Tragedy In the Skies - 10 Aircraft That Took Off but Never Returned

What goes up must come down ... or does it?

Published 5 months ago in Creepy

Despite the old adage — or rather, the long-standing law of physics — that what goes up must come down, there are a few notable exceptions to that ironclad rule. Case in point? Amelia Earhart, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and all the other airplanes and aircraft that disappeared into the evidently-not-so-friendly skies.

From a doomed Pan Am flight to a hot air balloon voyage to oblivion, here are 10 aircraft that took off and never touched back down again.

1
Legendary aviator Amelia Earhart famously went missing in June 1937 during an attempt at flying around the world. While her plane has yet to be recovered, Deep Sea Vision, an underwater surveillance company based in Charleston, South Carolina, claimed they discovered an object resembling Earhart’s plane within 100 miles of Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

2
A Miami-bound Faucett Perú Boeing 727 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean in 1990 after crew sent out a distress signal that the plane had run out of fuel. Its last known location was roughly 250n miles southeast of St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada. The aircraft was never found.

3
“The Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance is not a total mystery. Although we haven't found the complete wreckage multiple investigations paint a picture of what probably happened. Spoiler: the senior pilot most likely flew the plane into the ocean after killing everyone on board.”
4
“In 2003, two men stole & flew a Boeing 727-223 parked at the Luanda International Airport (in Angola) and neither of them was qualified to fly the plane. The plane & the men are missing to date.”

5
On March 16, 1962, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean en route from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to Saigon, Vietnam. Though the flight, which was carrying, 107 passengers, was never found, it is suspected to have exploded during the flight.
6
On December 5, 1945, five General Motors bomber planes vanished while flying above the Atlantic Ocean. Its disappearance is widely credited with stoking the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.
7
On June 28 1858, balloonist Matías Pérez Disappeared while attempting a hot air balloon ascent above Havana, Cuba on a windy day. He was never seen again after that fateful takeoff, yet his story inspired the Cuban adage of "Voló como Matías Pérez,” which means ”flew away like Matías Pérez.”

8
On July 21, 1951, a plane transporting 31 passengers and six crew members disappeared while traveling from Vancouver, Canada to Tokyo, Japan. Facing adverse weather conditions, its last known transmission was roughly 90 minutes outside of Anchorage, Alaska, where it was supposed to make a refueling stop. The flight was never seen or heard from again.
9
On November 8, 1957, a Pan Am flight heading from San Francisco too Honolulu crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Fragments of the plane — and bodies of 19 of the plane’s 36 passengers, including one still strapped into their seat — were discovered roughly 900 nautical miles northeast of Honolulu.
10
On January 30, 1979, Varig Flight 967, which was en route from Tokyo, Japan. To Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, disappeared roughly 200 km from Tokyo. The plane, its six crew members and the 53 Manabu Mabe paintings on board were never found.