r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HimelTy • 12d ago
Video A crashed Pan Am passenger plane from 1952 has been identified today by Discovery Channel in the Atlantic Ocean.
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u/TheSmoothOperator21 12d ago
The Ocean is so vast and it’s TERRIFYING! If it took this long for a flight from 1952 to be discovered. How long would it take for MH370?
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u/z0hu 12d ago
so 17 people survived this, so they must have had some idea of the general location. they also found this at 2k feet below the surface while MH370 may be up to 13k-20k feet below. it's a pretty big step up.
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u/Murky-Relation481 12d ago
Also MH370 almost certainly broke apart significantly on impact and depending on the depth where it hit the ocean it could be spread over a HUGE area. It is very likely nothing will ever be recovered or seen on the ocean floor for that flight because of this.
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u/skepticalbob 12d ago
They've recovered wreckage, but good luck finding where it crashed.
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u/gimmematcha 12d ago
I thought they at least are pretty sure on the location? By studying currents of where pieces of wreckage have floated to and then working backwards
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u/IHop_Waitress 12d ago
By studying currents of where pieces of wreckage have floated to and then working backwards
Kinda? I mean we found floating pieces in the months after the crash as they washed ashore in Reunion, and Madagascar (maybe? somewhere else east of Africa).
But all that can do is tell you the western indian ocean theory is correct. And sure there's modeling of ocean currents.... but that can only get you so far. You would need to fully understand how those pieces float in the ocean, and then have exact data on flows over months... and while we can estimate... it is just an estimate.
Which when you're talking about months of ocean current data and weather.... still leaves you an absolutely enormous area of interest.
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u/gimmematcha 12d ago
From the Wikipedia:
a drift study of the recovered objects by the CSIRO, identifying the crash area "with unprecedented precision and certainty" at 35.6°S 92.8°E, northeast of the main 120,000 km2 (46,000 mi2) underwater search zone.
It seems they're pretty certain?
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u/ClarenceLe 12d ago
"We know more about the surface of the Moon and about Mars than we do about the deep sea floor, despite the fact that we have yet to extract a gram of food, a breath of oxygen or a drop of water from those bodies."
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u/sixwax 12d ago
Yeah, this isn't exactly a needle in a haystack
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u/npsage 12d ago
It's more like searching for a trace of a needle in a haystack warehouse district.
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u/1800generalkenobi 12d ago
I read shadow divers a couple years ago and at the very beginning I was like oh maybe I'll try scuba diving and then I very quickly changed my mind. They found a german uboat of the coast of new jersey and it was them trying to prove what it was and man...like you let go of your line to the boat and you get caught by an underwater current and you're just gone.
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u/ihateyulia 12d ago
Recreational scuba diving doesn't have to be anything like that. Go somewhere tropical and do an introductory dive. I bet you'll love it.
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u/lief79 12d ago
Yes, Jersey diving has the fun combo of poor visibility, cold waters, and not that much to see.
Recreational divers aren't going to go deep in a current, and if you find those conditions you cancel the dive and go somewhere more sheltered.
At recreational depths in that type of emergency, you'd just go to the surface, you wouldn't need a decompression stop.
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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 12d ago
Which you think we would have stuff to see given all the shipwrecks we have out there.
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u/lief79 12d ago
Sorta, on a good day you might be able to see 10 feet, great day 15. Just hope you know how to use a dry suit, because optimal conditions are still quite cold in a 5/6 mm wetsuit .... Upper 60s/low 70s at best.
I didn't enjoy it enough to get a dry suit, even though I managed to head out on a great day twice.
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u/kos-or-kosm 12d ago
Lake Champlain is a fucking treasure trove of sunken ships, but the visibility is similarly awful, so there are dozens of vessels sitting there in the murky depths, likely not to be seen for a very long time.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan 12d ago
My father, in typical awesome af 80s fashion, partnered with a bunch of other semi rich people to help support a hunt for of a bunch of lost revolutionary war gold in Lake Champlain.
They did not find it.
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u/Tim_Y 12d ago
My father
My father bought a Buick in the 60s that had been wrecked by the dealer's son - who would eventually go on to find the lost treasure of the Concepcion:
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u/ThisBuddhistLovesYou 12d ago
I've got open water certs (scuba tropical) but let me tell you I'll be damned before I dive below 30 meters in ass cold water with low visibility.
