Okay so we know it’s spooky season but we literally can’t make this up. Imagine getting on a plane to paradise only to never get there.
A plane from South Carolina randomly went missing Thursday while en route to the Bahamas from South Carolina and now search and rescuers are investigating to find out what happened. If this sounds like it came from the script of NBC’s new hit show Manifest, it’s because that’s what happens.
The Piper PA-31 Navajo, a twin-engine aircraft, took off from Robert. F Swinnie Airport in Andrews, SC. Soon after, the plane vanished from radar around 11:30 am and disappeared around 110 miles east of Charleston, SC. As of noon today, Coast Guard officials tweeted that they had already searched 2,600 square miles, but there is still no sign of the missing craft aircraft.
With all the technological advances, we know it seems hard to believe that these things are actually still happening. This mystery can just be added to the list of missing planes. Back in 2014, headlines were buzzing when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 magically disappeared on its way to Beijing. Several pieces of debris were confirmed to be from the aircraft that were washed ashore in the western Indian Ocean during 2015 and 2016. Another search was launched in January 2018 by the private contractor and ended without success after just six months.
The disappearance of Flight 370 has been called one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time.
According to air traffic controllers in Jacksonville, Florida, the aircraft reported “an in-flight emergency,” lost contact on radar and notified the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. The Flight Safety Foundation’s Air Safety Network reported that a Piper PA-31T Cheyenne went missing in the Atlantic Ocean at 11:33 am on Thursday. The South Strand News reports that the plane was set to land at Governor’s Harbor Airport in the Bahamas, before being diverted to Charleston at 11:18 a.m.
Plane tracking website, The Flight Aware, shows the twin-engine plane taking off from the small airport in Andrews, just an hour south of Myrtle Beach, flying out over the ocean before turning back after about 30 minutes and heading towards Charleston. Then the plane disappeared from radar. FAA records show the plane belonged to the Bulldog Flying Club, registered in Wilmington, Delaware.
While the Coast Guard searched diligently through Thursday night, officials say the search will continue through Friday.