Mysterious Passengers, An Unexplained Message and Ghost Pilots: 5 Unsolved Aviation Mysteries

At 5:04 pm on November 8, 1957, Captain Gordon Brown radioed air traffic control in Honolulu to report the status of his flight from San Francisco. Brown was at the helm of a Boeing Stratocruiser 377 named "Romance of the Skies," operating as Pan Am Flight 7, ferrying 38 passengers and eight crew members across the southern Pacific. He relayed that he was cruising at 10,000 feet with a 14 mph headwind and promised to check in again at 6:00 pm.

Those were his final words to the outside world.

When Brown failed to reach out to ground control at 6:00 pm, initial concern was minimal. Pilots occasionally missed their check-in times, but by 6:30 pm, the plane remained silent. A 90-minute silence was unusual, prompting Pan Am controllers to report the situation.

By 8:00 pm, emergency protocols were activated, and the US Coast Guard was alerted that Flight 7 had vanished.

The search operation began with four surface vessels, two submarines, and several aircraft deployed from Honolulu. As days passed without any sightings, the search fleet expanded to include over 30 aircraft and 14 ships.

On November 14, a Navy search plane spotted bodies and debris floating in the water, marking the location of Flight 7. Nineteen victims were recovered; 14 were in life jackets, one was still buckled into a seat, and none wore shoes.

This evidence suggested that passengers and crew had some warning before the crash, yet it remained unclear why the wreckage was found 90 miles off the planned course.

Wristwatches stopped at 5:27 pm, indicating the crash happened just 23 minutes after Captain Brown's last communication. Some bodies and wreckage bore signs of fire damage, and others mysteriously showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning in their bloodstreams.

Investigators would officially state that there was no apparent cause for the crash.

However, new theories have emerged following decades of private research aided by collaboration on the internet, with one major theory suggesting the plane might have been sabotaged.

Researcher Ken Fortenberry, son of the flight's second officer, pinpointed two suspects: Eugene Crosthwaite, the flight's head steward, and William Payne, a former Navy frogman with demolitions training.

Payne, who had mentioned traveling to Honolulu to settle a debt that cost less than his flight ticket, had secured a large life insurance policy shortly before the flight. A witness later stated that Payne had shown him explosive black powder in the days leading up to the flight.

Crosthwaite was known to harbor resentment towards Pan Am for issues that had occurred during his employment, and he had updated his will and left it in his car on the day of departure. His stepdaughter, Tania Crosthwaite, later disclosed to Fortenberry that her stepfather had been in a severe mental decline before the flight.

Other experts, like Gregg Herken, argue for a mechanical failure, noting the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser's history of propeller issues. This model had previously crashed in the Amazon in 1952, and another incident in 1956 involved engine failure and an ocean landing, resulting in four deaths.

Without further evidence, the true cause of Pan Am Flight 7's crash, claiming 46 lives in 1957, remains speculative...

[spacemutt]

Not sure why people keep pushing the whole STENDEC mystery. "STENDEC" uses the same dot and dashes as "SCTI AR". SCTI was the four-letter code for Los Cerrillos Airport in Santiago, AR being the Morse for "over". The message was simply 'arriving Los Cerrillos, Over'. The code would have been copied down incorrectly due to the nature of transmitting code very fast. The only people who make it a mystery are those who refuse to acknowledge the obvious and glaring mistakes in what was written down.

[joshuarisker]

Any aviation mystery to solve would have to be Amelia earheart or flight 19 from ww2 the bombers that went missing off the Florida coast or mh370 actually I'd pick that one because there is still people hurting for answers

[brj_han]

I remember a book about Eastern Flight 401 came out when I was in high school. Real life ghost stories scarred the _bleep_ out of me when I was a kid, lol...

[charliemopic]

An interesting fact about Captain Robert Loft it was found during his autopsy he had a brain tumor, although it was concluded it did not contribute to flight 401's crash.

[dominiquemajewski]

STENDEC = “Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing” (used by World War II pilots).

[archibaldfencepost]

Love the videos. On a layover waiting to fly back home so maybe not my best timing but keep em coming!

[MidnightDarkness]

There's something very comforting about the idea of the ghost of a deceased co-worker staying close to the mortal plain in order to help people avoid their tragic fate

[chillindave]

"There's something on the wing"

[seandelap]

So the nightclub in Dublin wasn't the only stardust disaster

[littlespinycactus]

That STENDEC was a actually a recognized RAF acronym- albeit an archaic one- was news to me. That being so (with a respectful nod to spacemutt1978's compelling transcription error hypothesis) it's plausible that an ex-RAF pilot in a high stress situation may have reverted to his training protocol. He may even have been consciously attempting to communicate more information about the precise nature of the emergency than could be conveyed by an SOS call. On the other hand, the likelihood of STENDEC making any sense at all to the controller is less than zero although, again, stress may have impaired the pilot's logic. Whatever- it's food for thought: TY Dark 5- you do it every time.

[juaerez]

Well written and spoken narration. Please, don’t ever resort to using the awful AI generated drivel so many channels seem to be using.

[Lanwarder]

To be fair, historically, plenty of people will do/redo their wills before going on a know that flight or more secure than car rides, but people still do that anyway.

[jacobbauer]

My favorite to solve is the last one....What became of the two naval officers!

[MBSill]

You guys never cease to amaze me. Year after year, video after video, you continue to deliver the best content with the best presentation on the platform. Thanx for all you do to get these videos to us. You have an outstanding channel here.

[davidhabert]

I'm surprised that the *Disappearance of Frederick Valentich* isn't on this list. Because there are also aviation mysteries involving UFOs/UAPs which deserve some recognition.

[xraydelta]

I read the book "The Ghosts of Flight 401" many years ago. Pretty amazing.

[NinjaZXRR]

remember the one when george had a hide away built under his desk at yankee stadium.

[samuelsirota]

First story was a Boeing craft.

RIP the homie

[SmedlyButler-cqiq]

Big thanks to Dark 5 for always being my main squeeze ❤❤❤

[GetOffMyyLawn]

There are 2 movies about Flight 401... "Crash (1978)" with William Shatner, and the made for TV "THE GHOST OF FLIGHT 401 (1978)"