BSAA airliner over Andes transmits ‘S T E N D E C’ in Morse, vanishes

STENDECbigThey called her Star Dust.

The British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner (registration G-AGWH) took off from Buenos Aires, Argentina enroute to Santiago, Chile on August 2, 1947.

Star Dust’s final Morse code transmission to Santiago airport, S T E N D E C, was received by the control tower four minutes prior to its planned landing and repeated twice:

… – . -. -.. . -.-.

 

… – . -. -.. . -.-.

 

The Morse transmission sounded just like this:

 

Star Dust — like Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and Argentina’s Cadet Flight — was never heard from again.

And what does S T E N D E C mean? No one knew then, no one knows now.

Mas…BSAA airliner over Andes transmits ‘S T E N D E C’ in Morse, vanishes

Deja vu all over again: Where in the world is Argentina’s TC-48?

missingplanewThe Argentinean Air Force Douglas DC4, TC-48, took off from Howard AFB in Panama on Nov. 3, 1965 with 68 on board — nine crewmembers and 59 cadets from the 31st class of the Military Aviation School. It was supposed to be their last training flight before graduation.

The so-called “cadet flight” was never seen again.

Will a new search expedition have better luck?

Inexplicata explains:

Mas…Deja vu all over again: Where in the world is Argentina’s TC-48?

Breaking: Hundreds expected Friday at Mexico’s Xochitl Games

xochitlgames(PNS reporting from GUANAJUATO, MX) Hundreds of competitors and an equal number of spectators are expected for the opening of the first Xochitl Games here tomorrow.

The so-called “Indigenous Olympics,” organized by the Nahuatl Athletic Council Organization (NACO), hopes to share some of the buzz from the regular Winter Olympics, in Sochi.

NACO is especially counting on people who are unsure how to spell the name of the Black Sea resort city in the Google search window, or even better, can’t spell when booking airplane and hotel reservations through Travelocity.

Mas…Breaking: Hundreds expected Friday at Mexico’s Xochitl Games