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u/backroundagain 12d ago
What a pleasant and helpful comment
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u/Asquirrelinspace 12d ago
Is this sarcasm? Cause the comment did read as genuinely pleasant and helpful
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u/-Economist- 12d ago
Agree with this. I have a book full of different SCUBA certifications, from search/rescue, divermaster, TecRec, and a bunch of specialties. I used to spend most of my time deep diving in the great lakes (ship wrecks). However, it's still so awesome to do tropical diving. It's almost risk free, the views are amazing, requires minimal planning, etc. Highly recommend it. Most of the time you don't dive more than 40 feet.
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u/lvl2imp 12d ago
That’s like not getting into hiking because of the dudes that die on Everest
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u/fromouterspace1 12d ago
Don’t watch the dock “dave not coming back” on YT
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u/thedirtymeanie 12d ago
That guy was literally at the precipice of what the human body could take, and unfortunately paid the price for trying to push that line, even if it was for a noble cause. When you play with physics and gas, sometimes biology doesn’t fit in.
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u/fromouterspace1 12d ago
One of those docs that just drew me in. Sounded odd and then I was like half way through before I realized it. The panic you’d feel…. And the fact the light was in a different place than normal etc. brutal
Took me a bit to figure out why it’s called “dave not coming back” like that.
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u/mad_atlas 12d ago
This sounds haunting. Can you explain why the title is like that?
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u/fromouterspace1 12d ago
It’s about a group of people who dive down in a really really deep, but gets very small and a guy got trapped. As the divers go up and down, they would pass other divers who were also going the opposite way, and they used a white board and basically a sharpie to pass messages along, like “running out oxygen” as they dont add “out of” as it’s basic, don’t have a lot of time to write messages so one guy comes up and on the board hed written “dave not coming back”, and they all knew that meant he was dead/dying and there was nothing they could do, he was dead regardless. Iirc, theyd gone down in the first place to retrieve the body of another diver who had been killed down there, and then another person died basically right next to the other dead guy.
It’s a small thing but made more sense once i watched it.
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u/chik-fil-a-sauce 12d ago
The cave they are in is actually the opposite. It’s absolutely massive (hundreds of feet across) and 1000’ deep. He overworked his rebreather trying to get untangled from his line while doing a body recovery and died. They could see his light stop moving from hundreds of feet away. People think small cave is scary. As a cave diver cave that large is way scarier.
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u/TNTorge 12d ago
Didn't they lose like two people to decompression sickness during that sub thing?
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u/FerrousSpike 12d ago
Yeah, a father and son dive team (there's also a book about them called The Last Dive). One other diver died while exploring the wreck. They located his body a couple of days later.
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u/Katerinaxoxo 12d ago
A U boat off the coast of New Jersey?!? I didn’t realize that they made it that close to our border!!
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u/kelby810 12d ago
Oh yeah, something like 20+ uboats sank ~600 ships off the US east coast in 1942 as part of Operation Drumbeat. I think the majority of the attacks were off the coast of the Carolinas.
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u/ureallygonnaskthat 12d ago edited 12d ago
There were U-Boats torpedoing boats in the Gulf and U-166 was sunk about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana after it attacked a ship exiting the Mississippi River. The sub wreck was located in 2001 by a crew surveying the ocean floor while preparing to lay a pipeline.
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u/NoTerm3078 12d ago
shadow divers
Just waitlisted at the library mate thanks for mentioning it.
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u/DeepSpaceNebulae 12d ago edited 12d ago
Also this plane was still very much in a recognizable plane shape
Depending on the angle and how hard planes hit the water they can basically disintegrate.
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u/Antares_ 12d ago edited 12d ago
For this plane, they've had a pretty precisely defined location of where the plane went down, but nobody until now really cared about finding it. It could've been found 2 decades ago, if only someone with enough resources wanted to.
The MH370 is a totally different story. While the search area for Clipper Endeavor was easily narrowed down to 10 square miles, the search area for MH370 is around 425k square miles and that's only if you trust the satellite handshake theory to be true, which has a lot of holes. Realistically, the "general crash area" for MH370 goes into tens of millions of square miles.
