Mike Conley's Tales of the Weird: Bermuda Triangle continues to fascinate

By: Mike Conley | McDowell News
Published: December 17, 2008

As of late Tuesday, authorities were searching near the Turks and Caicos Islands for an airplane that vanished under mysterious circumstances. The two-engine plane, supposedly flown by an unlicensed pilot, disappeared with 12 people aboard just southeast of the Bahamas.
The plane vanished in that infamous region called the Bermuda Triangle. The imaginary triangle in the Atlantic comprises 250,000 square miles. The three points on the triangle are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Miami, Fla. For centuries, people traveling through there have reported strange and bizarre happenings. And those are the ones who were fortunate enough to go into the triangle and make it back.
Many others have not.
The most recent disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle reminds me of a similar incident that happened 60 years ago this month.
On the night of Dec. 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 airliner vanished while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami, Fla. The plane bore the number NC16002 and therefore, some investigators refer to the incident as the NC16002 disappearance.
The plane's pilot was Robert Linquist and the copilot was Ernest Hill. Mary Burkes was the flight attendant. The plane had a total of 32 people on board, which included 29 passengers.
Before taking off, Linquist informed the repair crewman at San Juan that a landing gear warning light was not functioning and that the aircraft's batteries were discharged and low on water. Unwilling to delay the flight's scheduled takeoff for Miami, Linquist said the batteries would be recharged by the aircraft's generators en route, according to a Web site.
Linquist taxied the plane to the end of the runway for takeoff. But he stopped the plane at the end of the tarmac because his two-way radio wasn't operating properly. Though capable of receiving communications, Linquist told a transportation official from his plane's window that his radio could not transmit because of the low batteries. After agreeing to stay close to San Juan until the batteries were recharged enough to allow two-way contact, the plane finally lifted off at 10:03 p.m. The problem with the batteries and the radio proved to be a bad omen for this flight.
After circling the city for 11 minutes, Linquist proceeded on his flight to Miami. By that time, his two-way radio communication had been restored.
At about 11:20 p.m., the Overseas Foreign Air Route Traffic Control Center at Miami heard a routine transmission from NC16002. Linquist reported his plane was flying at about 8,300 feet and had an estimated time of arrival at 4:03 a.m. He reported he was about 700 miles away from Miami.
At 3:40 a.m., Linquist reported he was 50 miles south of Miami. Oddly enough, his transmission was not heard in Miami but was monitored in New Orleans, which was some 600 miles away. The radio transmission was relayed to Miami. The accident investigation report later issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board said the pilot may have incorrectly reported his position.
Nothing more was heard from Linquist and the plane never arrived in Miami. Searchers looked for the plane and its 32 people but no wreckage was ever found. Over the years, researchers into the paranormal have included the disappearance of plane No. NC16002 to the list of mysterious and unsolved vanishings that have happened in the Bermuda Triangle.
Let's hope that the latest incident does not get added to that list as well.