# Are there any unfound missing planes on land **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703 "2015-12-17T16:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/1 "2015-12-17T16:08:35Z")
I was reading over a list of missing aircraft the other day. It was quite fascinating as it included some pretty large planes. However, all of them had been presumed lost at sea. Are there any missing planes that disappeared over land that have not been found? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/2 "2015-12-17T16:20:06Z")
A friend of mine’s dad died in a small plane crash 30+ years ago. The wreckage was never found. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/3 "2015-12-17T16:23:29Z")
In 1972, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs was in a twin-engine plane wih Rep Nick Begich of Alaska (along with an aide and the pilot) when the plane went down in a remote part of Alaska. It was never found. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/4 "2015-12-17T16:31:49Z")
A quick search of Wikipedia suggests that Alaska and the Andes mountains are still pretty impenetrable when it comes to finding wrecks. In 2003 a Boeing 727 operated by TAAG Angola Airlines was stolen from the airport at Luanda. It took off and was never seen again. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/5 "2015-12-17T16:34:20Z")
One Wikipedia article mentioned (uncited) that during the search for Steve Fossett’s plane in Nevada a few years ago, eight unidentified airplane crashes were found. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/6 "2015-12-17T16:43:57Z")
Well, [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_New_Hampshire_Learjet_crash) in New Hampshire wasn’t found for three years. It can be surprisingly hard to find an aircraft that doesn’t have an electronic location transmitter. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/7 "2015-12-17T16:44:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In 1972, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs was in a twin-engine plane wih Rep Nick Begich of Alaska (along with an aide and the pilot) when the plane went down in a remote part of Alaska. It was never found. I knew Nick, and his son Mark. It was quite a loss for Alaska. It’s thought that the plane iced up and crashed on an glacial field. The pilot was known for his views that icing was a myth. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/8 "2015-12-17T16:53:11Z")
As always wikipedia has us covered: > **[List of missing aircraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missing_aircraft)** > > This list of missing aircraft includes aircraft that have disappeared and whose locations are unknown. According to Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, an aircraft is considered to be missing "when the official search has been terminated and the wreckage has not been located". However, there still remains a "grey area" on how much wreckage needs to be found for a plane to be declared "recovered". This list does not include every aviator, or even every air passenger that... Lists many missing presumed over land. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/9 "2015-12-17T16:58:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > One Wikipedia article mentioned (uncited) that during the search for Steve Fossett’s plane in Nevada a few years ago, eight unidentified airplane crashes were found. Note to self: never fly anywhere near there! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/10 "2015-12-17T17:03:23Z")
I’ve seen a facebook post of someone who lost their drone as it got caught in the wind and last sighted being blown towards some woods. AFAIK it has never been found or even seen even again. creepy… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/11 "2015-12-17T17:21:08Z")
Finding lost planes can take quite awhile, [even in non-mountainous areas](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-remains-of-lady-be-good/). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/12 "2015-12-17T18:04:48Z")
There was an aircraft found a few years ago north of Vancouver - that disappeared during WWII. It was always assumed it crashed into the water on approach between Vancouver airport and the island. In fact, it crashed into the wilderness preserve in the mountains across the bay from Vancouver. Since the area is a source of Vancouver drinking water, it is not developed and hiking etc. in there is discouraged. I also recall reading about a bomber found in the Greenland ice from WWII, lost while ferrying across the north Atlantic. Another fighter aircraft from WWII found in the deserts of Egypt a few years ago, it must have wandered a long way off course after one of the battles. S. A. Andrée’s Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 - the balloon failed and the group tried to trek home, their final camp was not found until 1930. There are some amazing pictures, the film was still in their camera when found, and developed 33 years after the expedition. > **[Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._A._Andr%C3%A9e%27s_Arctic_Balloon_Expedition_of_1897)** > > Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was a failed effort to reach the North Pole, resulting in the deaths of all three Swedish expedition members, S. A. Andrée, Knut Frænkel, and Nils Strindberg. Andrée, the first Swedish balloonist\[citation needed\], proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way. The scheme was received with patriotic enthusiasm in Sweden, a northern nation that had fal... ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/13 "2015-12-17T18:11:32Z")
I know of a small plane that was lost in Alaska. It was eventually found and was being salvaged by long-lining it out with a helicopter. The helicopter had some mechanical problems and had to dump the plane, it took another twenty years to find it again. To be fair though, they already salvaged the ID plate and the rest of the plane wasn’t all that valuable. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/14 "2015-12-17T18:51:48Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > S. A. Andrée’s Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 - the balloon failed and the group tried to trek home, their final camp was not found until 1930. There are some amazing pictures, the film was still in their camera when found, and developed 33 years after the expedition. > [Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._A._Andr%C3%A9e%27s_Arctic_Balloon_Expedition_of_1897) This is a fascinating tale. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/15 "2015-12-17T20:03:50Z")
Has anybody found Nungesser and Coli’s plane? they were trying to cross the Atlantic-rumor has it that they crashed in Maine. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/16 "2015-12-17T22:22:47Z")
Speaking of missing planes… I was at some management seminar, the speaker mentioned everyone knew Lindbergh was the first person to cross the Atlantic solo, but nobody remembered the second person. Amelia Erhardt, 5 years later. Once it was done, there was no great motivation to repeat it except as part of something bigger. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/17 "2015-12-17T22:39:57Z")
[Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Douglas_C-54D_disappearance) another notable one: an Air Force transport plane that disappeared with 44 people on it _somewhere_ between the Yukon and Montana in 1950 and never found. That search was called off because a few weeks later the search planes were needed to find a [huge bomber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_British_Columbia_B-36_crash) that crashed in BC that was only found years later. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/18 "2015-12-17T22:48:56Z")
How about this one? I entered “STENDEC” into Wikipedia’s search engine, and found this. It was a complete mystery for more than 50 years, until the wreckage and body parts started emerging from a glacial terminus. > **[1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_BSAA_Avro_Lancastrian_Star_Dust_accident)** > > On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes. An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site. The fate of the aircraft and its occupants remained unknown for over fifty years, giving rise to various conspiracy theories about its disappearance. > In the late 1990s, pieces of w... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/19 "2015-12-17T22:56:24Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > How about this one? I entered “STENDEC” into Wikipedia’s search engine, and found this. It was a complete mystery for more than 50 years, until the wreckage and body parts started emerging from a glacial terminus. > > [1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_BSAA_Avro_Lancastrian_Star_Dust_accident) My guess is that STENDEC was a commercial cablegram code, but if no one has figured that by now, I must be wrong. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703/20 "2015-12-17T23:40:49Z")
A private plane crashed into Folsom Lake outside Sacramento many years ago and was never found. Now because of the drought, the missing pilot’s family keeps hoping the plane will show up in the receding waters, but so far no luck. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-unfound-missing-planes-on-land/740703.md?page=2)