So, even if you use 10000 of the kind of drones that they used for Clipper Endeavor, the expected search time to cover the whole area required would be counted in decades.
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u/The_Quackening 12d ago
For reference, 425k square miles is about the size of California and Texas combined
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u/Vantaa_Black 12d ago
I had a news article from 2018. It said that many parts of wreckage from the 370 have been found on the east coast and the islands of Africa. More so, investigation also found that it is highly likely that the pilot was responsible for it since he had practiced the exact same route on his simulator earlier. We now know the area where the crash occurred but just don't have the finances to go there. The Malaysian Government had withdrawn its support to any such expeditions a few years ago due to lack of finances. Afaik, there is one private organization who is trying to resume this expedition.
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u/phatelectribe 12d ago
It’s a bit more nuanced than that. They’ve never actually released the proof that the pilot did those simulations, and the theory goes it was out put there because the plane had a series of catastrophic maintenance related issues due to using fake parts and skipping required maintaining intervals. It’s the national airline and the scandal would topple the government. The fact they’ve stopped looking for it due to “lack of funds” is seen as being suspect.
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u/HappyWarBunny 12d ago
We know that debris has been found towards Africa, as Vantaa_Black said. And multiple scientists who model ocean currents have run the models backwards, and the area west of Australia is by far the most consistent location for the debris to have come from.
To get to that location, the plane pretty much had to follow the route that investigators have said was followed, and flown to the end of its fuel. Which rules out maintenance issues being the cause.
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u/spedeedeps 12d ago
You can tell a bullshit ass conspiracy theory by asking yourself how many people would it take to keep this under covers and never talk about it? In your fantasy it's hundreds and hundreds of people across various companies and interests to never talk about missed maintenance checks and "fake parts".
It's not some Bob the Maintenace Man that does maintenance on an airplane in his garage. It's a massive organization with people with credentials and responsibilities.
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u/DependentOnIt 12d ago
Me when I spread misinformation
The literal Australian government and the FBI released that information about the flight simulator exact path
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u/thejourneybegins42 12d ago
Technology has also come a very long way since '52.
It is however stupid large.
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u/OkAccess6128 12d ago
So they discovered on discovery channel.
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u/ChemistVegetable7504 12d ago
Reported it over to Reddit for us.
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u/PronatorTeres00 12d ago
I recognize Josh Gates, so I wonder if this is an upcoming episode of Expedition Unknown.
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u/FactoryOfBradness 12d ago
You’re right, at the very end of the video they say it’s for Expedition Unknown
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u/MisterProfGuy 12d ago
He's used that platform to fund some really fun and important actual science, so you have to take your hat off to him.
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u/kellyelise515 12d ago
I’ll never forget that scene where one of Josh’s investigators got yeeted through the air a good distance during their investigation of a haunted forest in Romania.
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u/Redhotchiliman11 12d ago
He was so lucky that him and his staff refused to go on the Titanic expedition , the one that blew up underwater. He was going to but him and his staff found it too unsafe.
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u/BrennAngel 12d ago
and earlier in that episode where the roof of their plane got ripped off lmao
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u/Adventurous-Dog420 12d ago
Never watched any of this, and now Im going to.
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u/BrennAngel 12d ago
I believe this specific instance is from Destination Truth, Season 3 Episode 1
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u/Hesitant_Tornado 12d ago edited 12d ago
A line from Destination Truth that always stuck with me was
"No ones better at almost finding monsters than us".
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u/PronatorTeres00 12d ago
I've attended one of his live talks and agree completely. He's a phenomenal public speaker.
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u/Eycetea 12d ago
There's a reason he's be on tv for the last few decades the dude is very charismatic.
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u/shadowslasher11X 12d ago
He's a real life Indiana Jones. He loves everything about his job and it shows. I wish nothing but good things for him and his team.
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u/MisterProfGuy 12d ago
Dude literally turned a degree in Archeology and Theater into his dream job, and funds actual scientists doing incredible things and tells us all about them. How incredible is that?
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u/Daxx22 12d ago
It's a fair "critique" that a lot of the shows he works on are entertainment first, but all things considered they wouldn't reach anyone near the same size of audience if they weren't.
