Scientists unravel the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Scientific explanation of the centuries-old anomaly of the Bermuda Triangle The first navigator who noted the oddities of the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is the area Atlantic Ocean, forming the "tops" of which are Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. This place is famous all over the world for not good deeds. The zone is known for the fact that something supernatural and inexplicable is happening within it: everything that falls within the radius of attention of this "devil's hole" simply disappears! How? Why?

The paranormality of this section of the water surface has long haunted mankind. Over the solution of the so-called "mystery of the Bermuda Triangle" for decades, thousands of people have been struggling in vain, both from the world of scientists and from among the indifferent and inquisitive inhabitants. The solution to this puzzle is still considered one of the most intractable to the human mind.

Exists great amount a wide variety of theories dedicated to the topic Bermuda Triangle, more precisely - the reasons for the emergence of its "damned" features. Some of them are quite logical, more or less adequately explaining the existing oddities, while some are simply ridiculous and frankly smack of idiocy.

The most popular judgments about the mystery of this "magnet of troubles and misfortunes" are voiced by the following options:

1. Comet

About 11 thousand years ago, a comet fell to the bottom of the ocean, in the very place now known as the Bermuda Triangle. According to those who adhere to this point of view, this celestial body could have such unusual electromagnetic properties, the strength of which could well have a negative effect on navigational instruments, engines and other equipment of ships, aircraft and other floating and flying objects. In particular, to bring these systems into a non-working state.

2. Pirates

Wards of the "Jolly Roger" for many hundreds of years instilled fear in sailors, including those who traveled to this region Atlantic. It is a fact. And with regard to the missing ships, it can be recognized as true. However, the version of piracy in no way explains the disappearance of flying technology.

3. Methane hydrate

The bottom line is this: in the very depths of the "Bermuda problem" there is a process of formation of giant bubbles filled with methane hydrate, i.e. water-methane compound. When such a "vessel" reaches its maximum dimensions, it rises to water surface and thus transforms into a kind of huge "hill". A vessel that stumbles upon such an “obstacle” seems to “slip”. The bubble bursts, thus forming a funnel, which, as a result, drags the ship into the "hole". In the case of airplanes, the “absorption” scheme is presented as follows: gas from the bubble enters the air, contact with a hot engine, followed by an explosion.

4. Time Vortex

There is such a story: in 1970, one American pilot, flying to the island of Bimini, flew over the Bermuda Triangle zone. It is not known where a very strange "cloud" formed in front of him. At first, it grew at a rapid pace, and then it turned into a kind of "tunnel". The pilot had only one way out - to fly inside the "cloud". The devices seemed to have gone crazy, sparks and flashed from all sides, and the “tunnel” itself rotated counterclockwise. Then an even bigger oddity happened: the plane jumped out of the "funnel" in the Miami area. Instead of the standard 75 minutes, the flight time was 47 minutes. This is exactly what Bruce Gernon claimed - the main actor this story.

5 Secret Government Tests

Supporters of this theory argue that it is in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "devil's hole" that one secret government base is located, referred to as AUTEC, i.e. Atlantic Center for Underwater Testing and Evaluation. Inside its "walls" the government is testing various alien technologies, and also comes into contact with representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations.
It is worth noting that this division really exists. True, his field of activity is somewhat different. So, according to the official legend, the center is engaged in testing submarines, sonars and weapons.

6. UFO

An alien ship is placed under the waters of the "hole". The aliens living there study the inhabitants of the planet Earth, their technologies and achievements. It is for this purpose that they “steal” ships and planes.
Also, “other gates” can be hidden in this place, i.e. a passage to a dimension inaccessible to earthlings, who sometimes open up and “calling into the unknown” ships and planes.

7. Atlantis

The bottom of the Bermuda Triangle is the graveyard of the legendary ancient island. Solar energy within this mythical territory was generated through the use of some mysterious crystals. Their power is so great that it provokes failures in the control systems of swimming and aircraft.

8. Compass error

The triangle zone is the place where a conventional magnetic compass points not to magnetic north, but to the geographic pole. Scientific evidence suggests that the deviation between the magnetic N Pole and the geographic N Pole is over 700 miles, or approximately 1,300 kilometers. In the standard state of affairs, sailors, when plotting a course, take into account the difference between these indicators. However, forgetting about the existing similar exceptions, i.e. about the so-called "magnetic anomalies", it is quite possible to become a victim of a disaster.

9. Bad weather

The climatic features of the "devil's zone" are characterized by restless behavior. characteristic feature this oceanic area are storms and hurricanes, which are a derivative of the collision of warm and cold air masses. The fast current of the Gulf Stream also causes a lot of trouble. Together, these "whims" of the weather represent a heightened risk factor for any vehicle.

Christopher Columbus was the first traveler known to us to pass through the Sargasso Sea and cross the area of ​​the Atlantic that we now call the Bermuda Triangle. It was thanks to Columbus that this area was shrouded in an atmosphere of mystery, which over the years became more and more intriguing. His ship's log contains a description of the sea, completely filled with algae, a story about the unusual behavior of the compass needle, about the sudden appearance of a huge tongue of flame, about the strange glow of the sea. Each incomprehensible phenomenon terrified the sailors, whose nerves were already strained to the limit, and it seemed to them an ominous warning that it was time to return home. Rumors of all these incredible events quickly spread among the sailors, and soon this region of the Atlantic acquired a reputation for being mysterious and mysterious, a reputation that remains with him to this day.

When the astronauts went to the moon in 1969, they knew much more about their route, which exceeded a quarter of a million miles, than Columbus knew about his three thousand-mile journey in 1492. The flight of astronauts was provided by thousands of specialists around the world, using the best computers and communications created by man. The astronauts knew exactly how long their journey would take, and were prepared in advance for the many dangers that could lie in wait for them.

When Columbus left the Canary Islands in three small boats with a crew of ninety people, he had no idea what awaited him. He had no maps of the route ahead, no one to contact if necessary, nowhere to look for help in a moment of danger, and besides, he did not even imagine how long the journey would last or what surprises lay in wait for him.

The Sargasso Sea is located in the central part of the North Atlantic [the North Atlantic is sometimes called the part of the Atlantic Ocean located in the northern hemisphere], located between 30 and 70 degrees west longitude and 20 and 35 degrees north latitude. There are fewer clouds, less winds and less precipitation than over other areas of the ocean. The Sargasso Sea is almost the size of the United States of America; it stretched over 2,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide. From all sides, the Sargasso Sea is surrounded by powerful Atlantic currents, which make its waters slowly rotate clockwise. This sea got its name from the Portuguese word "sargago", which means "seaweed".

