The Disappearance of Flight CS-59. The "STENDEC" Mystery

For over 50 years the fate of Flight CS-59 remained a mystery. Shortly before arrival at Chile's Santiago airport, she completely vanished, her final baffling, transmission "STENDEC" leaving many wondering just what had happened on board that final, fateful flight.....
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[@pauljeffery5445]

Finally! A KZbinr dealing with these topics who avoids empty hyperbole and sensationalism! Thank-you!

[@m.streicher8286]

googled "stendec morse" and got this "It consisted of the single word "STENDEC". For years it was thought to have been mistyped but it is now thought to be a second world war morse code acronym for: 'Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing' " Given this meaning, the radio operator knew something was wrong for a while before any fatal crash, long enough send multiple morse code messages indicating distress. That makes me think there was some sort of mechanical failure, leading to a semi controlled flight into terrain. Enjoyed the video as always :)

[@sgtmattkind]

good theory, just wondering why they had time to send that message but not allow the tires to be released

[@conzmoleman]

That’s got to be it.

[@conzmoleman]

@@sgtmattkind It can be much safer to belly land vs landing gear in certain crash landing scenarios. BUT given that they apparently went directly into the side of a mountain, that almost certainly never entered the calculus. The pilots clearly thought they had loads of time to get to an airport.

[@julosx]

There's another theory for "STENDEC", when typed in Morse with the correct spacing, it would say "SCTI AR", SCTI being the code of the Santiago Airport and "AR" for "over" (end of transmission). SCTI AR was the code expected by the radio operator at the airport.

[@hostrauer]

Nope, can't buy this explanation either. If the crew knew they were in trouble, they would have transmitted the shorter and unmistakable signal: "SOS." Spacing is vital in morse code, and the radio operator in Santiago reported that the message came in loud and clear, but very fast. STENDEC uses the exact same dot-dash sequence as "SCTI AR." SCTI was the identification for Santiago Airport, and AR would mean "arrival." Considering the crew reported an ETA of just four minutes from the time the message was sent, the most likely answer is that there was no emergency, they thought they were starting their descent into Santiago and reported as such via radio. A message of "SCTI AR" fits perfectly with this scenario, and the sloppy/rushed transmission just garbled it into STENDEC.

[@HarborLockRoad]

Ive heard the message should have been " stdec" - as in " starting descent." It makes sense as they were only 5 minutes out, and had no idea the jetstream had slowed their forward progress. They thought by flying by instruments in cloud cover, that theyd already cleared the mountain. Instead, they flew into it. No aliens, no hijackers, ...just simple bad luck, weather, and errors.

[@tungstenkid2271]

I remember reading an account by a pilot (St Exupery?) about a flight he made near the Andes in a twin-engine mailplane in the 1930's when he encountered severe turbulence. He wrote "It was the only time I'd ever thought the wings would be ripped off an aircraft".

[@cosmosrunner2468]

I've crossed the Andes from Buenos Aires to Santiago en route to LAX a few times and even with today's airplanes and technology, it's still nerve wracking. It's so vast and peaks so high, and then when landing in Santiago the plane suddenly dips into a valley where the airport is located, feels like you're going to crash into a mountain.. I breathe easier when the plane touches the ground.

[@royfearn4345]

A bit like Zurich on steroids.

[@rodrigoayarza9397]

Youre absolutely right. msa is 26.000 over the border Chile/Argentina an then speedbrakes to reach the final path to SCEL.

[@Operngeist1]

Spectator has done a video going into details of what Stendec could have meant. I'm personally favoring the theory that it could have been a mistranslation of SCTI AR which has the same sequence of dots and dashes but different spacing. SCTI was the newly used designation of the airport in Santiago, which the operator might not have known about yet, and AR standing for Arrival. I feel your videos are complimenting each other with your video going into more details how the accident could have happened. I didn't know about the jet stream but it makes a lot of sense. I'm obviously not the first one to say it but I'm glad the algorithm has blessed me with your videos. I'm really enjoying your content!

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for your comment - I also tend to go with the SCTI AR theory - it sounded the most plausible to me. But will we ever know for sure....??

