Folks, I’ve got my coffee in hand and I’m reading about a story that’s got me shaking my head in amazement. Seventy-four years after a Pan Am flight crashed into the water off Puerto Rico, a Discovery Channel team has finally found the wreckage sitting on the ocean floor. I mean, can you believe it? The plane, named the Clipper Endeavor, crashed back in 1952, killing 52 passengers, and it’s taken all this time to locate the wreckage. I guess you could say that’s what I call a cold case, literally.
The Clipper Endeavor had taken off from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 11, 1952, bound for New York, with 64 passengers and five crew members on board. But shortly after takeoff, the pilots lost both right-side engines, and the plane crashed into the ocean just minutes later. I can only imagine how terrifying that must have been for the people on board. The plane had life rafts and personal flotation devices, but many passengers remained in their seats, and sadly, 52 people went down with the plane.
Now, I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that the wreckage was found after all these years or that the general location of the crash was known, but the exact location of the wreckage wasn’t. I mean, you’d think that with all the technology we have today, it wouldn’t take this long to find a plane at the bottom of the ocean. But I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
Last month, a Discovery Channel team used an autonomous underwater drone to locate the wreckage on the ocean floor, some 2,000 feet below the surface. And let me tell you, that’s deep. The governor’s office in Puerto Rico has been informed, and I’m sure they’re just thrilled to have some closure on this tragedy. Discovery Channel plans to cover the finding in an “Expedition Unknown” episode in the fall, so I’m sure we’ll all be on the edge of our seats watching that.
You know, it’s stories like these that remind me just how small we are in this big world. I mean, a plane can just disappear into the ocean, and it takes decades to find it. It’s just mind-boggling. But hey, at least we’ve got our coffee to keep us company while we’re reading about these crazy stories. And who knows, maybe one day we’ll have a machine that can find all the lost planes and ships at the bottom of the ocean. Wouldn’t that be something? In the meantime, I’ll just stick to my coffee and enjoy the ride.
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