The first sailors who crossed the Sargasso Sea were constantly afraid to run aground, since large accumulations of algae usually mean the proximity of land. Meanwhile, the depth of the ocean in this area is several miles.

Many unusual creatures live in the Sargasso Sea, which either recently sailed here, so to speak, as a “hare”, on all kinds of objects carried by the currents, or are descendants of the same “hares” that have adapted to life on algae.

The so-called "horse latitudes", that is, a strip of frequent and prolonged calm between the thirtieth and thirty-fifth parallels, greatly enhance the unusualness of this area. The air here is so still that sailors sometimes read on deck by candlelight all night long, and sailing ships could not move for a long time.

Although Columbus described the algae of the Sargasso Sea very accurately, the tales of those who visited here after him frightened the sailors. In those days, sailors did not like to go too far from the coast, and they became uncomfortable if the land did not appear for too long. They were horrified at the sight of a solid mess of yellow, brown and green algae with bizarre creatures infested on them, stretching as far as the eye could see, right up to the horizon. The more ships stood motionless, with drooping sails along the "horse latitudes", the more terrible the stories about the Sargasso Sea became. According to them, it was no longer the lack of wind that delayed the ships there, but something else, incomprehensible. The sides, ropes and anchor chains gradually overgrown, entangled in a strong web of algae, which tenaciously kept the ship in this trap under the hot tropical sun until its crew died of hunger and thirst, and from the ship itself there was only a wreck that was completely rotten and littered with skeletons, which did not go to the bottom only because it was surrounded by "tentacles" of algae. The case was also helped by the woodworm, which feels great in tropical waters, which sometimes really turned the sides of ships into solid dust. In the legends of the Sargasso Sea, various animals crawling through the weaves of algae were transformed into giant monsters that could drag the ship into the ocean abyss. There were rumors that the crews of ships that found themselves in this accursed sea died a painful death from suffocation.

When any objects enter the relatively calm waters of the central Sargasso Sea, they begin to move in a giant circle, like a person caught in a whirlpool, and eventually drown.

Many plants brought here by currents continue to grow. It can be assumed that most of the algae were brought into the Sargasso Sea from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea with the help of the Gulf Stream. From Central America and the West Indies, tree trunks come here - a victim of hurricanes. And in general, all the rubbish and garbage that enters the rivers of these areas may sooner or later end up in the Sargasso Sea. As reported in the press in 1968, here more oil and resin than sargassum, and this oil floats here from all over the world.

Many abandoned ships have been found in the Sargasso Sea, and because of this, it has the infamous reputation of a ship graveyard. Thanks to some novelists, the central regions of the Sargasso Sea have become famous as a fantastic realm, where once sunken ships crammed with treasures pile up on top of each other, many of which have lain there for hundreds of years, and the inhabitants of this amazing kingdom, brought here by the inexorable sea currents, are indifferent to treasures. , useless to them. Yes, no matter what they say about the Sargasso Sea, truth or fiction, this is indeed a very strange place.

The name “horse latitudes” arose back in those days when ships with horses on board stood here for a long time, caught in a calm. Days passed, but there was no rain, no wind, and the supply of drinking water was catastrophically reduced. The horses, dazed from thirst, often broke off the leash and rushed into the water. And it also happened that the people themselves threw the weakened horses overboard in order to save the rest of the water for the stronger and more resilient ones. Superstitious sailors claimed that the ghosts of horses often appear here at night.

On the evening of September 13, Columbus noticed that the compass needle no longer points to polar star, and shifted six degrees to the northwest. So for the first time the declination of the magnetic compass was noted. Watching over the next few days, as the arrow shifts more and more, Columbus realized that this new phenomenon could cause confusion among the crew members. The captains of the other ships also noticed that something was wrong with the compasses, and when it became known to all the sailors, they were horrified. They decided that even the laws of nature are different here. It seemed to them that some unknown force was acting on the compass, wanting them to go astray, and each of them was afraid that even more strange and mysterious phenomena awaited him ahead.

At this point, those who mention the strange behavior of the compass when they touch on the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle usually change the subject of the story, as if giving the reader the opportunity to reflect on the nature of the mysterious forces operating in this area of ​​\u200b\u200bour planet. Meanwhile, this story has a continuation: Columbus came to the conclusion that the compass needle does not generally point to the North Star, as his contemporaries believed, but to some other point in space. The navigators and the entire crew treated the scientific knowledge of Columbus with the greatest respect; they believed him and quickly calmed down. More than three centuries later, in his biography of Columbus, Washington Irving wrote about this: “... the explanation that Columbus gave to this phenomenon was very plausible, which indicates the sharpness of his mind, always ready to find the only correct solution in the most critical situation. Perhaps at first he put forward this hypothesis only in order to calm the frightened sailors, but, as it turned out later, Columbus himself was quite satisfied with this explanation. And although Irving questioned the Columbus hypothesis, Columbus correctly solved this riddle.

The compass needle does not point to the North Pole or the North Star, but to the North Magnetic Pole, which is located near Prince of Wales Island, halfway between Hudson Bay and the North Geographic Pole. There are very few places on the globe where the compass needle points to the geographic North Pole; almost everywhere it deviates from the geographic meridian, and the angle of declination ranges from several degrees to 180. Now this feature of the magnetic needle is well known to pilots, sailors and hikers. They know how to correct compass readings to determine the direction of the geographic pole in any area of ​​the earth's surface.

The "great tongue of flame" that Columbus reported fell into the sea was apparently a meteor. This event did not particularly frighten anyone, and it was talked about simply because this meteor, apparently, was of a fairly large size.

By the beginning of the second week of October, Columbus was in a desperate situation: the sailors openly refused to obey him, demanding a return. For several weeks now they had seen land-dwelling birds and plants, which inspired in their hearts the hope that they would soon come to land. But every morning before them, again and again, the vast expanses of the ocean spread out and more and more birds and plants became. Sometimes the sailors mistook the clouds on the horizon for the coastal strip of land and so often shouted as if they were seeing land, causing the whole crew to exuberant joy, followed by new disappointment, that Columbus finally announced that if someone shouted "Earth!" and within three days this is not confirmed, he will lose the right to the prize promised to the one who first sees the earth.

