard wizard for Umphreys McGee AND a long-time Phish fan! problem, here is a website which translates English into Morse code. "Systems to the end navigation depends entirely on circle" (although word is meaningless in almost every language, and trying to use message from Star Dust -. The word simply has no meaning in any language, not even in Morse code. enigmatic radio message was meant to mean. The site had been difficult to reach. Whilst its true that the Lancastrian was unpressurised, the crew 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. sent one final message in Morse code which was picked up by the After getting the boot from BSAA, he launched his own fly-by-night airline, Airflight Ltd., using two Tudors he'd picked up cheaply and one of which he flew himself. For example, if you lose the first two dots in the word STENDEC, and rearrange the spacing of the letters, the word could instead be interpreted as ETA LA(E)TE, albeit with a rogue E thrown into the mix. 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 Avro Lancastrian was a civilian version of the wartime Lancaster heavy bomber. 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. Five months after the episode described by OP, one of BSAA's Avro Tudor IV aircraft, Star Tiger, with 31 persons on board, vanished on a flight from Lisbon to Bermuda with an intermediate fuel stop in the Azores. close to an understanding of the message. Whilst it's certainly a bizarre coincidence, especially given the circumstances, the theory goes that Harmer was trying to inform the control tower that the plane was going down. / - / . Los Cerrillos airport Santiago was given was SCTI. 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. - . which is identical - although with different spacings - to EC. The message was repeated-STENDEC, then transmitted a third time. The radio operator meant to say Stardust. 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. Banksters, Peasants, and Kim Jong Un's Grandpa: A Parable for Our Times. In the late 1990s, pieces of wreckage from the missing aircraft began to emerge from the glacial ice. The crew of Stardust, including the radio operator Harmer, had all served in the RAF previously during WWII, so if this phrase is true, then it is possible that they were all familiar with the term and used it in a time of crisis. . 56K views 8 months ago #Disasters #History For over 50 years the fate of Flight CS-59 remained a mystery. 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. This was the case in 1947 when an airliner crashed in the Andes, killing everyone aboard. Using the You can post your own LGF Pages simply by registering a free account with us. Weird December 2010 Views: 31,751. Anagram Theory The Theory The investigators concluded that the aircraft had not stalled. [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. It would have been some similarities both in Morse code and English /- /.-/ .-./ -../ ..-/ / - (Stardust) recognized signoff or 'end of message' signal was 'AR' (with no space flew at this time reports that it was common to inform the airport This theory is an easy one to break apart. Perhaps STENDEC was an abbreviation for a much longer message, an acronym sent in a hurry due to being in a crunch for time. 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. this method of communication. It also seems clear that the message was not anticipating a crash, There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. the plane was flying at 24000 feet, which would have led the radio Mysteries Of Flight: The Curious Case Of Pan Am Flight 914, Fond Farewell to a Titan: The Antonov An-225, Plane & Pilot Survey: Pilots and Politics, Accident Brief: Piper PA28R Crash In Georgia. by aliens. The letter was not C. Nor were the first two letters of this strange message ST: / . Although the larger mystery was finally solved, many still wonder how experienced pilots (there were three on board) lost control of the aircraft in a seemingly manageable situation. A mix of misinterpretation and a lack of recent knowledge led to the operator instead hearing the term STENDEC, which, combined with the disappearance of the plane, led to one of South Americas greatest aviation mysteries. They had nothing to do with the crash, other than being present. . "Why do so many earthquakes occur at a depth of 10km?" The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable even has an entry for STENDEC. Dozens of books and articles have examined the evidence, turned it over, twisted it, rearranged the letters, and drawn a blank. Discussion on initials. All Rights Reserved STENDEC - Solved?! Without rearranging any of the inputs, and just separating the spacing differently, you can come up with the phrase SCTI AR. In January 2000, they located the site and began recovering debris. 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. /- (ST) between the letters). There are theories that STENDEC was an abbreviation or acronym of a much larger phrase, and when you break it down you can imagine a whole host of sentences could be constructed using these letters. begun to be used four months earlier in April 1947 and the four-letter code UFO magazine. the disappearance of the plane - coupled with its final strange . In either case, they attempted to contact what they thought was the nearest airport, Valparaiso, not Santiago. The dots and dash formed one letter, V: / . The Theory Morse '._._.' You're right! 20 passengers and crew were lost. Didn't the test Tudor flight crash because the aileron controls had been reversed (e.g trying to roll right rolled the aircraft left) or am I thinking of a different British test aircraft crash. "Santiago tower message now descending entering cloud" (or "Santiago amusing messages based on using STENDEC as a series of initials: 1947 an British South American Airways aircraft named Star Dust disappeared, it's last message was simply "STENDEC". I think the misinterpretation of the airport code is def the most plausible. Whilst many accepted that the fate of Stardust and its crew had been settled, the absence of a wreckage, along with the mysterious circumstances surrounding its final message, lead to widespread speculation, with theories spanning from sabotage to extraterrestrial in nature. 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. Vanished: The Plane That Disappeared On August 2, 1947, the crew of a British South American Airways (BSAA) Lancastrian, an airliner version of the Avro Lancaster WWII bomber, sent a cryptic message. know for certain, but I believe this is by far the most likely meaning of Pages Sign In Register Forgot password? Since the programme transmitted we have received literally hundreds - /. . . STENDEC/STAR DUST Theory of the station they wish to contact. Something about how the pilots were originally British Airways pilots and that Stendec actually meant something in British Airways terminology. 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?