Northwest FLT2501 dissapears in Lake MI.

[WrightAvia]

http://www.michiganshipwrecks.org/dc4.htm

Have any of you airline history buffs heard anything about this 1950's airline disaster? I read elsewhere, that some donkey was trying to say UFO's were involved. I also read in the book, "flying the line-the first 50 years of ALPA" that one of their union big wheels was lost in this crash.

 

[fLYbUDDY]

That's pretty crazy!

It sounds like it probably went down because of the t-storms he was trying to avoid. As far as the UFO people go, the light they saw was probably distant lightning and the plane probably did disappear but only after it crashed into the lake, probably in a different location then they searched, and sank into the mud-bottom. It's funny how something so rationally explainable can be written off as justifying UFOs having something to do with this.

Reading that article really me wonder how many planes around the world disappeared without any trace either into a large body of water or undiscovered terrain.

What do you all think?

I bet it happened a lot, especially in the early days before tracking radar and ELTs.

 

[KlingonLRDRVR]

Cant't tell you what happened to NWA over lake Michigan but I can tell you a freaky but true story. My first leg used to be STP to BKL (St. Paul, MN to Cleveland Burke Lakefront) The normal route would bring me over Milwaukee at FL 330. Twice over the middle of Lake Michigan, at FL 330, in two different Lears I have blown outflow valves and had to do an emergency decent. Think of those odds. A friend of mine claims there is a "Burmuda Triangle" in the great lakes but I never did research that fairy tale. Kind of makes me wonder, and here I contributed my luck to flying worn out frieghtweasels.

KlingonLRDRVR

 

[VampyreGTX]

How were these older planes in standing up to lightning strikes? Since one of the witnesses mentiones the yellow trailing light from the wing, that could indicate flames out of the wing or engine. Could they have been struck by lightning, igniting the fuel line and the pilots not realize it until the flames reach the fuel tank and it blow up? Just something I though of reading that.

 

[flywithastick]

and their last radio transmission was "STENDEC"...

 

[WrightAvia]

HEY KlingonLRDRVR, you may find this

website on some stories of the "Lake Michigan Triangle" interesting.

http://mimufon.org/1980 articles/TheGreatLakesTriangle.htm

 

[LXApilot]

Lake Michigan TriAngle?

Interesting- that's not the only mysterious crash over the lake:

16 August 1965 - United Airlines 389
Boeing 727-222 Adv. disappeared
30 of 30 occupants assumed dead
Aircraft crashed into Lake Michigan while approaching
Chicago Midway Airport. Cause Unknown.

I'd have to say that there is 'something' going on over
the lake, or more is there than meets the eye. I've
flown over the lake a few times and never had any
trouble... but I'm going to go knock on some wood!

Fly safe -

Off of O'Hare in the middle of the night in the crap
turning over the lake for direct Giper or Keeler and
tell me you don't 'gulp' ...

 

[House_X]

Next time I have a CVG to ATW round, I'll request a re-route...scary stuff!!!!

 

[WrightAvia]

After todays skydive, I have it on good authority that if it aint your day to go...It aint your day to go.

Go ahead and fly across lake MI. The TRI-ANGLE thing is just urban folklore.

 

[eaglefly]

The UAL accident in '65 was a -100 series 727. It involved a night decsent into Lake Michigan on what is now the PMM arrival about where PAPPI intersection is.

This accident was attributed to a misreading of the "old-style" altimiters used in jet transports at that time. It could be easily misread by exactly 10,000 ft.