But by October 11, so many sure signs appeared, unmistakably indicating the proximity of the earth, that Columbus himself climbed onto the deck and began to peer into the horizon. About ten o'clock in the evening he thought he saw some kind of fire in the distance. Thinking that he was imagining it, he called one of the sailors. He also saw fire. But when another called sailor approached, the fire had already disappeared. In order not to disturb the team in vain, no one was told about this. And four hours later, Rodrigo de Triaia from the Pinta caravel signaled that the land was visible. This time there was no error.

Historians are still arguing and arguing about what kind of fire was noticed by Columbus. A variety of assumptions were made: a torch in a fisherman's boat, a torch in someone's hands on the shore, a flock of luminous fish, etc. However, the hypothesis of an optical illusion caused by excessive eye strain, in connection with which the desired was presented as real, acquired the largest number of supporters.

So, almost five hundred years ago, this area of ​​the Atlantic, including the Bermuda Triangle, was surrounded by a halo of mystery thanks to Columbus and his superstitious team. Columbus himself wrote down facts, and only facts, in his ship's log, but over time they were exaggerated, and the sailors were especially afraid of everything that they could not understand.

Anomalous zone

The infamous Bermuda Triangle lies in an area bounded by lines from Florida to Bermuda to Puerto Rico and back to Florida through the Bahamas. The most mysterious and incredible events take place within these borders.

Already at the dawn of navigation, this area earned itself the most notorious reputation - "the cemetery of the Atlantic", "the sea that brings trouble", "the triangle of death". Here the most severe storms raged, then suddenly protracted calms began, then unexpected whirlpools appeared, dragging ships into the depths of the sea.

Christopher Columbus wrote in the ship's log that in this part of the ocean he observed strange spots on the water, emitting light. These mysterious spots are constantly appearing today, and their light is so bright that it can even be observed from space.

But this is not all the oddities of the Bermuda Triangle. In this zone, navigation instruments break down, radio transmitters fail, and compass needles stop pointing north and spin as they please. In addition, here one can often observe the terrible sight of schools of fish swimming belly up ...

Disappeared ships

But the worst thing about the Bermuda Triangle is that sometimes ships disappear completely without a trace ...

In January 1880, the training frigate Atlanta sailed from Bermuda to England, carrying 290 people, mostly cadets. The ship disappeared without a trace, and several months of active search yielded nothing.

In 1881, the cargo ship "Helen Austin" in the Burmuda Triangle discovered a schooner without a name and without a team. But on board was a cargo of rare and expensive mahogany. The captain of the Helen Austin decided to tow the schooner to the shore and sent several people to her. Suddenly a storm came up and the schooner was blown aside. It was only two days later that she was found again. But all the sailors from the Helen Austin, sent to the schooner before the storm, were dead ...

The captain, however, did not give up his desire to bring the schooner to England and sent another team of sailors to her. The storm began again, and the mysterious schooner disappeared into the ocean again, this time forever...

But all these cases were only the beginning of the terrible stories taking place in the Bermuda Triangle. In the 20th century, the number of victims of this terrible place increased significantly ...

On March 4, 1918, the USS Cyclops, 500 feet long and 19,500 tons displacement, sailed from Barbados to Norfolk. The Cyclops team consisted of 309 people. The Cyclops did not arrive at the port of destination ...

Initially, the command of the Navy decided that the ship was blown up by a mine or a German submarine destroyed it. But according to the German archives, there were never any mines or submarines in the area. The summary of the US military was: "The disappearance of the Cyclops is one of the most mysterious mysteries in the history of our fleet."

In 1925, an American cargo ship disappeared from Charleston to Havana. The following year, an English cargo ship did not arrive at its destination. In 1931, a cargo ship from Norway disappeared along with the crew.

In 1932, the schooner John and Mary was found in the Bermuda Triangle. To the surprise of those who discovered her, there was not a single person on board, but all the sails were neatly folded.

In 1944, the Cuban cargo ship Rubicon was found off the coast of Florida - also without a team ...

None of these ships gave an SOS signal, except for the missing Japanese cargo ship, the Raifuku Maru. He sent a terrible radiogram: "The danger is incredibly great ... Rather ... We cannot escape" ... Since then, no one has seen or heard this ship ...

And the Bermuda Triangle continued to collect a terrible harvest of victims. In 1950, the American ship Sandra disappeared. In 1955, the Connemara IV yacht was found without a crew and passengers. In 1963, a fishing ship with 40 crew members disappeared without a trace. In 1967, a sports yacht disappeared. In 1973, the Anita cargo ship with a displacement of 20 thousand tons disappeared ... And these are far from all the victims of the mysterious Bermuda Triangle ...

Missing Squadron

Not only boatmasters are faced with the eerie features of the Bermuda Triangle. Air space here has the same strange properties. Pilots of the earliest airplanes discovered that flying here was life-threatening.

On February 13, 1828, the famous American aviator Charles Lindbergh flew over the Bermuda Triangle. He was surprised to find that the arrows of navigational instruments suddenly began to spin at a frantic speed. At the same time, a thick fog rose from below, in which Lindbergh lost his orientation in space.

FROM with great difficulty he raised the plane to a height and escaped from the zone of poor visibility. Luckily, he was close to the shore. According to the sun and the terrain, the pilot determined where he was. It turned out that he was off course 300 miles to the side.

Lindbergh flew towards Florida and, as soon as he escaped from the Bermuda Triangle zone, all the instruments started working. In his memoirs, he wrote that it was a miracle that he escaped death. But not everyone is as lucky as Lindbergh...

On December 5, 1945, as many as five aircraft of the 19th Squadron of the US Navy disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

At 2 p.m., the planes took off from the base to participate in the exercises. The squadron, led by Lieutenant Charles Taylor, turned towards the Bahamas. An hour later, Taylor transmitted a message: “Alarm! We've lost our course, we can't see the ground." Later, there were reports that the compasses had failed and that the ocean did not look the same as it always did. The last message was: “We are diving into white waters” ...

Several ships and aircraft were sent to search for the squadron, but no traces were found, moreover, the Martin Mariner seaplane disappeared ...

Two years later, an American transport aircraft disappeared in the Bermuda region. In 1948, a British airliner with 32 passengers on board disappeared without a trace.