[@jacekatalakis8316]

I too heard that Stendec came from WWII RAF radio usage, and given they were war veterans they would be familiar with using Morse code. I feel like they got caught out by rapidly changing weather and descended right into the terrain without any points of reference however. They were flying near one o the highest points in the Andes after all, the plane was fitted with an oxygen system kept from the wartime Lancaster bomber as well. I feel like the crew thought they were closer to the airport and descended, or were forced down by turbulence/weather and crashed, there's absolutely cases of that happening, as well as WW2 veteran pilots from the RAF having a domineering attitude and CRM being 40 30-40 years away from being a thing. This was a time when the captain was the unquestioned authority in the cocpkit

[@emmas1082]

Acronym: The word STENDEC means: "Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-Landing.

[@matty6848]

The captain is still the unquestioned authority today. The pilot has the final say irrespective of what the ATC say. If the captain feels it’s not safe too land his aircraft he can overrule the ATC at any time.

[@gary1961]

@@emmas1082 So, they knew they were coming down. How tragic.

[@heather173]

My late father piloted a Lancaster in the RCAF in the late '40s-50s, he'd know the answer, but I don't.

[@scottbubb2946]

Wow, that really does sound like the cast of a mystery novel.

[@TheWES047]

Found your channel a few weeks ago and I've been binge watching all your content ever since. Dont know how I found you or why you ended up on my feed but im eternally grateful. The Northern accent adds so much charm to the informative videos and like lots of other similar channels it doesn't come across like your reading directly from a script. Good job bud, thank you and keep up the good work!!

[@hayleyxyz]

I found it 3 days ago and binged watched everything while I was ill in bed. This channel is going to be a big one, that's for sure

[@SpywareEverywhere]

Same here. YT randomly recommended him to me and now I watch one episode per day just before bed. I am dreading when I finally run out of episodes.

[@agdgdgwngo]

Really reminds me of 'Plainly Difficult' but with a wider variety of topics. I love this sort of thing, I'm awaiting this being a big channel

[@matty6848]

Yes same here. Came up on my suggestions and been binge watching ever since. This is why I no longer watch normal T.V. Who needs too when we have KZbin, Netflix and even the likes of Disney plus which has some brilliant documentaries and movies👍🏻

[@matty6848]

@@doctoronishispsychosislab1474 what about north or South Yorkshire? Don’t forget it’s the biggest county in the U.K. is there any difference in the Yorkshire accent between north,south, east and west??

[@syntaxsquid4882]

Love the level of detail you get down to in these videos, it's almost like a novel or a short story the way you tell what happened in a coherent way. I started watched (from Melbourne) after seeing the Westgate bridge collapse video, and i was amazed at the fact that a video existed for what i thought was such a little known event international stage (only people around or over the age of 60 can remember it happening). Cheers from down under

[@mickeysplane7980]

A perfectly preserved hand of a young woman? Hold on mate, just hold on! You listed no such passenger in the the video. Anyone else pick up on this? The mystery continues. Nice job and interesting material overall.

[@theravenseye9443]

The air stewardess... she served as a WREN in WW2

[@maramonaco9530]

The 'German widow with her husband's ashes as carry on'

[@paulkroell7592]

62 Passengers died--Two mass graves of body parts by coroner.

[@rodneymcgovern5984]

@@paulkroell7592 How can you say that 62 passengers died when the aircraft was only listed as carrying 12 passengers? The video clearly states this! The photo of the aircraft's interior clearly would not carry 62 passengers.

[@paulkroell7592]

@@rodneymcgovern5984 I Was way off confused with maybe partially 1956 Grand Canyon crash-128 dead.

[@kenharris5390]

The official description for this type of crash is Controlled Flight Into Rising Terrain. If any fire had broken out, it would have been extinguished immediately. Another mystery that took years to solve, was the disappearance of one of the planes operated by Kingsford Smith airlines in Australia. It was a mystery that gripped a nation, in view of the fact that Kingsford Smith was a national hero, and one of his planes, Southern Cloud, disappeared without a trace for almost thirty years. Smithy managed to keep his airline operational, but it was a big blow to such a brave aviator

[@johnjephcote7636]

I saw the remains of an RAF Maritime Reconnaissance Lancaster that crashed just short of the summit of Beinn Eighe, in Wester Ross, Scotland, in March 1951. It too, had been relying on 'Direction and Drift' (D&D) or 'Dead' Reckoning , and, letting down while believing it was over the sea, ran into a 'stuffed cloud'.

[@KSparks80]

A "stuffed cloud"? lol That's a new one.

[@JohnJ469]

I always knew them as "Cumulo-Granite".

