In addition to the famous top-secret Air Force base called Area 51 in the Nevada Desert, this place hides more amazing secrets, especially when it comes to missing planes. In fact, it is estimated that about 2,000 aircraft have gone missing here in the past 60 years alone. This area is called the Nevada Triangle and is also known as the "aircraft graveyard".
Many of those who went missing in the triangle were very experienced pilots, so what made them disappear into thin air? Inside the Nevada Triangle, strange things are happening with the equipment: compasses fail, and fires break out on board. There are many theories about what is causing all of these disappearances, which include both simple pilot error and air currents crashing into the mountains, and even Area 51 and aliens.
While the locations of some of the plane crashes have been found, other missing aircraft and their crash sites have never been found. A couple of weeks ago we told you about the little-known Alaska Triangle, and today we will tell you 10 strange facts about the equally little-known Nevada Triangle.
10. Location of the Nevada Triangle
The borders of the Nevada Triangle run from Las Vegas in Nevada in the southeast, to Fresno in California in the west, and to Reno in Nevada, which is located at the apex of the triangle. The Sierra Nevada mountain range stretches 640 km from Nevada to California and is located right within the death triangle. It also houses three famous parks: Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
The Sierra Nevada mountain range is a very remote area with over 40,000 km of mountainous desert and rugged wilderness. There are exceptionally high mountain peaks here, including Mount Whitney, the highest peak of the ridge, whose height is 4418 meters. This treacherous terrain makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find aircraft missing over the years.
Promotional video:
9. Thousands of missing planes
Over the past 60 years, about 2,000 aircraft have gone missing in the Nevada Triangle. This averages three disappearances every month. Even more disturbing is the fact that most of these planes have never been found - no wreckage or human remains. As if they had vanished into thin air.
The most famous place on the planet where planes and ships disappeared is the Bermuda Triangle. However, the total number of aircraft missing in the Nevada Triangle is much higher than the number of aircraft missing in the Bermuda Triangle. In fact, there have been about 30 unsolved aircraft and / or sea vessel disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle since the late 1800s - far fewer than the 2,000 aircraft disappeared in the Nevada Triangle in the past 60 years alone.
8. Zone 51
The most famous "secret" airbase is located in Area 51, and by chance (or not) it is located inside the Nevada Triangle. One possible theory for why so many aircraft are missing in the area is that it is due to the presence of a heavily guarded military base here. It's impossible to get close to Area 51 without being stopped by an armed guard, but what happens if a plane flies too close to the base? Most likely he will be shot down. A more fantastic but popular theory is that UFOs were housed at the base, so disappearances in the area could be linked to paranormal activity or even aliens.
While some of the fatal crashes can be explained by military exercises and experiments in which something went wrong, there is still no explanation for the countless disappearances of other planes that did not even fly over this area.
7. What happened to the flight Gambler's Special?
On February 18, 1969, Nevada Airlines Flight 708 Hawthorne, dubbed Gambler'S Special, flew from Long Beach to Burbank and then to Hawthorne, with people on board gambling and having fun. The plane went missing along with 35 people on board (32 passengers and 3 crew members). Five more people died during the search. Finally, the wreckage was found on Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada. Ironically, after examining the wreckage, no signs of any mechanical or electrical malfunction were found, so it is unclear what caused the plane to crash.
When the first person approached the scene of the accident, he found a tube of lipstick lying on the ground, as well as mascara, which was surprisingly still wet inside. He also found shiny coins, most likely from a slot machine, and the flight attendant's jacket looked even more tragic.
6. The missing B-24 bomber
One of the first aircraft to go missing at this location was the B-24 bomber, which disappeared on December 5, 1943. This happened during a routine night exercise, and the flight began from Fresno in California, then the bomber was to fly to Bakersfield in California, to Tucson in Arizona and back. The bomber carried pilot Lt. Willis Turvey and co-pilot Lt. Robert M. Hester, as well as four other crew members - Lt. William Thomas Cronin, Lt. Ellis. H. Fish, Sergeant Robert Bursey and Sergeant Howard A. Wandtke.
The search for the missing plane and its passengers began the next day, with nine B-24 bombers in search of them. The situation became even more tragic when one of those bombers carrying squadron commander Captain William Darden and his crew also went missing while searching. His plane was not found until 1955, when Huntington Lake was drained to repair the dam. The five crew members were still sitting in their seats inside the plane, 57 meters below the water. However, two of the crew members were able to eject from the plane by parachute and survived. They stated that the pilot had probably gotten the wrong idea that the water was frozen and thought it was a good place to land the plane, but in reality it was not.and the bomber was at the bottom of the lake.