In 1949, an English plane carrying people from London to Chile did not arrive at the airport. In 1962, a US Air Force cargo plane went missing.

In the Bermuda Triangle, both small light aircraft and large airliners disappeared, and traces of them were never found ...

Naturally, all researchers of the Bermuda Triangle are haunted by the question - what is happening in this mysterious place, where and why do ships and planes disappear? Many versions were put forward, including the most exotic ones.

This is the abduction of ships by aliens, and the existence in the Bermuda Triangle of a gate to parallel space or to another time. Scientists indignantly meet these assumptions, but still cannot intelligibly explain what is happening in the Bermuda Triangle ... The Greatest Mystery of our time remains unsolved ...

There is one incredibly mysterious place in the Atlantic Ocean with the frightening name "Devil's Triangle" ("Bermuda Triangle") - there, under a strange coincidence, people, planes and ships disappear without a trace. In the article we will consider several cases of loss of transport and aircraft, and also try to explain the cause of this phenomenon.

This mysterious zone is bounded by a triangle whose vertices are the southern cape of Florida in the southeastern United States, the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and Bermuda in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Mysterious disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle

Sailors call this place the "triangle of death" and the "cemetery of the Atlantic" for a reason: for several hundred years, travelers, having found themselves here, fall into suddenly formed fierce storms, unpredictable whirlpools, unexpected calms and a strange yellow fog.

According to eyewitnesses, in this place of the Atlantic Ocean, light spots covered with foam sometimes form on the water, radiating radiance. Sometimes the glow is so bright that astronauts can watch it from space. Even Christopher Columbus, crossing this part of the ocean, wrote in the ship's log about this unusual glow.

Proponents of the existence of anomalous phenomena in the Bermuda Triangle zone claim that over the past hundred years, about 100 ships and aircraft have disappeared in this area. They also report on other features of this territory: here you can meet serviceable ships abandoned by the crew or move in space and time.

According to some reports, about a thousand people disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle area - their corpses were never found.

Disappearance of the planes of the Avenger flight

The disappearance of a flight of Avengers on December 5, 1945 is often associated with the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle. The squadron consisted of four torpedo bombers, whose pilots were undergoing a retraining program for given type aircraft, as well as the fifth torpedo bomber, piloted by an experienced instructor pilot Charles Taylor - it was this pilot, who flew on the Avengers for about 2500 hours, and became the leader of the entire link.

Five torpedo bombers were to make a standard training flight over the ocean: a typical exercise included two turns and practical bombing. The route was well studied, the weather forecast was favorable, the cars were perfectly equipped for those times.

On board the aircraft were life jackets, inflatable boats with food supplies, flares and emergency radios; the fuel supply on the machines was enough for five and a half hours of work, while the duration of the training flight, according to all calculations, should not have exceeded two hours.

Information about what happened to the cars after departure is quite contradictory. It is known that the Avengers had problems about an hour and a half after takeoff: the lead torpedo bomber, piloted by Taylor, had both compasses out of order, and the entire “five” went astray.

The link wandered over the Bahamas for several hours in search of the right direction, and when the fuel supply came to an end, it was forced to land on the water. Communication with the pilots was unstable, and by the time they splashed down, it had completely broken off.

O future fate the squadron knows nothing, the wreckage of the aircraft has never been found. During the hearing on the loss of the Avengers, one of the speakers said: "They disappeared, as if they had flown to Mars!"

Disappearance of the seaplane "Martin Mariner"

On the same night, two Martin Mariner aircraft were sent to search for the Avengers, with one of which - board No. 49 - contact was lost in the area of ​​​​the approximate location of the missing torpedo bombers.

The Coast Guard team saw an explosion in the air (presumably of this same aircraft), after which they observed a column of fire over the water for about 10 minutes.

The board No. 32 sent to the explosion area, due to difficult weather conditions, arrived at the site of the alleged crash only after 3 hours; several Coast Guard ships were also sent to search. However, the search operation was unsuccessful: no traces of the aircraft that crashed into the ocean could be found.

On the morning of December 6, 300 aircraft and 21 ships were sent to search for the missing Evagers and Martin Mariner; a large-scale search and rescue operation was also joined by a group of volunteers searching the coast. 5 days after the loss of the aircraft, the active phase of the search was terminated, the crew members were officially recognized as missing.

Disappearance of C-119

Twenty years later, in June 1965, about 400 kilometers from Miami, a C-119 aircraft disappeared under unknown circumstances; there were ten crew members on board.

The investigation failed to establish the exact cause of the disappearance of the C-119, which gave rise to several versions of what happened among researchers, journalists and ordinary people, the most unusual of which is the theory of the abduction of the plane by aliens.

The fact is that in the same period over the Bahamas in orbital flight was spaceship with astronaut James McDivitt on board, who, in the C-119 disappearance square, saw and photographed an unidentified flying object with what appeared to be hands.

Some sources claim that McDivitt subsequently retracted his claims about the UFOs, and also said that he had nothing to do with the pictures.

Perhaps the media just made up this whole story with a flying saucer, but maybe the reason lies elsewhere: NASA simply forbade the astronaut to talk about this topic.

Possible Causes of Mysterious Incidents

There are dozens of different hypotheses that explain the mysterious incidents in the diabolical triangle zone.

Some experts put forward a version about the influence of unusual weather phenomena, others talk about the abduction of ships and aircraft by aliens or inhabitants of the mythical Atlantis, others are sure of the existence of so-called holes in time and faults in space.

There are also many people who are sure that the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle do not exist, because, according to their calculations, disappearances in this territory occur with the same frequency as in other places of the oceans. And the search for debris in the sea is not an easy task, especially in the Bermuda Triangle, where there are many shoals and storms and cyclones often arise.

So why does this place inspire so much horror in pilots and sailors? Why do navigation devices fail here? As with scientific point view to explain the disappearances without a trace of people, planes and ships?

Reasons for disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle:

Some scientists suggest that the so-called wandering waves are "to blame" for the mysterious incidents. These lonely 20-30-meter killer waves appear completely suddenly and have nothing to do with tsunamis: their appearance in the ocean is not associated with underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and generally does not depend on catastrophic geophysical processes.

Scientists did not believe in the existence of abnormally high waves for a long time, because according to science, waves higher than 20.7 meters cannot form in the oceans. Only in 1995, a wave was recorded for the first time in the North Sea, the height of which reached 25 meters.