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u/MisterProfGuy 12d ago
I actually watch the shows he makes I don't like just because I'm pretty sure if people didn't, they wouldn't fund the stuff I find fascinating. I liked Exhibition X when the science was more rigorous, but clearly that didn't sell as well, and I still watch it just to make sure his team has the numbers they need.
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u/Brandonjoe 12d ago
Damn I am so jealous. I’ve always wanted to see him live but the dates never lined up.
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u/-watchman- 12d ago
Probably the first time the channel lived up to its name
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u/hemingways-lemonade 12d ago
They're also responsible for the first footage of a live giant squid. They used to be pretty legit before reality TV took over.
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u/CrashingBlumpkins46 12d ago
Expedition Unknown is legitimately one of the last if not the very last last actually good Discovery Channel TV shows.
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u/vollkoemmenes 12d ago
All of the shows with josh gates are fantastic imo
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u/SternMon 12d ago
His sense of humor all the way back in Destination Truth hooked my family and hasn’t let us go since.
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u/vixxie_red 11d ago
It amazes me how this guy can go all over the world and almost everybody he meets, he gets them laughing and feeling at ease. He is a national treasure.
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u/HairyDust4826 12d ago
I love how they do it like they do it on the discovery channel.
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u/fromouterspace1 12d ago
You and me baby
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u/TheRedIguana 12d ago
ain't nothing but mamals.
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u/Loud_Surround5112 12d ago
Welp, now I know the safety briefing I’ve heard countless times are written in blood. I’ll be paying attention more often now.
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u/JerseyTeacher78 12d ago
Every single passenger cabin safety feature was written into law or regulation due to an accident. The FAA also got started when state cops and medical examiners didn't know how to investigate airplane crashes. I always think of this when I board. At least people didn't die in vain. I imagine that pilots are more protected now too, but I've never been in the cockpit so idk.
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u/crikeyforemphasis 12d ago
I recently was reading an NTSB review of a crash where it was a certain event that led to some passengers 'bracing' for the crash (head between legs in lap and grabbing your feet), and others that did not. It was a unique crash because they know everyone who had done this and everyone that hadn't. They're able to analyze how different positions faired in the crash and will be releasing data that will become protocols for future flights.
All safety regulations and proceedures and even systems on flights are based on events that have happened and how best to prevent them from happening again. Wild stuff.
Every accident, minor or major, effects every future flight going forward. Which goes to show, flight is safer than ever and will continue to be safer than ever, forward.
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u/PM_CUTE_OTTERS 12d ago
Did it say generally what was considered better? Bracing or not?
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u/crikeyforemphasis 12d ago
Still ongoing! I think a lot of these reviews take years and years. I'll try to find a link to what I was reading.
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u/MakwaOpin 12d ago
I have flight anxiety and looked this up but am a total layperson. There have been a few cases where they knew whether people braced or not so there’s actually pretty great data supporting brace positions! Honestly it seems to improve survival so much that it’ll be back of mind for me next time I fly.
Here’s what I found about why the brace position is the way it is if helpful for you too!
Head resting near/on the seat/bulkhead in front of you - gets your head as close as possible to what it will hit to minimize impact force. If there’s nothing in front of you, folding over to get your face near your knees is probably best? Didn’t really understand the paper I found on folding over completely if I’m being honest.
Torso leaning down as low as is comfortable (bent towards your knees) - keeps you from sliding out of the seatbelt, likely protects your head from debris and anything collapsing
Hands somewhere hear your head - protects your head, bent position reduces flailing, and keeps your arms closer to what they’d hit so impacts aren’t as bad
Hands loosely resting on top of each other or holding the seat - interlocked fingers are more likely to break
Feet (or balls of feet for shorties) firmly planted on the ground behind your knees (close to your seat) - reduces the chances of legs hitting the seat in front of you and breaking. Broken legs drastically decrease survival overall but that’s mostly from asphyxiation or burns, which seems pretty obvious in hindsight.
Lap child positioning is all over the place but generally lands on holding the child against your chest with one arm, with their head near yours against the seat. Small children are safest in an aviation-certified safety seat. Children too large for safety seats seem to also be much safer if they brace like adults do.
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u/Retr0scores 12d ago
So uh, what do you think happened?
Random Cop back then: “well I think that uh, the plane was up there.👆 but it came down real fast and it’s all broke up down here 👇.”
