The baffling disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight is no longer the latest mystery in a long timeline of unsolved plane disappearances and plane disasters. Here are the top cases of planes that vanished without a trace:
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight M370 mysteriously vanished. It was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There have been many theories about what happened. Some believe the flight was shot down during a joint military exercise between the USA and Thailand. Others believe it was hijacked as the date coincides with the 13th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. While this event remains a mystery, aviation experts have stated whatever happened was a deliberate act of someone on board. Who knows for sure?
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Air France Flight 447
Air France Flight 447 was going from Rio de Janiero to Paris when it went missing in the middle of the ocean in 2009. 216 passengers and 12 crew members were on board. There were no traces of the plane or the passengers found. While the plane did go through a thunderstorm, no distress signal was sent. There are many educated guesses about what happened, but no one knows for sure what happened.
Air France Flight 447
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
An Uruguayan air plane with 40 passengers and 5 crew members disappeared back in 1972. Everyone was presumed dead, but 72 days after the crash, 16 survivors came forward and told the story of what happened. The plane crashed in the Andes, and 12 died right then and there. 6 more died in the days after, and the remaining 16 passengers had to resort to cannibalism to survive. This story is the basis of the 1993 film “Alive.” Yikes!
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
TWA Flight 800
230 people died in this plane crash mystery. They were on the Trans World Airlines Flight 800 which exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996. Some have pointed their fingers at terrorists, but there is no evidence to support or refute that. Some believe a US Navy vessel blew up and the US government has been trying to cover it up. There have been other suggestions, but no definite cause.
TWA Flight 800
“D.B. Cooper”
In 1971, a man traveling under the alias “Dan Cooper” managed to hijack a Boeing 727. He demanded a $200,000 ransom, received it and then lept from the plane in a parachute. He was never seen again. There is no evidence about his true identity but the FBI stated it is highly unlikely he survived the jump.
DB Cooper
Amelia Earhart
For years and years, everyone believed Amelia Earhart died in a plane crash. She and her plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while she was trying to circumnavigate the globe. Turns out that is not what happened. A newly discovered photograph proves she was actually captured by the Japanese. Any further details are still a mystery.
Amelia Earhart
Helios Airways Flight 522
The mystery behind this flight is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Greece. Helios Flight 522 was scheduled to fly from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens, Greece. It crashed, killing all 121 passengers and crew members on board. An investigation revealed there was a gradual loss of cabin pressure, but further information remains unknown.
Helios Flight 522
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
Back in the ’60s, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner carrying 93 US soldiers and 3 South Vietnamese disappeared in clear weather on its way to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. There was an 8-day intensive search of more than 2000,000 miles. No body parts were ever found.
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
Egyptair Flight 990
In 1999, Egyptair Flight 990 from New York to Cairo crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 passengers and crewmates on board. No one really knows what happened.
Egyptair Flight 990
BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust
In August 1947, Star Dust vanished as it flew between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, and Chile. There were 11 people missing for over 50 years. Naturally, many theories arose about what happened including conspiracy theories about an alien abduction. The remains of 9 people were finally found at the foot of a glacier in the Andes. No further information is known.
BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust
The mystery of Flight 191
This isn’t about just one flight, but many flights over 40 years that are “Flight 191.” In 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 crashed just minutes after taking off killing all 258 passengers and 13 crew members. There have been many other incidents with flights with the same number including with the experimental plane X-15 Flight 191, which crashed in 1967 killing its pilot and JetBlue Airways flight 191 in 2012, during which the captain had an alleged panic attack. Some believe 191 is just an unlucky number and that is what caused all of these incidents.
The Mystery Of Flight 191
The mystery disappearance of the Star Ariel
The Bermuda Triangle is an area covering over half a million square miles of ocean between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rica. There have been a number of unexplained vanishings of boats and planes over the years. Some think there is even a black hole over the sea in this area. The first flight on our list related to the mystery of The Bermuda Triangle is a BSAA plane, the Star Ariel, which vanished during a flight from Bermuda to Jamaica on January 17th, 1949. Communication was lost during the flight and the search was abandoned after 8 days of intensive searching.
Star Ariel
Aer Lingus Flight 712
On Aer Lingus Flight 712 in 1968, 61 passengers and crew died while flying from Cork to London. There was never a true cause linked to the accident. Eventually, 14 bodies were discovered, but there were no survivors.