This fact contributed to the emergence of a project called the Atlas of Waves, whose main task is to monitor the surface of the ocean, compile a world atlas of wandering waves and statistically process the data obtained.

After the research, some experts began to argue that killer waves could well have caused the death of large ships in the zone of the terrifying triangle and throughout the oceans.

According to one version, possible cause the appearance on the high seas of the so-called ghost ships (that is, ships abandoned by the crew) is infrasound generated on the water under certain conditions.

There are natural and man-made sources of infrasound.

Natural include:

• earthquakes,
• hurricanes,
• storms,
• lightning strikes.

And the work of various equipment is classified as man-made:

• heavy machines,
• fans,
• turbines,
• jet and marine engines, etc.

Infrasound has a depressing effect on nervous system, can harm the organs of the endocrine system and the internal organs of a living being. According to research, infrasonic waves cause dry mouth, dizziness, coughing, choking, tinnitus and other signs of failure in the body.

Many scientists are convinced that under the influence of infrasound, the crew, succumbing to panic, can leave the ship, which is not in physical danger.

3. Human factor

Getting off course in the Bermuda Triangle is pretty easy, especially given the fast currents, the often changing weather, and the huge number of islands scattered throughout the area, similar to each other like twin brothers.

For example, many blame Lieutenant Taylor for the disappearance of the Avengers: having lost his way, he mistakenly determined that the link was flying over the Florida Keys, so in the center he was advised to keep heading north, guided by the sun.

But it is quite possible that the Avengers were located much east of the Keys, and therefore, moving north, for some time they flew parallel to the coast. The decision to fly west was taken by Taylor too late: fuel supplies had come to an end, and darkness was creeping up on him. "Five" was forced to splash down, and the sea that evening was extremely restless.

4. Imperfect technique

Presumably, many accidents in the Bermuda Triangle are associated with the imperfection of ships and aircraft.

For example, the mysterious disappearance of the Martin Mariner is usually explained as follows: fuel vapors from this type of aircraft penetrated the cockpit, and it was enough just to light a match to cause an explosion; the pilots of these planes are said to have referred to them among themselves as "flying tanks".

One of the hypotheses explaining the disappearances in the “triangle of death” is the formation of bubbles filled with methane hydrate in the depths of the ocean; The “ripened” bubble rises to the surface of the water, and, bursting, forms a funnel into which the ship is drawn.

Methane that has risen into the air can also contribute to the crash of aircraft: its interaction with a hot engine leads to an explosion.

6. Comet at the bottom of the ocean

According to this hypothesis, 11 thousand years ago, in a place that is now called the Bermuda Triangle, a comet fell to the bottom of the ocean. According to some experts, the electromagnetic properties of this celestial body capable of distorting the data of navigational instruments and even incapacitating aircraft engines.

For centuries, pirates have terrified sailors across the Atlantic Ocean. This theory can explain many mysterious incidents in the Bermuda Triangle zone, but not the disappearance of aircraft.

In the 70s of the last century, pilot Bruce Gernon from Florida, flying over the Bermuda Triangle, got into a strange rapidly growing cloud, gradually transforming into a tunnel.

According to the pilot, he had to fly into the tunnel, which rotated counterclockwise. A few minutes later, the plane, "emerging" from the cloud, was in the Miami area. It is noteworthy that the flight took 28 minutes less time than usual.

9. Compass malfunctions

In the zone of the Bermuda Triangle, the compass needle does not point to the magnetic north of the planet, but to the true (geographic), so ships can, without even knowing it, start moving in the wrong direction. But usually the difference in compass performance is taken into account by sailors when plotting a course in the area.

Warm and cold air masses colliding with each other, the fast current of the Gulf Stream, tropical cyclones in summer and sudden storms in winter - all this creates difficult conditions for the movement of aircraft and ships.

The Bermuda Triangle: an unsolvable phenomenon or a great hoax?

Disputes between supporters of the existence of anomalous phenomena in the Bermuda Triangle zone and skeptics have not subsided for many years. Some of the events that took place there to this day remain a mystery without a solution, but most of them still either lend themselves to a logical explanation or are fiction.

Fantasists and hoaxers (some writers, as well as journalists can be attributed to them) love to embellish and modify information: dates, places, names of ships are confused, any facts that could easily explain the tragedies in the Bermuda Triangle are deliberately hushed up. There was a case when information appeared in the media about one disappeared ship, which actually did not disappear anywhere, but calmly plowed the expanses of the Atlantic Ocean.

We are, ordinary people with our inherent curiosity, we have one weakness: love for all sorts of mysterious, terrifying stories. Perhaps that is why we so like to believe that the Bermuda Triangle hides something mysterious, fantastic.

The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western Atlantic Ocean off the southeast coast of the United States. It is "famous" for the fact that over a hundred ships have disappeared without a trace over the past two hundred years, and after the Second World War, 14 aircraft have "gone missing." An extensive literature is devoted to the riddles of the Bermuda Triangle. There are many hypotheses, including the most fantastic ones, regarding the causes of disasters in this area. Of great interest in the West was Charles Berlitz's recently published book The Bermuda Triangle, published in the USA, excerpts from which were published by a Swiss weekly. It describes the largest shipwrecks and aircraft accidents that occurred under mysterious circumstances in the area of ​​the "triangle".

In the Bermuda Triangle, no bodies or wreckage of crashed ships and planes have ever been found. Some aircraft maintained normal radio contact with the airport or military base until the last second; others transmitted strange messages: the instruments suddenly failed, the compass needle began to spin wildly, the sky turned into yellow, fog appeared (in clear weather), the sea looks “somehow unusual” - no one had time to give more specific information ...

Many aircraft, including passenger ones, disappeared right during a communication session with ground services, “as if falling into some kind of hole in the atmosphere,” as one of the conclusions figuratively stated. naval experts. The ships disappeared instantly, as if suddenly dissolved. Giants such as the Marine Sulfur Queen, a ship 129 meters long, or the American liner Cyclops with a displacement of 19 thousand tons with 309 passengers on board, disappeared without a trace. There were also those who later managed to find drifting in the area of ​​the "Bermuda Triangle" without a single person on board.

