The mysterious case of the missing flight of PIA 404

[street cricketer]

So I just came across this randomly and this flight accident in Pakistan in 1989 caught me by surprise. Wikipedia says this on the accident:

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404 was a Fokker F27 Friendship that disappeared shortly after takeoff on 25 August 1989. At 07:36, a domestic scheduled passenger flight of Pakistan International Airlines took off from the northern city of Gilgit, Pakistan on its way to the national capital Islamabad. One of the pilots of the aircraft made a routine radio call at 07:40; this was the last communication with the aircraft. The aircraft is thought to have crashed in the Himalayas, but the wreckage has never been found.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_International_Airlines_Flight_404

Apparently 54 people were travelling in it. How has the wreckage not been found yet. It's hard to find the wreckage if the flight goes under the ocean, but don't think there's sea anywhere near Gilgit and Islamabad. Surely the wreckage must be lying under the snow somewhere now?

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

I remember reading a conspiracy theory about this flight. As the story goes the plane crossed the LOC and was shutdown by India. It was hushed up to avoid war.

 

[street cricketer]

I remember reading a conspiracy theory about this flight. As the story goes the plane crossed the LOC and was shutdown by India. It was hushed up to avoid war.

Why do we always have to be the baddies

 

[Napa]

So I just came across this randomly and this flight accident in Pakistan in 1989 caught me by surprise. Wikipedia says this on the accident:

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404 was a Fokker F27 Friendship that disappeared shortly after takeoff on 25 August 1989. At 07:36, a domestic scheduled passenger flight of Pakistan International Airlines took off from the northern city of Gilgit, Pakistan on its way to the national capital Islamabad. One of the pilots of the aircraft made a routine radio call at 07:40; this was the last communication with the aircraft. The aircraft is thought to have crashed in the Himalayas, but the wreckage has never been found.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_International_Airlines_Flight_404

Apparently 54 people were travelling in it. How has the wreckage not been found yet. It's hard to find the wreckage if the flight goes under the ocean, but don't think there's sea anywhere near Gilgit and Islamabad. Surely the wreckage must be lying under the snow somewhere now?

Seems like it was quite an old plane.

"The aircraft was a Fokker F27-200 Friendship turboprop airliner, c/n 10207, built in 1962. It had accumulated approximately 44,524 hours of flying time; and 41,524 cycles (the number of times the aircraft had been pressurized) at the time of the accident."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_International_Airlines_Flight_404#Search_operation

I assume satellites were not that common 32 years ago. Nowadays, wreckage on land should be spotted without difficulty by satellite.

Coincidentally, 404 is associated with "not found"!

 

[mazkhan]

It most likely crashed in a high mountainous glacier area and the wreckage has probably been frozen over into a glacier or something .

Some big peaks and high ranges around that area.

 

[shaz619]

Seems like it was quite an old plane.

"The aircraft was a Fokker F27-200 Friendship turboprop airliner, c/n 10207, built in 1962. It had accumulated approximately 44,524 hours of flying time; and 41,524 cycles (the number of times the aircraft had been pressurized) at the time of the accident."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_International_Airlines_Flight_404#Search_operation

I assume satellites were not that common 32 years ago. Nowadays, wreckage on land should be spotted without difficulty by satellite.

Coincidentally, 404 is associated with "not found"!

1 cycle is one take-off and landing, it’s hasn’t really accumulated much hours and cycles since 1962, that could potentially lead to the obvious conclusion that this plane hasn’t been maintained too well in storage, take-off distances around there must be short as well / weather + terrain can be challenging, pilot must have had a very small margin for error.

 

[street cricketer]

It most likely crashed in a high mountainous glacier area and the wreckage has probably been frozen over into a glacier or something .

Some big peaks and high ranges around that area.

I have always wondered, with all the advancements in science and technology, is it not possible to locate a lost aircraft, in ocean or buried under the snow in this case.

 

[street cricketer]

And if it was indeed frozen in a glacier, the bodies would be well preserved in the freezing ice.

A search could give closure to the families of the 54 missing people.

 

[street cricketer]

Coincidentally, 404 is associated with "not found"!

That's a good spot, I never thought of it that way. Wonder if the name of plane had anything to do with how the error was named.

 

[Major]

The 404 error was named after this plane....


High mountains and glaciers are very hard to reach. Infact, back in the 80s, it was impossible. If you look at Siachen, before India decided to capture the glaciers, both countries used to assume their border and never did any proper demarcation. Thus, when India finally in the 80s officially captured Siachen we were surprised as we had assumed to no human could go to that area thus making it difficult for anyone to capture it,

Thus, same scenario applies here. It was in the 80s this crash happened and we didnt had the resources for the men to go there... By now there might be multiple layers of ice over the bodies or body parts

 

[gazza619]

Coincidentally, 404 is associated with "not found"!

Gosh how creepy is that???!!!!

 

[Napa]

The 404 error was named after this plane....

Not confirmed but other people have speculated the same.

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-history-behind-the-404-error-missing-link-4f8824d63154

 

[cric_man]

The 404 error was named after this plane....

HTTP 404 error predates the crash. It has its own interesting story.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ne...ws-story/c30a3488e240067204fbcc0155dcbabe?amp

 

[Napa]

HTTP 404 error predates the crash. It has its own interesting story.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ne...ws-story/c30a3488e240067204fbcc0155dcbabe?amp

The article says "The World Wide Web’s central database was located in the office on the fourth floor of a building — room 404 to be exact."

There are other articles which say the above is not true, there was no room 404.

"Robert Cailliau has debunked the myth about 404 being named after a server room at CERN. There’s no 404 room on the fourth floor."

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-history-behind-the-404-error-missing-link-4f8824d63154