12 MAY 2020 ÇPlane&Pilot
MYSTERY
Roughly 2,000 aircraft have vanished within a
25,000-square-mile area known as the Nevada
Triangle. What’s behind the mysterious disap-
pearances, and why have most of the aircraft
never been found?BACKGROUND
While much of the world has heard of the infamous
and ever-mysterious Bermuda Triangle, of similar
intrigue is the lesser-known, but equally fascinat-
ing, Nevada Triangle. The area is bounded by the
cities of Fresno, Las Vegas and Reno, and is speck-
led by the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada moun-
tain range. Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia
National Parks lie beneath, and
tucked along the Triangle’s edges,
adding to the sense of mystery,
is the super-secret government
facility known as Area 51.
Around 2,000 aircraft have
gone missing in the Nevada
Triangle over the past 60 years.
That’s approximately three dis-
appearances a month. One of
the most famous victims was
legendary adventurer and pilot
Steve Fossett. On the morning of September 3,
2007, Fossett took off in his Super Decathlon from
a small Nevada airstrip and seemingly vanished
into thin air. Search-and-rescue operations went
on for weeks, costing roughly $700,000, yet Fossett
was not found until over a year later, when a hiker
stumbled upon his ID cards scattered along a
trail. The NTSB didn’t find any mechanical issues
with the aircraft, so what happened that fateful,
tragic day? And why have so many other aircraft
disappeared in the same area, never to be found?AREA 51
Along the eastern edge of the Nevada Triangle sits
the highly classified government facility “Area 51.”
According to the U.S. Air Force, the site has been
used since 1955 to develop and test weapons and
experimental aircraft. Remains from the Roswell
crash are allegedly stored at the facility, sparking
decades-long rumors that its real purpose is for
studying and communicating with extraterrestrials.
Security around the perimeter is extremely tight;
anyone who attempts to approach will quickly
notice something far more unnerving than aliens—
locked-and-loaded guards ready to take them
out. As such, some speculate that the real reason
so many civilian aircraft have disappeared in the
area is that the government has
been taking down any that get
too close. While it may seem a bit
far-fetched, the disappearances
started around the same time the
facility opened.PORTALS
According to Albert Einstein,
space and time are woven
together, forming a smooth
four-dimensional fabric known
as “spacetime.” A recent study by NASA proved
that Einstein wasn’t only correct, but also that the
spacetime vortex surrounding Earth is distorted
due to the spinning motion of the planet. Some
fringe theorists have posited a rift has occurred in
the fabric, causing small portals to open up in spe-
cific areas around the world, such as the Bermuda
and Nevada Triangles. However, there has been no
proof to date of such a rift, and the questions of
where these portals lead to and why they would
have been formed in these specific locations have
never been answered.MYSTERIES OF FLIGHT
BY DESIREE KOCISThe Nevada Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle is better known.
This one’s far more deadly.
❯ ❯ “Around 2,000 aircraft
have gone missing in
the Nevada Triangle over
the past 60 years. That’s
approximately three
disappearances a month.”