Many have tried to find out the causes of mysterious disasters and deaths. Various hypotheses were put forward and subjected to serious study, among which there were many of the most fantastic. The version of storms caused by earthquakes was discussed; talked about meteorites, attacks of sea monsters; there were also those who came up with the idea of ​​"displacement of time and space, leading to a transition to another dimension"; studied the possibility of electromagnetic and gravitational storms, plunging aircraft and ships into the abyss. Some argued that we are talking about unknown flying or underwater vehicles controlled by representatives of the surviving ancient civilizations or aliens from outer space who attacked aircraft and ships, capturing crew members and passengers as samples of the inhabitants of the Earth.

“We are off course. Everything is mixed…”

The Bermuda Triangle got its name after 6 aircraft of the US Navy disappeared on December 5, 1945, along with the crews. The five planes that crashed first were on a routine triangular training flight6 from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 256 kilometers east, then 64 kilometers north, and finally back to the base in Florida. southwest direction. The area they flew around was formerly known as the "Damn's Triangle", the "Triangle of Death", the "Sea of ​​Ghosts", or the "Gemetery of the Atlantic". This area received the name "Bermuda" because the maximum point of removal from "Fort Lauderdale" lies on the same parallel with Bermuda, which, moreover, is located in the northern corner of the zone, where, before and after 1945, planes and planes disappeared under unusual circumstances. court. But they disappeared one by one.

This time, a sad fate befell a whole group of five aircraft. It was also divided by the sixth - a seaplane sent in search of a crew of 13 people. He also mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace.

"Flight-19" - this was the symbol for the training flight of the "five" bombers - torpedo bombers of the "TBM 3 Avenger" type of the US Navy. Each car had a fuel supply that would be enough for more than 1600 kilometers. The thermometer showed 29 degrees, the sun was shining, rare clouds were floating across the sky, a weak northeast was blowing. The pilots, who had already finished flying that day, reported that the weather was perfect. The flight was scheduled for two hours. At 14.00, the planes rolled out onto the runway and took off 10 minutes later. Around 15:15, when the bombing practice was completed and the flight headed for the airfield, the radio operator in the control tower at Fort Lauderdale received a strange message from the flight commander. There is a tape recording of their conversation:

"Commander(Lt. Charles Taylor). Earth... We are on the verge of a catastrophe... It seems that we have lost our course... We do not see the earth... I repeat... We do not see the earth.

Dispatcher.What are your coordinates?

— It is difficult to give the coordinates. We don't know where we are at all... Looks like we've gone off course.

- Turn towards the west.

We don't know where the west is. Everything is mixed up… It’s strange… We can’t determine the direction… Even the sea looks somehow unusual…”

Then the instructor managed to contact the commander of the lead aircraft. The latter reported: “Both compasses failed. I'm trying to head for Fort Lauderdale... I'm sure we've passed over Case, but it looks like it's a little further south, no land in sight."

This was a sign that the leader's plane did not fly over Case. Otherwise, continuing to follow their course, the planes would soon reach land.

Due to atmospheric interference, radio communication with the "nineteenth" was deteriorating. On the planes of the "five", apparently, they stopped accepting the dispatcher's commands. Meanwhile, in the control room, the alarming voices of radio operators were still audible, keeping in touch with each other. From their abrupt remarks, a disappointing picture loomed. Fuel is running out, there is a strong wind outside, the compasses in the planes - both gyroscopic and magnetic - are out of order, the arrows are dancing like crazy, showing different directions. During all this time, the powerful radio station of the naval base could not establish contact with the aircraft, although the conversations between them were heard quite well.

The news that the crews of Flight 19 were in distress agitated the personnel of the naval base. Search aircraft were equipped. A military seaplane with 13 crew members on board took off from the Banana River Naval Air Base.

At 4 pm, the control tower was surprised to hear that Lieutenant Taylor had transferred his authority to another pilot, Captain Stever. The latter's message was received despite significant radio interference and the speaker's excited, slurred speech.

“We don’t know where we are… Probably 360 kilometers to the northeast… We must have passed over Florida and are now somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico…” Then, probably, the commander decided to change course 180 degrees to again fly over Florida, however, as a result of this maneuver, radio communications began to deteriorate, which indicated that the link had taken the wrong course and was moving away from the coast of Florida to the east, into the open sea. According to the testimony of some witnesses, the last words received from Flight 19 were: "It looks like we ..." Others claim they heard a little more: "We are enveloped in white water ... We are completely lost our bearings."

In the meantime, a report was received in the control room from Lieutenant Kouma, one of the officers of the search aircraft, which flew to the area where it was supposed to find the link. Koum reported that there was a strong wind at an altitude of 1800 meters. This was the last news received from the search aircraft. Then communication with him was interrupted.

Now not five, but six planes were listed as missing. Traces of the aircraft and 13 members of its crew could not be found.

"They disappeared without leaving a trace"

At about 7 pm, a radio station at a naval base near Miami received a weak radio signal consisting of only two letters: "... FT ... FT ..." This was part of the code designation for the missing link, since the lead aircraft was listed under the number "FT-28". Was it an attempt by the missing to make themselves known? In this case, they transmitted their message two hours after they ran out of fuel.

The next day, the most ambitious search operation in history began. It involved 240 US Navy ships, 67 aircraft from the USS Salomon, four destroyers, many submarines, 18 Coast Guard ships, search and rescue boats, hundreds of private planes, yachts and fishing schooners, units of the British Navy and Bahamas aviation. But the search turned out to be fruitless, everything that could lead to the trail was carefully studied. Crew members of one cargo plane reported that on the day Flight 19 disappeared, a red flash was seen over the mainland. Maybe the seaplane exploded? However, this assumption had to be rejected. A merchant ship then reported that at 7:30 p.m. that day, "something like an explosion" had been seen in the sky. If this had to do with the five Avengers, then one would have to assume that they were in the air a few hours after the fuel ran out. In addition, one would have to assume that all five aircraft collided and exploded at the same time. It is curious to note that neither the! Flight-19 nor the seaplane received an SOS signal. The version of a forced landing on the water also disappeared. The Avengers were able to stay on the surface for 90 seconds. The crew members had sufficient training to leave the aircraft within 60 seconds.

Many hypotheses were caused by the strange mention of "white water" in the last message from Flight-19. It could be related to the unusually thick white fog that often appears in the area. This fog could explain the lack of visibility, as well as the words of the radio operator that "the sun looks somehow abnormal." But the fog could not affect the compass needles. True, there is a “dead zone” between Florida and the Bahamas where radio communication is impossible, but something else happened to the planes before it was interrupted.

