BSAA Star Ariel
A second BSAA Avro Tudor vanished on 17 January 1949 in clear weather on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica, with 20 aboard.
1949 CE · 32.30, -64.76 · status: unexplained
The account
Star Ariel was pressed into service when another Tudor had an engine failure, took off from Kindley Field and climbed for a high-altitude flight. No trace was found. The two Tudor losses are part of the standard Bermuda Triangle list.
The sceptical view
Without wreckage the cause cannot be known; an unexplained loss over open ocean is not evidence of anything anomalous.
The researched reading
The second Tudor lost without trace in a year. A sudden failure in a troubled design best fits the facts; sabotage was suspected but never shown.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 40% | The Avro Tudor had unresolved design problems; investigators and later researchers point to a sudden catastrophic failure (cabin heater, hydraulics or fuel system) that would explain the lack of a distress call after a routine message. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 16% | The weather was good, so weather alone is unlikely, but clear-air turbulence or a sudden loss of control over deep ocean leaves no trace. |
| Undetermined | 12% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| Secret human technology | 10% | BSAA’s chief, Don Bennett, suspected sabotage, given the earlier Star Tiger loss and political tensions in South America; no evidence was found. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 10% | The loss is a pillar of the Bermuda Triangle legend, which recasts an unsolved accident as part of a pattern. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 4% | No fabrication in the core facts; later embellishments exist. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | No unusual natural phenomenon is required. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 4% | An airliner of a troubled type lost over the sea without wreckage is unresolved, not anomalous. |
Official position: The UK Ministry of Civil Aviation inquiry could not determine the cause; the Tudor was withdrawn from passenger service.
Connections in the atlas
- HMS Atalanta vanishes
- ? Is the Bermuda Triangle really dangerous?
- BSAA Star Tiger
- The Bermuda Triangle