[@sidetrippingwithcary]

Very well done! This incident reminded me a lot of Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 810 and it’s crash into Mt. Slesse in 1956. I still don’t understand why the passenger/crews’ remains weren’t brought down; the crash site is apparently accessible to hikers now.

[@cheffee2835]

I applaud you sir for this channel. It's content and use of actual pictures along with a very good, detailed narration of the facts makes these forgotten stories even more tragic and fascinating.

[@ashishjoshi8148]

The voice of the narrator is hypnotic! Another super video by the Raven's Eye! This was a classic.

[@andrewbrundin6953]

Just found your channel and you got yourself a new subscriber. Keep up the good work 👍🏼

[@patriciaalderson1742]

Omg I've been looking for this, really enjoyed watching, many thanks

[@alinapopescu872]

A serious channel with a serious approach. Thank goodness.

[@jamesdudley7150]

top notch stories.been binge watching and will continue to do so

[@paveltolz6601]

Thank you for this video. As an 8th grader, our English teacher tasked a student to do an oral report on STENDEC and its meaning. She did her research, how I don't know, and eventually reported it was the last repeated transmission of flight 19 (TBF Avengers lost presumably in the Bermuda Triangle). Since the teacher never corrected her I had always wondered why no mention of this transmission and Flight 19 could be found. In fact, at the I revisited the word STENDEC a long time ago, internet searches resulted in zero hits. I'd given up. So, thank you again.

[@Grombrindal]

Apparently it's a morse code warning that means they have hit sudden turbulence and are crashing.

[@redriveral2764]

Very well presented.I don't know if captions are an additional cost but I sure appreciate them because I can't hear much anymore. Thank you.

[@JimmyRJump]

The only mistery I have on my plate is you, Raven's Eye. You come-up with these stories of which the veracity can't be proven wrong, and amaze us in a calm and collected voice about the which and whatever. Thanks for showing us little-known facts dude. I appreciate it. Warm greetings from Belgium.

[@Straswa]

Quite a mystery indeed. Nice work Raven's Eye.

[@BobbyTucker]

This is my second time watching your channel, I've found it very interesting. I am now subscribed, left a thumbs up, and a tap on the bell. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Thank you for sharing.

[@robertandrews6915]

Found a gem. You deserve many more subs but I'm sure you'll get them with more content and time

[@theravenseye9443]

Cheers!

[@sirbarringtonwomblembe4098]

That would be the diamond!

[@derSchreii]

Just found your Chanel and I am very happy about that

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

I have just subscribed. Thank you for a very interesting video. From Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks and welcome

[@simonmahn7858]

I heard about a theory that STENDEC was actually intended to be sent as STR DEC for "Starting Descent". EN and R are very similar in morse code and could easily be mistaken. The air traffic controller then asking for confirmation was probably so confused by what he had heard before that he just heard it again two more times, regardless of what was actually sent. We do not know if they actually sent STENDEC two more times after all. We only know that that is what the operator heard. Maybe they did send STR DEC. Although I do not know if that abbreviation was an actual term to be used or even used unofficially. Edit: So I checked and according to German wikipedia STR DEC was used back then. I could not find any mention of it on English wikipedia tho.

[@timpedder6046]

Sounds plausible, especially as they would have crashed shortly after starting the descent.

[@insertnamehere5146]

Oxygen deprivation causing the radio operator to Morse code STENDEC instead of DESCENT?

[@sirandrelefaedelinoge]

@ insert name here • Severe turbulence encountered... descending

[@mushyroom9569]

It seems pretty unlikely that he would manage to jumble the letters up twice in exactly the same way.

[@andrewbrundin6953]

@@mushyroom9569 This

[@reachandler3655]

​@@mushyroom9569 3 times!

[@thesupertendent8973]

@@reachandler3655 well, when deprived of oxygen your brain isn't drunk, it's just hard to comprehended your actions and understand your surroundings. So you may think your saying Decend, when in reality your spelling it incorrectly. Hence Stendec. They may have been partially aware of this, and sent it several times. It would also help explain why they flew straight into a mountain.

[@speed0spank]

I remember when the Chilean rugby team was stranded in the plane crash in a similar area, they searched a lot but they couldn't see the white plane in the sea of white snow. Could be a similar thing happened here too.