A special commission of the Navy studied the collected information: the materials of the investigation of the military tribunal in the case of one of the officers responsible for checking the instruments were also taken into account (later he was acquitted, since it was proved that the instruments had passed the test before the start, relying on the instructions). But, despite all the efforts of the commission, the causes of the incident have not been established. The conclusion of the experts said: "Judging by the radio reports, the planes went off course, and their compasses were out of order." Captain Wingard, in an interview with reporters, expressed himself more clearly: "The members of the commission failed to offer any acceptable version of what happened." One of the commission's experts, not without drama, remarked: "They disappeared without leaving traces, as if they had flown to Mars."

Lieutenant Wirshing, who at that time worked as an instructor at the Fort Lauderdale base, and later devoted many years to studying this issue, believes that, in ascertaining the fate of the crews of 6 aircraft, one must proceed from the fact that they “disappeared”, and not died because there is no evidence of the latter.

Lieutenant Wirshing recalls that another training flight was made in the morning of the same day, during which unusual phenomena. In this flight, the compasses also failed, and the landing took place not at the base, but 76 kilometers to the north. These details then fell out of sight, pushed aside by the sensational incident with Flight-19.

"Sea of ​​Lost Ships"

The largest number of unexplained shipwrecks in the Bermuda Triangle occur in the Sargasso Sea in the western Atlantic. This sea itself has been a source of mystery ever since Spanish and Portuguese navigators first arrived in it five centuries ago.

This sea of ​​algae is bounded by the Gulf Stream, which moves first to the north and then turns to the east. The southern boundary is formed by the returning flow of the Gulf Stream and the North Trade Wind Current. However, the exact contours of the sea are not defined. Relatively speaking, it extends from 23 to 35 degrees north latitude and from 30 to 68 degrees west longitude. At the bottom of the Sargasso Sea is the steep Bermuda Plateau and numerous underwater elevations that do not reach the surface of the sea and form flat plateaus, as if they were once islands. At its northern border, a part of the North Atlantic Ridge runs along the bottom, a giant chain of seamounts, some peaks of which rise above the surface of the sea, forming the Azores.

Thus, the Sargasso Sea is "stall"; there are almost no currents in it, except for those that go around it. It starts about 320 kilometers from the Greater Antilles, about 420 kilometers from the Atlantic coast to Cape Hatteras. The Sargasso Sea then extends towards the Iberian Peninsula and Africa to the North Atlantic Ridge.

This sea is famous not only for its algae, but also for its calmness, which probably gave rise to such picturesque but terrifying legends as the tales of the "sea of ​​lost ships", "the graveyard of ships" or the "sea of ​​fear".

The first legends about the Sargasso Sea were probably written by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who are believed to have visited these places thousands of years ago and landed in America. In any case, Phoenician rock inscriptions have been found in Brazil, Phoenician coins in the Azores, Carthaginian coins in Venezuela and on the southeast coast of the United States, and drawings apparently made by Phoenician or Carthaginian aliens in Mexico. And the description of the calm and algae of the Sargasso Sea, which belongs to the Carthaginian Himilcon, who lived in 500 BC, sounds quite convincing:

“Not the slightest breath of wind will move the sails, the heavy air of this dead sea is so still ... Numerous algae float on the surface and cling to the ship ... The sea is not too deep, the surface of the earth is only slightly covered with water ... Sea monsters scurry between lazily crawling ships ... "

The stories about the "sea of ​​lost ships", as well as other legends, are based on real facts, although the fantasy of the narrators has left its mark on them. Australian Allen Villiers, who in 1957 crossed the Sargasso Sea on a sailboat and actually noticed the missing ship bound by algae, wrote in his diary:

“A ship that, due to calm, is forced to stand motionless until all supplies run out ... in all likelihood, begins to grow algae and shells, which in the end completely deprive it of the ability to move ... Tropical wood borers will eat away the skin ... and the decayed frame , inhabited by skeletons ... will slowly disappear under the flat surface of the sea.

Calm is not dangerous for modern ships. However, this makes the disappearance of ships in the Sargasso Sea area even more mysterious. AT in a certain sense all shipwrecks are mysterious, as no captain has the intention of crashing his ship. As soon as the fate of this or that vessel is clarified, or at least the circumstances of its death, all mystery disappears. But this cannot be said about all the ships that “disappeared” in the Sargasso Sea.

In the footsteps of filibusters

When the following reports of disappearances of ships in the Sargasso Sea and neighboring sections of the Gulf Stream appeared, for the most part they blamed the weather and the pirates.

Spanish ships sailed from Mexico, Panama and what is now Colombia, entered Havana and sailed from Florida, often becoming victims of the hurricane. Their treasures fell to the seabed and were brought to light by divers in the following centuries. Other ships were sunk by marauders or pirates.

But long after the piracy ceased to be a profitable business, ships continued to disappear in the area just as regularly, and even in good weather. In subsequent years, more and more attention was paid to the fact that neither the islands nor the coast of the western Atlantic had ever found either shipwrecks or corpses.

Many of the missing ships belonged to the US Navy or other states. A whole series of disappearances began in 1800, when the USS Insurgent went missing with 340 passengers on board, and continued until May 1968, when the USS Scorpion with a crew of 99 went missing under "unexplained" circumstances. Truth. She was soon found: the Scorpion sank about 740 kilometers southeast of the Azores at a depth of several thousand meters.

When they begin to list how many deserted ships were found in the Sargasso Sea or adjacent areas of the Atlantic Ocean, they almost always remember the Mary Celesti, the most “famous” ship in the history of navigation among those that were abandoned by the crew and passengers. With the Mary Celesti, misfortune happened in the Sargasso Sea, although the ship, following to the place north of the Azores, where in November 1972 it was seen by the British brig Dei Gracia, passed only at the northern tip of the Sargasso Sea. On the brig they noticed the unruly "Mary Celesti" and gave her a signal. Since there was no answer, it was decided to go aboard. The Mary Celesti was captured as a "trophy".

The party boarding the Mary Celesti found that the sails were raised and the cargo of liquor was securely locked in the holds. The ship had enough fresh water and food, but ten of the crew, including the captain, his wife and little daughter, disappeared without a trace. Money, pipes, personal belongings, and even a sailing boat were still on board, although for some reason there was no sextant. The large cabin was boarded up, as if someone had barricaded themselves there from attack.

