Varig Boeing 707-323C Disappearance Brazilian Airlines

Top 10 Aviation Mysteries in the World

2014 saw many aviation mysteries and plane accidents, the most famous one being the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines MH370. Aviation mysteries like mysterious plane crashes, plane disappearances have confused and perplexed many scientists and aviation professionals all over the world. The famous place for plane disappearances in the history is the scary Bermuda Triangle. There have been hundreds of plane disappearances in the world which weren’t traced and the mystery is still unsolved. Nobody knows what exactly happened to these planes and aircraft. Even in this modern world with superior technologies, devices and satellites were unable to track the missing MH370, which tops today’s list of aviation mysteries ever produced.

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We are listing the top 10 most famous aviation mysteries in the world. The story of these mysteries will send chills through your spines.

10. British Stardust – 1947

Star dust Aviation Mystery

The 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident happened at Mount Tupungato, Argentina. The plane was carrying 11 passengers and was reported to have crashed mysteriously due to extreme weather conditions in the region. The 2000 investigation report suggests that it happened due to bad weather conditions, but speculations until then included many theories including alien abduction. The exact reason behind the crash is still not known as the plane never reached its destination. The plane debris were found deep in the glaciers after half a century in the late 90s.

9. Air France Flight 447 – 2009

Air France Flight 447 - Aviation Mystery

Flight 44p took-off on 1st June 2009 from Rio de Janeiro and never reached its destination of Paris, France. The flight was carrying 228 people on-board. The plane lost contact when it was crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The plane got stalled mid-air and crashed on to the ocean killing all the passengers on-board. The plane’s wreckage and black box were found two years later from the deep-sea in 2011. This accident is marked to be the deadliest accident in the history of Air France.

8. B-47 disappearance – 1956

B-47 disappearance

B-47 Boeing aircraft disappearance is one of the most mysterious airplane disappearances in the aviation industry that is yet to be solved. The aircraft carrying 3 crew members took-off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in USA on 10th March, 1956 and disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea. The aircraft was heading towards Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco. The aircraft successfully completed the first air refuelling and never made contact for the second air fuel tanker. The aircraft went missing with two capsules of nuclear weapon material. A nuclear detonation was not possible. An extensive search for the aircraft failed. Neither debris nor bodies were ever found. The crash site was never located.

7. EgyptAir Flight 990 – 1999

EgyptAir Flight 990 Mystery

The EgyptAir Flight 990 started its final journey from Los Angeles International Airport to Cairo. The flight never reached its destination. The flight carrying 217 people including crew members crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles away from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The flight was reported to have suddenly plunged to 14,000 feet in 36 seconds. The exact reason of the flight crash is still unsolved and there exists various theories. The accident that killed all 217 people on-board is alleged to have been caused due to a pilot suicide attempt. The theory also suspects that this incident was criminal and intentional rather than being accidental. Since this accident took place in the international waters, the investigation responsibility came to Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority. Since ECAA lacked the resources to handle the search investigation, it asked the much larger and powerful National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate.

6. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 – 1962

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 Mystery

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, L-1049 Super Constellation airliner mysteriously disappeared after 80 minutes of its departure from Travis Air Force Base, California en-route to Clark Air Base, Philippines. The U.S. military aircraft was carrying 93 U.S. soldiers and 3 Vietnamese soldiers. The aircraft is assumed to have crashed in the Pacific Ocean and all the 107 on-board the plane were declared dead and missing. U.S. military didn’t find any debris after spending millions and searching more than 200,000 square miles.

5. Pan Am Flight 7 – 1957

Pan Am Flight 7 Mystery

The Pan Am Flight 7 aircraft of the Pan American World Airways never touched its destination of Hawaii after taking-off from San Francisco. The flight was an around-the world flight that flew to many destinations. On November 8, 1957 after taking off from San Francisco the flight last contacted at U.S. Coast Guard on a routine duty after which the flight disappeared without any traces. The flight was carrying 44 people and all the people on-board the plane are assumed dead. After an extensive search on November 14, 1957 U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea found some bodies with life jacket and pieces of debris floating on the water. The definitive cause of the aircraft was never determined even after performing tests from the collected bodies and debris. It was concluded after various tests that carbon monoxide poisoning would’ve been the reason of the crash.

4. Varig Boeing 707-323C Brazilian Airlines – 1979

Varig Boeing 707-323C Disappearance Brazilian Airlines

This is the most mysterious plane disappearance from Brazil. The cargo aircraft of Brazilian airlines en-route from Narita International Airport, Tokyo to Galeão International Airport, Rio de Janeiro disappeared without any traces. It was carrying a crew of 6 members. It lost contact after 30 min from take-off. The interesting part of this aviation mystery is the cargo aircraft was travelling with 153 expensive paintings by Manabu Mabe valued more than $1.24 million. No debris or bodies were never ever found. It was assumed and concluded that cabin depressurization could have been the reason behind the crash that killed all the crew members.

3. Flight 19 Navy Bomber – 1945

Flight 19 Navy Bomber Mystery

The Flight 19 disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. The TBM Avenger torpedo bomber carried 14 crew members who are assumed dead. Various theories have been put forth about the flight’s mysterious disappearance. The flight carrying 13 member professional investigators searching for the lost flight got disoriented and assumed to have exploded mid-air. This is the most interesting thing about this incident that two flights disappeared and lost over the Bermuda Triangle.

2. Boeing 727-223 – 2003

Boeing 727-223 Disappearance

The Boeing 727-223 disappeared mysteriously without any trace on May 25, 2003. This sudden disappearance prompted FBI and CIA to conduct a worldwide search for the aircraft. This aircraft is alleged to have been stolen from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, Angola. The flight had two crew members and their whereabouts are still unconfirmed. On the day of the incident, two men were believed to have got inside the plane. One was an American pilot and another was flight engineer Ben Charles Padilla. Suddenly the airplane started moving into runway without clearance. It took-off and started moving towards the Atlantic Ocean. The communication channels, transponder and lights were switched off when the flight took off. After the incident, neither the two men nor the airplane have ever been sighted.

1. Malaysia Airlines MH370 – 2014

Malaysia Airlines MH370 Mystery

The Malaysian Airlines MH370 have perplexed researchers and scientists all over the world after its mysterious disappearance with 239 people and sudden disconnection from all radars. The ungrateful event occurred on March 8, 2014. The fate of the plane is still unsolved and has neither been confirmed nor found even after spending billions of dollars on multi-country search operations. This was confirmed to be most expensive search operation in aviation history ever conducted that spanned for more than 4,600,000 square kilometers and even the sea floors were scanned by the Australian military and navy. Multiple locations on the Indian Ocean were searched as the satellite information showed that the aircraft probably took deviations towards the Southern Indian Ocean. Many satellite images were taken which showed images of probable debris but none were confirmed after searching those areas. The rough sea, deep oceans and rough climate at those locations made the search operations difficult. The search operation was performed for several days by 15 nations. After almost a year on July 29, 2015 marine debris were found Reunion Island that was probably from the plane MH370. What caused the plane to deviate from the original path? Why didn’t the airplane send distress signals? What caused the plane to disappear from radars? What happened to the plane? These are some of the questions that surround one of the biggest aviation mysteries in the world.

Vinod Suthersan is an young tech enthusiast, Blogger addict, Internet craze and thriving to learn new things on the world of Internet.