[@thesupertendent8973]

I do think that oxygen deprevation was a key factor in this, it would not only give their actions so Background, but give a fairly strong reason for Stendec, being Decend spelt incorrectly. I mean think about it, we sometimes input letters or numbers incorrectly, and sometimes several times not being oxygen deprevated. In their situation it's all the more plausible.

[@piearm1271]

I can’t remember the person who suggested this but it is compelling, the crew realising they were off course tried to raise Valparaiso airfield to get a firm fix on their position and possibly divert the, compare the morse for v a l p the call sign for Valparaiso and stendec . The transmission was hurried and if you listen at high speed without a normal pause between letters, Valp looks and sounds very similar to stendec.

[@paulkroell7592]

Winds screech thru the Andes--Very inhospitable place!

[@W7DSY]

Excellent commentary. I was hooked after I heard the Lady Be Good story.

[@MystOfOblivion]

What a chilling mystery! Thanks for covering it so thoroughly, I guess now I know of another mystery that might never be solved. But interesting how even modern times cannot solve some of history's mysteries...

[@SuperTonyony]

"STENDEC" and "STARDUST" share letters in common. "STENDEC" is a scramble of "DESCENT". Oxygen deprivation could've caused the pilot to send either "Stardust" or "descent" in a garbled fashion. What really intrigues me is that passenger manifest. Every single one of those folks seems to have had an interesting back story.

[@matty6848]

Yeh the cabin could of depressurised causing the pilot tram too suffer due too lack of oxygen too their brains.

[@Al_Gorbachev]

You’re entitled to your wrong opinion.

[@227beau]

Its not the pilot that sends morse messages, he is busy flying the airplane, it is the wireless operator that does this.

[@medea27]

The passenger manifest isn't entirely surprising if you consider that at the time, flying was still a rare luxury for the privileged few.... you had to be wealthy or work for the government or a big corporation to afford to fly.

[@clearcreek69]

I first heard about this story years ago & the mystery of STENDEC. I can't remember if it mentioned oxygen deprivation either.

[@tungstenkid2271]

Hey Raven I don't know if you've already covered it, but there was the USS Minneapolis submarine accident in Plymouth Sound in 2006 on the surface when the captain and harbour pilot botched up resulting in 5 men being swept off the deck by rough seas, 2 of whom died, they were tethered to the sub by safety lines and were battered against the hull like rag dolls.

[@davidvonkettering204]

I just was introduced to your channel by You Tube "Recommendations". Sometime AI accidentally makes good choices for me. Love, David

[@linda10989]

That's exactly how I found this channel too! 👍☺

[@paulkirkland3263]

As good a summary of Star Dust's disappearance as could be wished for. As for STENDEC, maybe it was the radio operator's abbreviation to inform Santiago they were making a Standard End Descent. Of course, the problem with that is that nobody on the ground was familiar with the expression, nor was BSAA in the subsequent enquiry. I wonder if the radio operator himself had used the term in the RAF during the war, and maybe tiredness, or a little hypoxia had set in, leading to mistakes on the morse key. A very interesting video, and very sad - the young woman's hand, that of Iris Evans, is very poignant.

[@roryturk4597]

Superb storytelling!

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks very much Rory! Greatly appreciated!

[@tungstenkid2271]

Just seen a TV prog that speculates the crew were suffering oxygen starvation high above the mountains and that the radioman tried to inform the tower that they were in a descent to the airport, but his light headedness made him get the letters jumbled up and transmit 'Stendec' instead. The same prog also speculated that they encountered a strong headwind or jetstream earlier in the flight and as they were flying by dead reckoning above the cloud layer the navigator thought they were past the mountains and could begin their descent.

[@HiImSeanIPlayBass]

STENDEC is a misspelling of DESCENT. Either a signal mishap occurred during transmission, or the operator misspelled the word due to being in a hurry or simple human error.

[@jobonney7987]

Your content is great xxx London calling xxx

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for your positive comments!!

[@maxprivate3805]

I googled around and saw this....Although no one can say for certain what STENDEC means, it is nowadays thought by some that the word was an acronym for: “Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing,” a Morse code acronym used by World War II pilots.

[@stranobikes]

Another super-interesting video. So pleased I happened upon your channel and subscribed. I notice the subs are rising steadily, which is great for you.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for the sub Charlie! The channel has sure had a boost over this last month, that's for sure.

[@linda10989]

Could you do an episode on the Victoria Hall disaster in 1883? It's an awful story as 183 children died, but some good came out of it, as it led to the invention of crash bar emergency exit doors that we still rely on today.

