Exclusive for Podcrashers:
Just a few minutes before landing, the BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust was preparing for its final descent into Santiago, Chile. When the plane sent a very strange transmission three times in a row, air traffic control wasn't sure how to interpret it. But just when the plane should have touched down, it vanished completely- and it became part of a mystery that would take decades to unravel. In this month's Patreon-exclusive episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie shares one of aviation's biggest mysteries and how it plagued investigators for decades.Sources consulted for this story:
- Ministry of Civil Aviation Civil Aircraft Accident
- PBS: STENDEC Theories
- World History Project: British South American Airways' Star Dust Disappears
- The Vintage News: "STENDEC": The mysterious 1947 Star Dust airliner crash and the final bizarre message sent by the crew
- Plane and Pilot Magazine: A Pilot's Last Words: "STENDEC"
- BBC: 'STENDEC' - Stardust's final mysterious message
- BBC: Lost plane found in Andes
- The Independent: Frozen bodies found in crash plane 53 years on
- BBC: Vanished: The Plane That Disappeared
- Historic Mysteries: What Happened to Star Dust? The Plane Taken by the Andes
- The Guardian: DNA clues reveal 55-year-old secrets behind crash of the Star Dust
- The Birmingham Post: Pilot finally cleared over mystery of 1947 mountain plane disaster.
- The Guardian: Andes crash relatives' fears over DNA tests
Credits:
Written and produced by: Shelly Price and Stephanie HubkaDirected and engineered at: Snow Monster Studios
Sound editor: Podcast Engineers
Producer: Adam Hubka
Music by: Mike Dunn
The distance between Santiago and Mount Tupungato. Source: Historic Mysteries
The Avro Lancastrian Star Dust. Source: Plane and Pilot Magazine
Captain Reginald Cook. Source: This Day in Aviation