The first B-24 bomber that went missing on December 5 was finally recovered in July 1960, when geological exploration discovered debris in what is now known as Hester Lake.
5. Disappearance of a training aircraft in 1957
On May 9, 1957, another T-33 military trainer, on which Air Force Lieutenant David Steeves was heading from Hamilton AFB near San Francisco to Arizona, went missing. When he and the plane were not found after a thorough search, the lieutenant was officially declared dead. However, 54 days later, the pilot came to camp in Kings Canyon National Park.
He stated that something exploded on his plane and he had to eject. Upon landing, he severely injured both ankle joints, and he also had to drag a parachute with him to keep warm, since for 15 days he crawled in subzero temperatures at a high altitude, having covered a total of more than 30 km, unable to eat and rest in shelter. Then, in the National Park, he came across an abandoned service lodge where there was little food, and he was able to fish and hunt until he had enough strength to keep walking and eventually came out to civilization.
Finally, in 1977, the Boy Scouts discovered the canopy from his plane, but no debris was found.
4. Other mystical disappearances
While this list mentions some of the more famous disappearances that occurred in the Nevada Triangle, there are countless others worth mentioning, to name just a few …
In 1941, Lieutenant Leonard C. Lydon was flying over the mountains with his army fighter squadron when he had to parachute out of an airplane. It landed about a kilometer from the site where the plane supposedly crashed, which was in remote Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, but to this day no wreckage has been found. The lieutenant even claimed to have seen the plane crash, so in theory he knew where the crash site was, but it seemed to vanish into thin air.
In August 1964, a wealthy real estate developer named Charles Ogle flew out of Oakland, California, but disappeared on his way to Las Vegas. He was an experienced Marine Corps pilot, so he definitely had enough skills to fly. Neither he nor his plane were ever found.
3. Are mountain waves to blame?
Some believe that all the wrecks in the Nevada Triangle are caused by a natural phenomenon called a "mountain wave." This phenomenon is airflow that results from unpredictable winds and downdrafts. The weather over the mountainous region is indeed unpredictable; sudden and strong thunderstorms can occur here, during which very strong winds blow.
The mountains are perpendicular to the high-altitude jet stream, which, combined with factors such as high peaks and a wedge-shaped ridge, can cause serious problems. Downdrafts and the high winds they cause can be extremely dangerous for a small aircraft, quickly dropping it to the ground.
2. Microbursts and Delta Flight 191
On August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was landing at Fort Worth Airport in Dallas. However, less than a kilometer from the runway, it crashed into two reservoirs of water, killing 137 people and injuring 20 more. It was found that the cause of the crash was a downdraft (or microburst). Obviously this has nothing to do with the Nevada Triangle itself, but we're talking about it to illustrate how microbursts can cause planes to disappear.
A microburst is a small downdraft that travels away from a tornado and is often formed during very severe thunderstorms. They form very strong gusts of wind that can last from a few seconds to a few minutes, and the strength of the wind is such that it can knock large trees over. Occasionally, in the Sierra Nevada, gusts of wind can rush downward at a speed of 120 meters per minute or more, and then travel upward at an even higher speed, resulting in a plane crash.
1. The disappearance of Steve Fossett
The most famous disappearance in the Nevada Triangle was the disappearance of American businessman Steve Fossett. Fossett is widely recognized for setting several world aviation records and becoming the first person to fly around the planet in a hot air balloon on his own without stopping. He was definitely an adventurer who also loved sailing.
On September 3, 2007, he was flying his Bellanca Super Decathlon single-engine aircraft over the Nevada's Great Basin Desert when he suddenly disappeared. Searches were made for the pilot and his plane, but the wreckage was never found, although the search engines came across several crash sites of other missing aircraft. After a month, the search for Fossett was terminated. The following year, a mountain climber discovered a businessman's identity card in the desert. A couple of days later, the crash site was discovered, which was located about 100 km from the place from where the businessman took off. About a month later, two bones were found 800 meters from the crash site, after studying which it turned out that they belong to Fossett.
After examining the wreckage of the aircraft, it was not established that any equipment malfunction led to the accident. Why did such an experienced pilot crash? The theory behind the accident is that the plane collided with a wind stream moving at a speed of 600 km per hour, which it could not withstand.