[@wesleytillman9774]

It's certainly surprising that they relied on methods to establish their location in such mountainous areas that provided no physical data and thus left them with no idea how the winds might have altered their position. They couldn't see where they were going and they had no instrument that could give them feedback about the terrain or position based on what was outside the plane. It was an accident just waiting for such conditions. They were lucky more planes hadn't been lost to the mountains due to the jet stream and using stop watches and air speed indicators to fix a position. At least the end was quick.

[@TracyA123]

Congratulations brother!! ALL of my comments on your early videos are getting replies and people are discussing, and arguing..lol, about the video topics! You're at 7000 subs!!! Enjoy it my friend we All predicted it...you've earned every view!!!

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks Tracy A for all your encouragement.! Cheers.

[@TracyA123]

@@theravenseye9443 You're very welcome my friend. It's crazy how, all of the sudden, everything took off. You've put in alot of work for so long. To see the sub numbers jump is so awesome! You had this wonderful catalog of work just waiting for people to binge and they certainly are doing that! Literally every one of my comments on your videos is getting likes and replies and, in one case, a crazy debate over Communist health care..lol.😂

[@bennyd345]

Wanted to say i absolutely love your channel. Great subject, great editing, super voice. Onto a good thing here people. Thanks for the content, Ravens eye. Subscribed.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for subbing Benny D! Cheers.

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Right, a few suggestions. The Enschede fireworks disaster, the Hixon Rail Crash, The Toulouse fertilizer explosion, The Buncefield Explosion, The Stockport air crash, The Severn Bridge poisoned bolts accident, the Goiana orphaned radiation source accident, The Bradford Sweets poisoning, the Aberdeen Food Poisoning (Typhoid) crisis, The failed flats of Hunslet Grange, Mount St Helens volcanic eruption, The Freddie Heiniken kidnapping, The Lewisham Rail Accident, The Chatham bus accident, the 1928 London floods. There's more.... But I'll save them for later. Edit: I forgot a seemingly minor one, as the only person who died was the driver and it's not often talked about (it also involves my home town!) The 1967 Dewsbury Ethylene Lorry accident, where a lorry driver carrying Ethylene had a heart attack at the wheel and crashed into Dewsbury Town Hall. Luckily, only the driver died, but because the authorities didn't know what the Lorry was carrying, then one little spark, and goodbye half of Dewsbury Town Centre! But this was averted, with a mile and a half cordon around the town whilst cleaning up operations were undertaken. Early in the morning of the next day, the cordon was lifted, but for many years smokers would be moved on if they were smoking at that corner of the Town Hall. It was also a direct catalyst for the information boards carried for the transport of dangerous goods. So quite important in its own right!

[@theravenseye9443]

All noted for future research..!

[@Knight6831]

10:20 so the radio operator sends a message telling the tower they are minutes from landing but gets garbled along the way and after transmitting the message twice getting garbled twice more, Before the radio operator can try a 3rd time, flying at cruising speed, British South American Airways Flight 59 crashes into the side of Mount Tupengato killing all aboard instantly

[@salvagedb2470]

STENDEC , in previous comments well put Theories , gives you something to think about ..the possible Diamond and Secret papers are an added bonus..Good vid.

[@christophermay5419]

I've known of this story for along time but had not heard about the discovery so was especially delighted to watch your latest beautifully narrated video. Thank you for your time and hard work producing them.

[@theravenseye9443]

Many thanks Christopher - I really do appreciate the positive comments...

[@ohhkayy0919]

WOW. I HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS! Thank you my man!!

[@neptunenavalmods4420]

11:21 has to be Iris Evans's hand (the flight attendant) ... by process of elimination since she was the only young woman on board... poor lady. News says her sister in Britain was notified in 2000 & thankfully they were able to bury her.

[@sgtmattkind]

great channel great videos, love the longer ones you do like these

[@jackshittle]

The pilots could have been experiencing hypoxia from rapid decompression which makes you loopy/feel like your drunk. They trained us in the Navy in an altitude chamber so we can experience first hand what hypoxia is like & how to recognize it & how to remedy it (going on oxygen). If this was the case on this flight the pilot may have been trying to send an understandable message but inadvertently sent a word that means nothing like standec.

