BSAA Star Tiger
An Avro Tudor airliner of British South American Airways disappeared on 30 January 1948 on the night leg from the Azores to Bermuda.
1948 CE · 32.30, -64.76 · status: unexplained
The account
The aircraft had been delayed by an engine problem in Lisbon and bad weather in the Azores. No wreckage was found, and the loss remains unsolved. Together with Star Ariel a year later, it helped build the Bermuda Triangle legend.
The sceptical view
Long overwater flights at the edge of the Tudor's range, with weak navigation aids, left little margin; the inquiry could not find a cause, which is not the same as a mystery cause.
The researched reading
A Tudor airliner lost at night near the end of a long, marginal overwater leg. Fuel exhaustion, a heater fire or loss of control at low altitude fits; the cause is unknown, not mysterious.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 40% | Flying at about 2,000 feet to avoid headwinds, with a faulty compass and cabin heater, at the edge of its fuel margin, the Tudor had little room for error; a fuel shortfall, heater fire or a sudden loss of control at low height would leave no time for a message. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 30% | Stronger-than-forecast headwinds on the night leg from the Azores drained the reserve; at low level a downdraft or misread altimeter over the sea is quickly fatal. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 10% | The inquiry’s phrase that it “may well be said to be an unsolved problem” was later used to build the Bermuda Triangle legend. |
| Secret human technology | 8% | Sabotage was suspected by BSAA’s chief, but nothing supported it. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 4% | Later accounts add details absent from the inquiry. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | No unusual natural cause is needed. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 4% | An airliner short on fuel and margin over the sea at night is a known risk, not an anomaly. |
Official position: The Ministry of Civil Aviation inquiry under Lord Macmillan could not find a cause and called it an unsolved problem.
Connections in the atlas
- BSAA Star Ariel
- ? Is the Bermuda Triangle really dangerous?
- Flight 19
- The Bermuda Triangle