Aer Lingus Flight 712
B47 Stratojet
This is a weird one. This involves a plane the US government was carrying nuclear weapons on. In 1956, a B47 Statojet was lost while it was flying over the Mediterranean. Nothing from the flight was ever recovered. No bodies, no crew, no debris, and no missiles. During this flight 2 of a total 11 nukes in the history of the US were lost.
B47 Stratojet
USAir Flight 427
This one involves two different aircrafts which had the same flight number. Both were involved in crazy accidents during the same year. The first was flying on September 8, 1994, and all 132 passengers and crewmates vanished. The second example happened later in 1994. The flight was making a stop in Pittsburgh but the crew lost control of the aircraft and it crashed. It is unclear what caused both flights to crash, and it is certainly mysterious as it involves to planes with the same flight number.
USAir Flight 427
United Airlines Flight 585
On March 3, 1991, Flight 585 crashed. This one is especially surprising because Captain Harold Green and First Officer Patricia Eidson were some of the highest-regarded pilots that always followed procedure. All 25 crew and passengers died.
United Airlines Flight 585
Pan Am Flight 7
This flight was flying from San Fransisco, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Some wreckage was found, and a toxicology report indicates 44 crewmates and passengers died from a high level of carbon monoxide in their systems. No one knows what the cause was but some speculate it was from an explosive device.
Pan Am Flight 7
Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
In this flight, all 162 crew and passengers died. It was going from Indonesia to Singapore. Radar contact was lost 40 minutes after take-off and the plane didn’t make it to its expected stop in Singapore. Some body parts and pieces of the aircraft were found. Some speculate it was due to bad weather, but no one knows for sure what happened.
Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
Enviornmentalists Die In Amazon Crash
Last July, there was a mysterious plane crash in the Amazon. 4 people died including members of Brazil’s special environmental protection forces. An investigation is going on now, and many speculate it was due to the environmentalists being targeted on board.
Amazon
Cessna 172
Just last week a rented Cessna 172 based out of Michigan crashed near Lake Superior. U.S. and Canadian authorities are rightfully investigating, but are especially concerned because there is no trace the pilot or any of passengers who were on the flight. There aren’t even footprints. Weird.
No Footprints
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
Just a couple weeks ago an airline passenger was killed. She was partially sucked out of a blown-out window when the plane engine was about to explode. The flight had to have an emergency landing saving the rest of the passengers and crew, but the woman, Jennifer Riordan was declared dead.
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
Alien Spacecraft
Back in 1948, some pilots took off from Fort Knox to follow a rapidly moving, circular object. Some pilots called off the chase after the metallic object rose to 22,500 feet. All of those pilots returned to the ground safely, but one Captain named Thomas Mantell continued to follow it until his plane began to fall from the sky. It crashed in Kentucky. There is not an official explanation about what the object was, or what happened to Mantell.
Alien Spacecraft
The Vietnam War Casualties Who Never Got to Vietnam
In March 1962, Flying Tiger Flight 739 vanished between Guam and the Philippines on its way to Vietnam. The plane was filled with U.S. military advisers and three South Vietnamese officers. Some believe it was Viet Cong sabotage, but others speculate it was the US government. None of the lost men had their names added to the Veterans Memorial in Washington, and no US government department or agency has indicated these men were sent on a mission. Some men even told their spouses they had a feeling like they were going to die before they boarded the plane.
Vietnam
An Artistic Disappearance
In January 1979, a Boeing 707 cargo plane containing 153 paintings from a famous painter valued at $1.2 million, took off from Japan but never made it to its planned stop in L.A. Just 30 minutes after takeoff contact with the pilot was lost. There is still no traces of the plane, the cargo, or the crew on board.
Stolen Paintings
MU-2B Plane Disseapeard Over The Bermuda Triangle
Just this week, a plane flying through the Bermuda Triangle was found near the Bahamas. The MU-2B plane was flying from Puerto Rico to Florida. 4 people lost their lives and it is unclear why the plane crashed. Of course many speculate it was due to the Bermuda Triangle because there was no bad weather or any other suspected cause. More investigations are being conducted now.
MU Bermuda Triangle Flight
Flight 19 and the Bermuda Triangle
On December 5th, 1945, a flight from Ft. Lauderdale carrying U.S. naval personnel went down into the sea causing 14 deaths. The plane and bodies were never seen again.
Flight 19
Northwest Flight 2501
This flight has been a mystery for over 60 years now. Back in 1950, a plane traveling to Minneapolis crashed into Lake Michigan. A search was initiated the searchers found some debris, luggage and body parts. No one knows what caused the crash.
Northwest Flight 2501