[@paveltolz6601]

Good theory. If STENDEC was such a common Morse brevity code, it wouldn't be a mystery. FWIW, Hypoxia is a real bitch (experienced a couple of times in Chambers and out) but, it is caused by a lack of oxygen which happens during decompression. Decompression, of itself, doesn't cause Hypoxia or 'going on Oxygen' wouldn't be a solution. Cheers and thanks for your service as well.

[@rogerpartner1622]

Reminds me of the True Story ALIVE Same thing. They thought they where way over and past the mountains. Dipped down to clear clouds. Bammmo still 40miles back into the Andes. They had to eat the passengers. Incredible story

[@johnwatson3948]

Another good STENDEC theory notes that this word was at the end of the morse transmissions - where the sender often finishes by giving the receivers code. The letters of the receivers code, if given with slightly-off spacing using the morse key, could be read out in error as “STENDEC”.

[@lancer525]

I know what STENDEC means. It's really obvious: . . . . . Some Try Explaining, Nobody Deciphers Enigmatic Code

[@michaelwhite2823]

Wow the initial trip from London to Buenos Aires. I had no idea prop planes could fly that far

[@rogerhardy6481]

Somebody with a navigational background should be able to calculate the headwind on that day based off their ETA and their Resting place .

[@rapman5363]

This incident has the similarities of Uruguayan Air Air Force flight 571 which crashed in the Andes in October 1972. This crash was known as They Miracle of The Andes’. The flight was enroute from Uruguay to Chile with a rugby team and their entourage when it slammed into a mountain frighteningly similar to how CS-59 did. While we all now know all the haunting details of that particular tragedy , the final analysis of CS-59 is still unknown to us as to how and why the crash occurred. They say the extreme wind currents and sudden downdrafts that can instantaneous pop up while flying in this particular part of the world can and do cause aircraft to lose control and become susceptible to violent turbulence which can cause the aircraft to crash.

[@marknestbox]

Yes, if you're looking for something worthy of watching, you've found it, Every Episode!

[@RonHutchCraft2]

"Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing".Sep 6, 2002

[@emmas1082]

Exactly.

[@Crabby303]

I wonder could hypoxia have played a role - I don't think the Lancastrian was pressurised and they were flying pretty high? although it was a regular route for this type so maybe not.

[@davidtangen8189]

It wasvto cloudy couldn't see the mountain like that movie alive

[@itsjohndell]

Was the Lancastrian pressurized? At 24.000 anybody not on oxygen (and I assume the crew would be) would have been rendered unconscious. Has enough been recovered to ascertain if the oxygen system for the crew was operating properly? Or even if the bottles were filled? This one we may never know i suppose. Most excellent video, BTW.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

They wouldn’t be unconscious at 24,000 feet

[@asd36f]

The second Captain Cook who met a sticky end :-)

[@P_RO_]

No theory here makes perfect sense. If a pilot was intentionally changing course for more than a short local variation to avoid clouds or storms they would absolutely be certain that someone on the ground knew this in case there was trouble. Then and now, air routes through mountainous terrain are chosen for reasons of safety and known weather patterns, and often are the single truly safe route; It is an exceptional event that they are not closely adhered to. So it's rather obvious that they didn't know they were off-course. The meaning of "stendec" has been carried to extremes, but most likely it was intentionally sent as "S-C-T-I ar", an invitation for the airport (SCTI) to reply (ar) to their last message. Complicit here (and giving clues) is that the receiver neither had English as their main language and that they were also not highly skilled with Morse. Nor apparently were they good at their job. Some of this was touched on in the investigation and dismissed, but with the important and relative info having been clearly sent and received concerning the flight ID and ETA, the Santiago receiver wrote down what he thought he'd heard and dismissed it as irrelevant or an unimportant word he didn't know in English. There was (and is) also universal Morse short-hand for "repeat" (QSM?) which STCI used and also "QRS?" to request slower sending speed, which wasn't used. Had the receiver thought it necessary they would have had the "stendec" message repeated again more slowly. Them not recognizing it as being "S-C-T-I AR" is simply a case of what we now call "confirmation bias"; they originally thought it was "stendec" so that's what they heard thereafter. In using Morse, once you've learned the individual characters you next learn to not focus on them, but to look for the groups which form words so you don't really hear the letters A-N-D but instead hear the whole word "and". To reach that point is a major hurdle one must cross to become proficient in using Morse, but you'd have also expected Santiago to have well recognized the group "SCTI" as they heard it the same way regardless of language and with every communication they made or sent. This corroborates the lower skills noted of the receiver who probably sent "QRS?" more than most radiomen of the era did, again adding weight to the "misheard" theory. The supposition that it was sent as RAF wartime shorthand is not credible. First it was known that the receiver wouldn't have understood it, second it would have been sent as "ST DEC" had that been the intended message; no point in saying "encountered" when you know that's the only way you find it. Santiago knew they were descending so "dec" would have been redundant and not sent either. Also, any unusual flying conditions would have been noted in the initial transmission, not afterward as an add-on, so as to assist any other flights going through the area. Something not well touched on here but much discussed is possible effects of hypoxia (lack of oxygen), and how it may have affected the flight crew. The Lancastrian (and some other planes of that era) did have some trouble spots with cabin pressurization. The symptoms are subtle but this highly experienced crew would have been watching for them, and it would have also affected the radio operator's Morse sending throughout the interchange of messages which it apparently didn't. Nor would "stendec" have been sent without the Pilots request, in which case if it was intentional it would have been followed with "QSL?" meaning "confirm that you've received this message" so as to be sure their emergency was understood. But no matter what was sent or heard the crash would have happened anyway, and even had "ST" been encountered, being anywhere remotely near the mountain crests any pilot would have chosen anything but descent, knowing that it would have been the least safe choice. Nobody can prove or disprove anything, not then and not now. We have only what the Santiago radioman wrote down and his recollections of the event to guide us. No conclusion was made then and none can be positively made now, but as I've shown many of the theories simply do not stand up to scrutiny and would not have been put forth by anyone with knowledge of the way things were done at that point and place in time.

