Phantom airplane crashes are a relatively recent phenomenon, but there have been several cases reported. The scenario usually goes something like this. Witnesses see a plane going down, often in flames. They hear the crash and feel the ground shake as the plane impacts. Sometimes smoke and flames are seen, and witnesses can smell spilled fuel. Upon investigation, however, no sign of a crash is evident. Not only is no wreckage ever found, but no record of a missing or delayed flight is catalogued. So what are these people seeing?
Plane Vanishes Near Long Island
UFO ROUNDUP Vol. 2, No 3
January 19, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor
People in Westbrook, Connecticut were amazed Wednesday morning, January 15, 1997 when they heard that a single-engine plane dive toward the waters of Long Island Sound... and then vanish. According to the newspaper The Day, “The Coast Guard, state Department of Environmental Protection, two rescue helicopters, fire departments from Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Madison and Clinton, and some marine patrols and private boats searched 100 square miles after a man reported he had seen a plane dive into the water. Daniel Bowes of Meetinghouse Lane was having a cup of coffee at about 7:30 a.m. at West Beach on Salt Island Road when he saw a plane flying low over the water, according to Ralph Buck, a captain of the Westbrook Fire Department. He told authorities it looked as if the plane took a nose dive, though he didn’t see a splash, Buck said. No airport in the area reported any planes missing, according to state police Lt. Cliff M’Sadoques.” At 4 p.m., the Coast Guard called off the search. No trace of any aircraft was found.
Montana Mystery
C.R.I.F.O. ORBIT Newsletter,
Vol. 3, No. 1 - April 6, 1956
Publisher, Leonard Stringfield
Three women in the Ovando, Montana, area, about 50 miles northeast of Missoula, reported seeing an airplane trailing smoke and falling from it, objects looking like parachutes. A ranchwoman told officers she saw a “board-like object” fall from the plane. Sheriff Ed Barrow and a deputy, despite falling temperatures and four feet of snow, made a ground search, joined by a ski-equipped plane which flew over the designated area, but nothing was found. Two days later, there was a new hope when a boy living near Ovando reported an explosion he had seen on a hillside near his home. He described it as a “big explosion” with red and yellow flames. The time and general location given by the boy agrees with the stories told by the three women, officers said. Malmstrom AFB officials at Great Falls and Civilian and CAA authorities all agreed that no planes, military, commercial or private were missing. On Feb. 18, Carl Schirmer, coordinator of the Montana search and rescue team announced, “There is nothing warranting any further search. The Sheriff went up where the disturbance was reported to be seen and could not find a thing.”
The Ghost Plane Incident
C.R.I.F.O. ORBIT Newsletter,
Vol. 2, No. 10 - Jan. 6, 1956
Publisher, Leonard Stringfield
Nov. 18, 1955. The first reports told of extensive search parties combing the mountainous region of Dark Hollow, Pennsylvania, looking for a plane believed crashed. The search began after Dale Murphy, civil defense coordinator of Cumberland County, said he received reports from ten GOC members of either hearing or seeing a plane, “probably in trouble,” flying about 1,000 feet. One spotter said she saw it go out of sight behind a hill, then heard something like an explosion. However, checks with various air control agencies failed to turn up any reports of either a plane missing or in trouble. Air-sea rescue planes were dispatched by Westover AFB in Massachusetts to aid ground crews in the search. The planes were requested after two flares were reported over a deep ravine in Dark Hollow. But, the aerial search by the Air Force and the Civil Air Patrol along with nearly 300 firemen, police, civil defense workers and volunteers found no trace of a crashed plane. But the persistence of flares renewed the searchers efforts. On the 20th, yellow flares were reported at 1:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. At 9:30 that night Murphy ordered sirens blown on all fire equipment in the region. Fifteen minutes later, another flare arched into the sky. Finally, on the 22nd Nov., the search was halted, and the “ghost plane” became a legend.