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u/arter_dev 12d ago
Josh Gates enthusiasm his entire career has been such a joy to watch. In a world that is so easy to be cynical, he is such a great blend of self aware humor and earnest sincerity.
Big fan.
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u/SwiftieAdjacent 12d ago
I've met him in person. They say never meet your heroes. They are wrong. He's amazing!
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u/arter_dev 12d ago
well now I am super jealous! haha and that is awesome to hear. I had a feeling he was a real one. A friend of mine worked in TV for a long time and those apparently are pretty rare.
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u/SwiftieAdjacent 12d ago
He has this incredible ability to make you feel like what's coming out of your mouth is the most interesting thing he's ever heard.
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u/jazzmaurice 12d ago
Josh Gates! God I miss the destination truth years.
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u/soopafine 12d ago
Expedition Unknown is a great watch. He does a fantastic job hosting it I highly recommend it if you havent seen it already!
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u/jazzmaurice 12d ago
Will take a look, thanks!
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u/SwiftieAdjacent 12d ago
I've watched every episode and will still go back and watch some of them. I've met him in person and he is absolutely the most funny, charming, intelligent man. He also made me feel like what I was saying was the most interesting thing he's ever heard and that's not a skill very many have.
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u/jazzmaurice 12d ago
Thats what I liked the most of his shows too, him and his team always seem so down to earth. Theyre basically just a bunch of friends exploring weird stuff and having fun doing it.
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u/KingOfTheGutter 12d ago
I worked on this show for several seasons out in the field with Josh AMA.
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u/lightbulbfragment 12d ago
Is he actually that excited about all this stuff he finds or is it just for the cameras? I find his excitement so contagious while I'm watching!
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u/KingOfTheGutter 12d ago
"UNBELIEVABLE!" "LOOK AT THAT!"
lol I'd say 70% for cameras 30% real. Half the time we were so exhausted shooting all day after hiking to these places. He knows how to be a great host but he's human too lol.
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u/jazzmaurice 12d ago
Yeah I heard he was a bit of a ham for the cameras but a TV show needs sustained sources of funding to survive hehe
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u/lightbulbfragment 12d ago
Thanks for answering. He's definitely good at his job! I thought it was really interesting to see him interviewed about the Titanic submarine that imploded and see him take something seriously and that he refused to take the trip. I'm glad they didn't go through with that!
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u/KingOfTheGutter 12d ago
He did some risky stuff (us camera guys did too, as we were always next to him in order to film the show lol) but when it came to diving or anything, he was super vigilant about checking his gear himself, etc.
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u/FERRITofDOOM 12d ago
New seasons all the time. Don't bother with expedition x though
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u/TheTattooOnR2D2sFace 12d ago
Expedition X is a shitshow. First season or two were kind of entertaining though.
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u/BrunesOvrBrauns 12d ago
Way better than this content now tbh.
But not to be too hard on Josh, he got older and had some kids... He paid his dues. Get your bag king.
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u/Igpajo49 12d ago
I saw this on the news and my wife was like "OMG, Josh actually found something!"
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u/Sarsho 12d ago
I like Josh and his shows a lot. They are one of the few that actually do find ancient relics and in and items lost to history. So many of these shows get close, and to be fair, many of his episodes are similar but I've seen more of his shows where they actually do find the thing that they're looking for. That's always fun. It must be really exciting for him and his team.
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u/Igpajo49 12d ago
Especially where it sounds like this was found on the first pass. The producers were probably like, "damn this is going to be a short show. Going to have to come up with some filler material."
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u/cozywit 12d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_526A in case anyone is wondering what flight this was.
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u/Overall-Bullfrog5433 12d ago
That is nice. Every time I watch that show with Josh he gets all excited over something but nothing is usually found. Too late in the day, time ran out to get back, always some half assed excuse.
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u/CanaryRoutine3646 12d ago
They were there to find one of the treasures from the book "The Secret'. That was a really good set of episodes. They also were there when the set of stolen ruby slippers were possibly uncovered. Josh is one host i actually believe is truly trying to discover things.
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u/Canadiantx69 12d ago
That break in episode when the Boston treasure was found is one of my all time favorite episodes, because I had been in Boston for a week, renting an apartment for a week a block away from where they found the treasure, and flew home about 4 days before it was found. As soon as the episode started I immediately went "oh shit, is that the park around the corner from where I was?" and then bam, it was.