[@WendyDarling1974]

STENDEC as secret British wartime code the captain knew and thought someone would understand after the fact. But the British would not have acknowledged it bc it was classified.

[@raphaellavictoria01]

My hypothesis midway: the pilot was having a seizure/stroke. He mistyped/miscommunicated the word, maybe something like "stand by"."

[@wasabiflavoredcocaine]

My new favorite channel

[@RWBHere]

A simple error in transmission and reception could mean that the intended message of STAR/ - a call sign and a Morse break or end of transmission abbreviation, could easily be mistaken for STENDEC. it's the same sequence of dits and dahs but with a couple of transmission or reception errors. Write out the Morse Code on paper, and see how similar the two signals are. This can happen very easily when trying to send Morse in bad weather from an aircraft and receiving it when a storm is obfuscating radio reception.

[@bigimskiweisenheimer8325]

Never saw this plane before. She is a real looker.

[@ExperimentIV]

STENDEC was probably an incorrect transcription of SCTI AR, which uses the same dit-dah sequence as STENDEC. SCTI is the 4 letter airport code, AR is over. they may have been trying to contact the airport at Valparaiso. the call sign for that is VALP, and STENDEC is one character off from VALP. either of those explanations make more sense than the word descent or the weird things people are coming up with. you have to think using spelling in morse code, not merely the letters which the dits and dahs represent.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

I was pleasantly surprised that most of the comments are reasonable, rational, and focused. You have to scroll quite far down to find the crazy theories. Usually on youtube they come in by the tenth comment, although I've not done the stats. I'm thinking that the more factual sounding video title may have not attracted the same viewers as a title in the form of "The real secrets of the mysterious disappearance of...." might have. I admit that's just a crazy theory though, and I'm not blaming the government, aliens, or the mainstream media. :)

[@owensweetland342]

I read comments earlier. However I am not able to locate the comment regarding "STENDEC". Someone Googled it. A WW 2 alternate Morse Code deciphered it read in part "Severe Turbulence ...".

[@brentandvuk]

Great story, thank you.

[@simonecanepa8168]

If STENDEC had been a contracted form of a longer phrase, other pilots, former RAF pilots during WWII, should have been familiar with it and they should also have recognized this word. But this is not the case. As for the theory of UFO abduction, we cannot easily imagine how this word could have had something relative to an UFO

[@juliecasey5196]

Rest In Peace.🙏

[@louisvanrijn3964]

Flying against a 50-60 kts wind behind a large mountain ridge at ridge-top height is detrimental. A 50-60 kts wind-field is directed 45 degrees down.... The aircraft is encountering uncontrolable turbulence in rotors and / or very severe downdraft. No piston aircraft I know can outclimb that downdraft, not at the least a that altitude. -- Severe Turbulence Encoutered, Decending? -- No cross-navigation checks made with the ADF? Dead reckoning is unreliable without cross-checking the ground speed, heading and TAS for the correct calculation of ground track.

