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The passenger manifest for British South American Airlines (BSAA) flight CS-59 might have made a perfect character list for a murder-mystery. Aboard were two businessman friends touring South America on the lookout for trade opportunities: a fun-loving Swiss and a self-made English executive. Also travelling were a Palestinian man who was rumoured to have a diamond stitched into his jacket, and a South American agent of the Dunlop tyre company who had once been the tutor to Prince Michael of Romania. The oldest passenger was in her seventies, a widow of German extraction returning to her Chilean home after an inconvenient World War had unexpectedly extended her stay abroad. And to add a whiff of espionage, a member of a select corps of British civil servants known as King’s Messengers joined the flight, carrying a diplomatic bag bound for the UK embassy across the border.
The crew maintained Morse-code radio contact with the ground for the duration of the flight, and just before it was scheduled to arrive they signalled their approach. But then a mysterious signal was received at Santiago airfield—comprising the letters “S-T-E-N-D-E-C”. Aware of no such Morse abbreviation, the radioman at Santiago requested a repeat of the signal, and the same cryptic message was received twice more. This inexplicable message was the last one received from flight CS-59; it answered subsequent signals with silence, and it never arrived at its destination.
“S-T-E-N-D-E-C” The Mystery Message
The Lancastrian’s vanishing act happened at a time of considerable political turmoil in South America. Deteriorating Anglo-Argentine relations held intriguing implications for the contents of the diplomatic bag carried by the King’s Messenger; sabotage might have been a convenient way to ensure that it never arrived at its destination.
Furthermore, it was hard to ignore the presence of a German-born woman on the flight at a time when American and British authorities were becoming increasingly frustrated with Argentina’s tendency to welcome Nazi criminals fleeing from war-torn Europe. There were myriad ways a Palestinian connection could be worked into a decent conspiracy theory– and no doubt the Romanian Royal family too– while the presence of businessmen on the flight raised the spectre of corporate skulduggery.
But the provoking possibilities of the passenger list were never reinforced by any definite facts. The utter completeness of Star Dust’s disappearance was so baffling that eventually even alien abduction was invoked; the 1970s Spanish UFO magazine ‘Stendek’ was named in misspelled reference to this theory
In 2000 the Argentine Army detachment found the debris scattered over one square kilometer, a relatively small area, so the bomb theory was discarded. The Army unit also discovered that the wheels on the plane were in an upward position, so the crew had not attempted an emergency landing. One of the two main landing wheels was still fully inflated after a half century! The searchers discovered one propeller, its tips scarred and bent backward, indicating that the prop had been revolving when the Lancastrian plowed into the Tupungato glacier. The investigators concluded that the aircraft had not stalled. The unit had to finish quickly. The site had been difficult to reach. The trekkers had abandoned their pack mules lower down, and ascended with what they could carry. It was hard work at this elevation, and the Army had supplies for only thirty-six hours.
All of this seems quite reasonable, but the last part of the puzzle has remained unsolved. (A chart showing Morse code might help readers verify the findings in this essay.) STENDEC is not a foreign word, or a piece of equipment. The radio operator in Santiago described the message as coming in “loud and clear,” adding only that it had been given out very quickly. In 1948 another wireless operator found that by altering the spacing between the symbols for S-T-E-N-D-E-C, one gets E-T-A-L-A-T-E, a common message: / . / - / . - / . - - . / - / . /. That may work with English or Spanish letters, but the Morse is not at all similar.
Originally posted by R3velutionR3quired
A good fifty miles from the airfield, Star Dust crashed into the sheer upper section of Tupungato glacier, killing the passengers and crew instantly.
stendec
Search Tupungato Error Navigational Descent Eminent Crash
Originally posted by nineix
Originally posted by R3velutionR3quired
A good fifty miles from the airfield, Star Dust crashed into the sheer upper section of Tupungato glacier, killing the passengers and crew instantly.
stendec
Search Tupungato Error Navigational Descent Eminent Crash
Search Tupungato Error Navigational Descent Eminent Crash seems unlikely in consideration that it only makes sense after the fact of finding the crash site, as well as there already being a more expedient Crash Eminent message called Mayday if the crew were aware of the danger they were in.
they sent the message 3 times. They could have been quite verbose about sending a Mayday if they were aware of a crash eminent situation.
Further, the landing gear was found stowed int he up position. Were they aware of such an emergency, it would have been likely for them to lower the landing gear to help shave off air speed quickly to allow for more time to correct.
The ETA LATE message would thus seem more likely looking at the evidence at the crash site; bent propeller indicating engines were running, stowed landing gear, etc.
The pilots were aware they were going to be late, but not of the close danger they were in.
Originally posted by nineix
Originally posted by R3velutionR3quired
A good fifty miles from the airfield, Star Dust crashed into the sheer upper section of Tupungato glacier, killing the passengers and crew instantly.
stendec
Search Tupungato Error Navigational Descent Eminent Crash
Search Tupungato Error Navigational Descent Eminent Crash seems unlikely in consideration that it only makes sense after the fact of finding the crash site, as well as there already being a more expedient Crash Eminent message called Mayday if the crew were aware of the danger they were in.
they sent the message 3 times. They could have been quite verbose about sending a Mayday if they were aware of a crash eminent situation.
Further, the landing gear was found stowed int he up position. Were they aware of such an emergency, it would have been likely for them to lower the landing gear to help shave off air speed quickly to allow for more time to correct.
The ETA LATE message would thus seem more likely looking at the evidence at the crash site; bent propeller indicating engines were running, stowed landing gear, etc.
The pilots were aware they were going to be late, but not of the close danger they were in.