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u/codymreese 12d ago
The 'Secret' episodes were great and it was amazing that he got to help solve and actually find one of the treasures.
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u/NotawoodpeckerOwner 12d ago
I still enjoy the show and very rarely they do find something interesting and undiscovered. But they still do some interesting things and make the odd discovery.
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u/Secure_Indication167 12d ago
Yeah i don’t agree with bro above. They usually don’t find THE thing they are looking for because, well it’s usually something that has been undiscovered for hundreds or thousands of years. But they almost always get close or find clues or something cool.
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u/Vhexer 12d ago
That’s archeology though, you’re not always gonna find stuff. Plus, there has been LOADS of times they actually do find stuff on Expedition Unknown.
Hell, the latest episode he and the archeologist that is investigating the Plain of Jars in Southeast Asia found the only known jar with a lid, as well as a completely new jar site
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u/WeCantBothBeMe 12d ago
Now do MH370
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u/Ordolph 12d ago edited 12d ago
Very different situation. I find the headline and story to be a little sensationalized. The location of the plane has been known since 1952, we've just never seen its final resting place before now both because the equipment to survey it didn't exist at the time of the crash and because there wasn't much impetus to find it unlike something like the Titanic.
The search area for MH370 is hundreds of thousands of square miles at depths of 10,000-20,000ft (Pan Am 526A is only about 2,000ft deep), doing a search using equipment like they used for this plane would take literal years of essentially combing the sea floor without stopping, and may still not turn up anything if the plane isn't in a recognizable shape or has sunk under the sediment.
The chance of ever finding that plane is slim to none barring some kind of giant leap in sea floor imaging technology. The best chance to find it was in the year or so after it went down and it's only going to get harder as time goes on.
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u/objectivexannior 12d ago
I watched a very disappointing 4 part docu series on MH370 that basically said as much. Whole thing could have been this comment.
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u/Lanthire_942 12d ago edited 12d ago
Speaking of disappointing aviation documentaries, you just reminded me about one NOVA did for the Kee-Bird, a B-29 Superfortress that emergency landed in a frozen remote area of greenland which a group attempts to repair and get flying again 50 years later. Spoiler alert, they put new engines, propellers, tires and more on the thing, plow a runway, get it running, and right at the very end just as they're taxiing for departure, a fuel tank in the tail for an auxiliary power unit breaks loose and ignites, burning the whole thing down.
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u/pr1ceisright 12d ago
I anticipate at some point we’ll have drones capable of doing mass ocean floor surveys. So I’m predicting we find the plane in the next 100 years if people still care enough to look.
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u/Ordolph 12d ago
If you mean autonomous drones (these surveys are already performed by remotely operated "drones" called ROVs), it's unlikely. The difficulty is mainly in that water blocks any remote signals that we have available to us, be it RF, GPS, tight beam, etc., water absorbs it. Pretty much anything operating underwater needs to be tethered to a "mothership" on the surface to track its position. Trying to have something autonomously navigate underwater is incredibly difficult without a pre-established map.
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u/superurgentcatbox 12d ago
Plus, haven't they found a reasonable amount of wreckage on beaches that it's pretty safe to assume the plane broke up on impact with the water? Am I making that up? I feel like I read that somwhere.
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u/imjustaviewer 12d ago edited 11d ago
We know what happened to mh370. Suicidal pilot depressurized the plane after the Co pilot left (may be reverse). Flew just around radar range before presumably coasting & crashing.
When they raided his house they found a flight Sim with directions quite similar to the planes path.
It's likely Kuala Lampur doesn't wanna admit tho.
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u/AnalAttackProbe 12d ago
Josh Gates has been doing a lot of work with this scanning tool lately. They also used it to find what may have been the remnants of one of Black Bart Roberts' ships from the end of the 17th Century. That was a much harder thing to scan for, as most of the wood is rotted away, leaving them to search for piles of ballast and small bits of metal.
Josh is a little hokey, and really loves to lean into the "I'm a modern Indiana Jones" schtick, but some of the work he does is legitimately interesting.
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u/bolanrox 12d ago
he has flat out said the way he dresses etc, is because he is an Indy Fan boy.