This mysterious story even became the subject of a trial, but the Mary Celesti mystery was never resolved. The disappearance of the team was explained by an attack by pirates or a riot, during which the sailors killed the captain and fled from the ship. There have also been suggestions that the sailors were afraid of the possibility of an explosion, that everyone was struck by a contagious disease, or that the entire crew was taken prisoner. The insurance company Lloyd, which paid the premium, was inclined to think that an unexpected fire in the hold with alcohol plunged the crew into such a panic that she abandoned the ship. The fire was later extinguished. In fact, alcohol tends to spontaneously ignite spontaneously, burn with a blue flame, and then go out. It is possible that the crew could not simply return to the ship when the fire went out.

Another possible explanation for the strange behavior of the crew was the presence of ergot in the grain stocks. The ergot present in bread has repeatedly created terrible situations on ships: people lost their minds and control over themselves and died as a result. Such collective insanity may have been the reason for the crew to abandon the ship in panic, and the same may have happened on those ships that disappeared in other seas.

In his book Mysterious Adventures in Time and Space, Harold Wilkins put forward a plausible hypothesis according to which the Mary Celesti was boarded by an unknown ship, her crew was killed, and subsequently the pirates claimed that they "found a ship at sea", and received for it's an award. Developing his theory, Wilkins points out some contradictions in the testimony of the captain and the crew of the "Dei Grazia".

Ten minutes of "nonexistence"

The researchers of the "Bermuda Triangle" have long paid attention to another mysterious region of the oceans. It is located southeast of Japan, between Japan and the Bonin Islands, and has earned a reputation as a dangerous area for ships and aircraft. Just like in the Bermuda Triangle, underwater volcanic eruptions and other natural phenomena can explain the mysterious occurrences that occur here. This area, also called the "damn sea", enjoys, at least officially, even worse fame than the "Bermuda Triangle", since it has been declared a danger zone by the Japanese government. This measure was taken after Japanese experts conducted a series of studies in the area in 1955.

The "Bermuda Triangle" and the "Devil's Sea" have one common pattern: at 80 degrees west longitude, which crosses the "Bermuda Triangle" along its western border, the magnetic and geographic north poles coincide. The 80th meridian of the west longitude, passing through the pole, changes its designation and becomes the 150th meridian of the east longitude, which comes from north to south past Japan, crossing the "devil's sea" just in the middle. At this point of the "devil's sea" the compass needle points simultaneously to the geographic and magnetic poles just as in the western part of the Bermuda Triangle, in the other hemisphere of the globe.

The continued disappearance of aircraft and ships was the reason that in 1955, with the support of the Japanese government, an expedition was sent to this area, during which scientists were to make various measurements and experiments. To this end, the research vessel "Kaiyo Maru No. 5" cruised in the "devil's sea". The expedition ended in the most incredible way - the ship, along with the crew and a group of scientists, disappeared without a trace.

The existence of one or more areas in the oceans, where mysterious events occur, has led to the appearance of a number of strange statements. Theories have been advanced regarding anti-gravitational shifts, and it has been argued that there are places where the laws of gravity and magnetic attraction do not function as commonly believed. The author of the book Great Mystery in the Air, Ralph Barker, notes that the new discoveries of physicists indicate the existence of anti-gravitational particles of matter. He believes that “matter that does not obey the laws of gravity, the nature of which is opposite to the nature of the matter of the Earth, has a colossal explosive force if it comes into contact with terrestrial matter ... and that it is localized in certain regions of the Earth ...” he suggests that this matter may have space origin and "accumulates" sometimes under the continents, but mostly under the seabed.

On closer acquaintance with this theory, one finds a possible explanation for electronic and magnetic deviations in various parts of the globe, but the disappearance of such a large number ships and aircraft, this still cannot be justified. Information about magnetic anomalies was also obtained in other seas. There are places where the force of attraction of the source of energy under water is stronger than the attraction of the north magnetic pole.

Ivan Sanderson published an article in Saga magazine, where he spoke about the results of a thorough study of the Bermuda Triangle and other similar sea areas. In the course of their research, Sanderson and his collaborators found that most of the mysterious accidents with aircraft and ships occur in six regions with almost the same ellipsoidal configuration and located between 30 and 40 degrees north and south latitude. These include the Bermuda Triangle and the Devil's Sea.

Sanderson developed his theory and compiled a grid of anomaly regions at intervals of 73 degrees, covering the entire Earth. Five of these areas are located in the northern hemisphere, five - in the southern, including the pole. Bermuda Triangle, in his opinion, is the most famous of these areas, since ships and aircraft often end up in it. Other regions, although less well known, exhibit equally powerful magnetic aberrations.

Most of these areas are located east of the coasts of the continents, where warm, northward moving sea currents meet southward currents. In addition, these areas represent nodal points where sea currents at the surface and at depth move in opposite directions. Powerful deep tidal currents, influenced by different temperatures, create magnetic storms that cause radio interference, affect the magnetic field, and possibly change the force of gravity. It is possible that, under certain circumstances, these phenomena can cause ships and aircraft to move to other points in space-time. Sanderson in this connection refers to an interesting phenomenon of the uneven flow of time observed in these areas. It's about about those cases when the planes, after completing the task, landed much earlier than the allotted time. This would be understandable if they were flying with a tailwind, the speed of which would be 760 kilometers per hour. But the winds recorded by the meteorological services during the flights could not cause such deviations. Most often, these phenomena are found in the Bermuda Triangle. It seems that the planes, faced with such an anomaly, slip past or rush into the "sky hole".

A similar time jump occurred five years ago at an airfield in Miami. He never received a convincing explanation. This is a National Airlines passenger plane, which, with 127 passengers on board, was approaching the runway from the northeast and was controlled by ground-based radar. Suddenly he disappeared from the screen and appeared only ten minutes later. The plane landed without any complications. The pilot and crew were surprised by the concern of the ground staff, as they believed nothing out of the ordinary had happened. One of the controllers said to the pilot: “My God, buddy, you simply didn’t exist for ten minutes!” the team compared the time on their watch and all the clocks in the car and found that all clocks were equally ten minutes behind. This was all the more strange as no discrepancies were noted when checking the clocks on the plane and on the control tower twenty minutes earlier.

WELTWOCHE, ZURICH.

Abroad №41 1975