[@js1mom]

That mysterious word and stardust... Hmmm...

[@soundknight]

Stendec was the radio machine packing itself post crash obviously. Otherwise the second message would have not been a repeat but an explanation.

[@frakismaximus3052]

Referring to a popular writer of more than 100 years ago, John Stendec, author of "of mice and men" perhaps

[@bill2066]

I appreciate your work. I know...Millions of theories. Mine? Well, I believe they were flying VFR and Low over snow capped mountains, and billows of snow capped mountains! In that type of environment, one can easily fly right into a mountain and a crew would have no warning until it was too late (Air New Zealand). On the Horizon the pilot sees what he believe is free Air, but its actually a snow covered mountain. In addition, I believe its possible that the crew could've been suffering from high altitude sickness. This could explain the pilots disorientation, and the Radio Operators Messages that didnt make any sense. Someone suggested ("Dave Morgan") attempted transmission of STENDEC, and that he may have been trying to say: "Starting Descent" Thats a good theory I believe. And if one is suffering from high altitude sickness proper transmissions are impossible.

[@hubertmantz1516]

That sounds very plausible!! Descent! I would agree with your comment wholeheartedly ✅

[@derSchreii]

" is now thought to be a second world war morse code acronym for:" "Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing" saw this one on the internet

[@jchoward6451]

I remember another documentary on this very Lancastrian's disappearance. It described the "EC" as "Entering Clouds" - however, since it doesn't appear to be a regular abbreviation its actual meaning is guesswork, and it could even be a "backronym" - people assigning words to the letters of an acronym where none existed. Or as @Operngeist1 speculated, it was really SCTIAR sent with a heavy fist so the dits and dahs couldn't be properly parsed. Thanks Raven's Eye for an interesting review of this story!

[@michaeldy3157]

They found pieces of those poor people. Rip

[@whoever6458]

Stendec strikes me as some kind of typo like cofefe. The real question is what they were intending to type and how one would end up making a Morse code typo but I guess it might be like forgetting what number you just dialed on a rotary phone when you had to dial one of the higher numbers and wait for the dial to go back to the starting position before dialing the next number. I know I used to dial some wrong numbers because I forgot what number I had just dialed.

[@ArchTeryx00]

The two theories that I've seen most often follow a sort of Occam's Razor. As @simonmahn7858, STENDEC in Morse Code was extremely similar to STR DEC - starting descent. That would match perfectly with the facts of the accident, which was basically a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) shortly after beginning their descent into Santiago. The otther is that STENDEC is actually an anagram of DESCENT - the letters was jumbled because the pilots were suffering from hypoxia from flying at 24000 feet, which also clouded their judgement about safely descending into Santiago. They might have even seen the mountain but were too impaired by hypoxia to do anything about it.

[@Nimmo1492]

STENDEC is an anagram of DESCENT. Maybe the radio operator just got mixed up?

[@alarmactionukalarmactionuk893]

I wonder if that diamond is still up there?

[@tungstenkid2271]

'STENDEC' could simply be that the ground radioman mis-heard the morse?

[@laurencemann9394]

The obvious explanation is that STENDEC, which is an anagram of DESCENT was somehow muddled up by the sender or receiver of the message.

[@garrysekelli6776]

Note to self: if I am ever abord a craft captained by a captain named Cooke, disembark at the first possible chance.

[@legentilhommedefortune]

Great vid as usual on this channel.. , Chicken skin guarenteed..

[@Oldfather76]

STarboard ENgine DECompression. I know there are 2 engines on each wing. But ground control wouldn't need to know which specific one. Just that an engine on the starboard side was having compression problems. Coughing out puffs of black smoke and losing power.

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

I still get nervous flying through soup as a passenger so I always get a wing seat so I can watch the wing mechanisms when the ground is not visible. I can only imagine how passengers and even crew felt back then when cutting edge technology was math plus assumptions or educated guesses. BTW, don't change anything about your format, please.

[@johnnyblade4351]

I do want to point out ..The Manchester 2 engined was transformed into the LANCASTER Bomber 4X... And Rest their Souls 617sqd being iconic but all Bomber Crews & US Flight Command ... A very Sad Loss of Life On all sides .. Just LOVE & RESPECT to you all. XXXXXXXXXXXX