Maybe Fossett's plane was torn apart and suffered the same fate.
Huh... how does she survive from a two mile fall in her plane seat? The Big Guy upstairs must have had a hand in it...
Hello Oatka (and to Smokin’ Joe; Stonewall Jackson)
That survival story about Juliane Köpcke is one H-LL-OF-A-RIDE!
Right up there with the nearly-unbelievable tales on Discovery Channel’s
“I Shouldn’t Be Alive” series.
I’d heard of a movie “Wings of Hope”, but never followed up or knew
the background of the film.
Interesting sidebar:
I think the model of Lockheed in the tale got a mention on The History
Channels “Modern Marvels” episodes on “engineering disasters”,
due to the loss of a plane over Texas due to break up of the wings
due to resonance of the engine mounts (better described by engineers,
not “VOA”)
Lockheed L-188 Electra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-188_Electra
In the above two crashes, NASA and Lockheed engineers eventually
determined that the engine mounts allowed too much precessional
movement of the propellers at a critical frequency which allowed
“whirl-mode” aeroelastic phenomenon, “flutter” in flight.
This flutter, by pure chance, occurred at the wings’ natural
resonance frequency, which further excited the harmonic oscillations,
which increased the wing flutter, that eventually led to separation of
a wing from the fuselage. The engine mounts were redesigned,
and the wing stiffened so the problem was solved by 1961.
The flying public’s confidence in the Electra, however, had been dealt
a near-fatal blow.
When it comes to searching for crash sites (of ANY type of vehicle)...
the PBS/NOVA episode (link below) reminds me...
1. Keep an open mind
2. Always remember that some sort of “X”-factor can account for
a failure to find the lost vehicle, no matter how great and conscientious
an effort is made to find the lost vehicle
3. Don’t beat up on yourself if you can’t find the vehicle; accept that
the crash site may never be found until a later generation or never at all
AND
4. NEVER BE SUPRISED what you’ll find when climbing, hiking, or
just walking or even relaxing.
Point Number 4 arose in my mind with the story of the mountain climbers
finding a Rolls-Royce engine while climbing the heights of the Andes.
(as in...”VOA” would have said “Who the h-ll drives a Rolls-Royce
to the bottom of a glacier in the Andes?” if I’d been one of the
climbers that discovered the engine!!!)
As much as “VOA” hates to endorse a production made without his
explicit consent and his tax dollars...
the PBS/NOVA production was a good recounting of a loss in early
commercial aviation on the fringes, a lack of understanding of the
jet-stream and how glaciers work over time.
Vanished!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vanished/
As for some of my favorite movies involving air crashes...
one that’s not so old, one that’s an oldie (apparently not even
available on DVD)
Alive (The Miracle of The Andes)
Ethan Hawke
John Malkovich (uncredited as “Old Carlitos”)
“Ave Maria” by Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106246/
VOA’s comment: The “Ave Maria” in the closing
credits with
the aerial photography of the crucifix memorial will fail to move
only the coldest heart.
And anyone that doesn’t get exhiliarated by two fellows descending
into the mountain meadows from a frozen peak probably has never
been in the mountains!
And John Malkovich’s uncredited narration as “Carlitos” later in life,
dragging on cigarettes and talking about he’d found G-d on the mountains
is a great bit of low-key spoken-word.
AND
The Mountain
Spencer Tracy
Robert Wagner
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049523/
A morality tale about an older brother (Spencer Tracy)trying to
rein in his younger brother’s greed.
And get both of them and any air-crash survivors off the mountain alive.
Too bad this film is so “old school” that it won’t get a nice
re-work and release on DVD.
(NOTE: The squeamish should avert their eyes when the older brother
has to stop a rapid fall)
Wow, what a story! I’m gonna check to see if Netflix has that movie!
Other links of interest:
(This was a story about a WAC pilot that went missing, most likely
over Santa Monica Bay while transporting a P-51 from what is today
LAX, or Los Angeles International Airport. There were rumours of
a film to be done on the topic.)
Memory assists in the search for lost plane
Frank Jacobs was 12 when he saw an aircraft plunge near LAX.
Could it have been WWII pilot Gertrude Tompkins and her P-51D?
http://www.aircraftwrecks.com/articles/dailybreeze/dailybreeze2.htm
Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts
of the American West
http://www.aircraftwrecks.com/index.htm