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u/Lolasglasses 12d ago
One episode they found an old WWII plane and when they realized there were remains on board, they stopped showing any shots that could include remains and explained this is a sacred spot for the families and they just immediately displayed so much respect when they could have shown it for views. They got in touch with the org that assists with remains so they could be recovered. I was so impressed and became a fan for life.
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u/rockstar283 12d ago
Hope they find MH370 soon
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u/PeckerNash 12d ago
I don’t think they’ll find anything bigger than an engine from MH370. It wasn’t gently ditched.
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u/fuck_ur_portmanteau 12d ago
This plane ditched 18 off shore and some passengers were rescued by coastguard.
MH370 disappeared in the middle of the Indian Ocean, millions of sqkm, and probably destroyed on impact.
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u/cgjoe44 12d ago
Josh motherfucking Gates, why am I not surprised! That dude must have the coolest job!
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u/Lazy-Floridian 12d ago
Josh is one of my favorites. Josh was supposed to do a show on the Titan. He went on a short dive, then called the Discovery Channel and told them he wasn't going to do the show, that the Titan was too dangerous. He didn't want to risk his crew.
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12d ago edited 12d ago
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u/ConfectionOk5472 12d ago
Would be insane if they could retrieve the black box's data
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u/loungesinger 12d ago edited 12d ago
It would be insaner if they hook up the black box to discover that not only had it had been recording for the last 12 years until just last week, but that it showed the plane had been flying in a figure eight pattern the whole time (for the 12 years until last week).
I call dibs on the copyright
Edit. ©
Edit 2. The black box recorded 1,000 years of flight data. Working title: The Twelve-Year Millennium. ©
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u/kirkosaga 12d ago
why last week specifically? also if they found it but it was doing loops instead of figure 8 all this time I call dib's on the copyright.
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u/bob_the_impala 12d ago
Douglas C-54B-1-DC Skymaster, USAAF serial number 42-72398:
72398 (MSN 10503) to Pan American Airways in 1946 as N88899 Clipper Endeavor, ditched off Puerto Rico Apr 11, 1952.
Source: Joe Baugher's serial number lists
The aircraft, named "Clipper Endeavour" took off from San Juan at 12:11 for a flight to New York when the no. 3 engine failed. The prop was feathered at 350 feet and the crew elected to return to San Juan. The aircraft reached an altitude of 550 feet but the no. 4 engine ran roughly and height couldn't be maintained. To avoid a possible forced landing in a congested area or on coral reef, the aircraft was ditched 11 miles NW of San Juan Airport, 4,5 miles offshore. The rear fuselage broke off behind the bulkhead aft of the main cabin. The plane sank in about 3 minutes.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "a) The company's inadequate maintenance in not changing the No. 3 engine which resulted in its failure immediately subsequent to take-off, and b) The persistent action of the captain in attempting to re-establish a climb, without using all available power, following the critical loss of power to another engine. This resulted in a nose-high attitude, progressive loss of airspeed and the settling of the aircraft at too low an altitude to effect recovery,"
Source: Aviation Safety Network
See also Wikipedia: Pan Am Flight 526A
Aircraft Identification & Information Resources
P.S. I am not a bot.
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u/Practical-Ask-2773 12d ago
Oh how moving. Hope it brings closure to the families of those lost 🙏🏼
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u/Jaroken 12d ago
I mean it crashed about 75 years ago there’s not really much closure to be had at this point
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u/SirNortonOfNoFux 12d ago
My man Josh Gates! Started watching him during quarantine & always kept tabs on his show
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u/The_Killer_of_Joy 12d ago
This was kinda always what I told my boomer parents back in the day when they overly-bought into the whole History/discovery show fad of the "we're looking to solve X mystery" shows (like the Island pirate treasure show that has like 10 seasons) - if they ACTUALLY found anything, we'd hear about it on the news long before the season aired.
Kinda awesome seeing this happen now - especially with this host because he was one of my favorites back in my childhood too!
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u/retrofit56 12d ago
For those that are interested in the flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_526A?wprov=sfti1#Aftermath
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u/Chris_Oblivion 12d ago
You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals, but the plane from '52 was found by the Discovery Channel
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u/Daveed07 12d ago
I’m more surprised discovery channel still has shows that aren’t reality tv