Latest news with #Flight2501
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Search Has Ended for Plane That Disappeared Over Lake Michigan in 1950 — Worst Airline Disaster in U.S. History at the Time
A 20-year search for a flight that disappeared over Lake Michigan in 1950 has been called off Northwest Orient Flight 2501 was carrying 58 people and was the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster to date at the time While researchers did not find the plane, they believe they have uncovered new details about the cause of the crash and its aftermathThe decades-long search for a passenger plane carrying 58 people that disappeared over Lake Michigan 75 years ago has been called off. Northwest Orient Flight 2501 took off from La Guardia Airport in New York the evening of June 23, 1950. The plane was scheduled to make two stops — Minneapolis and Spokane, Wash. — before reaching its final destination in Seattle. However, the plane lost contact with air traffic control after encountering rough weather and never made its scheduled flyover near Milwaukee's Mitchell Field, according to The Detroit News. The tragedy was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history at the time. Michigan's South Beach was closed for nine days as body parts and plane debris washed ashore, but no victims were ever positively identified, and the ensuing investigation did not yield a cause for the crash. No further investigation was done into the matter until 2004, when adventure writer Clive Cussler became interested in the crash. Cussler reached out to the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association and offered to fund an investigation into the cause of the disaster, per The Detroit News. Researchers with the organization scanned 700 miles of Lake Michigan using sonar technology and used models to recreate the weather patterns that Flight 2501 would have encountered the night of the crash. "With all of our research and by connecting with Northwest personnel, we came up with information never publicly shared," said the organization's executive director, Valerie van Heest, while talking to The Detroit News. She added, "We feel quite confident the plane entered the storm front, unaware the storm front had shifted south. We feel quite confident that a downdraft, also called a microburst, hit the plane. And we say that based on the debris that came ashore and that the Coast Guard collected ... We know this plane hit the water with great force, and we know there was no way to survive this." Researchers additionally believe that the plane was ultimately destroyed into many pieces of debris, much of which has since sunk to the depths of the lake floor. Van Heest — who has since authored a book and curated a traveling museum exhibit about the crash — said that family members of the victims have reached out to her over the years, making her realize that the tragedy was still alive for many. "I had heartbreaking conversations with seniors who would cry over [the] phone talking about this, so it was still so raw," she told The Detroit News, adding, 'My interest was a feeling of responsibility of bringing closure to the families, and I feel like I've done it with the book, the exhibit and knowing details that they didn't have in 1950." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Van Heest also told the outlet that she has mixed emotions about officially calling off the 20-year search effort. "It's a hard thing to have to say because part of me feels like we have failed, but we have done so much to keep [the] memory of this accident and these victims at [the] forefront … I feel like we've done better for them than if we'd found the wreckage," she said. The organization also helped locate two unmarked mass grave sites at Michigan cemeteries that contained the remains of flight victims. Stone markers commemorating the victims and the crash have since been placed at both sites. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Search Has Ended for Plane That Disappeared Over Lake Michigan in 1950 — Worst Airline Disaster in U.S. History at the Time
A 20-year search for a flight that disappeared over Lake Michigan in 1950 has been called off Northwest Orient Flight 2501 was carrying 58 people and was the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster to date at the time While researchers did not find the plane, they believe they have uncovered new details about the cause of the crash and its aftermathThe decades-long search for a passenger plane carrying 58 people that disappeared over Lake Michigan 75 years ago has been called off. Northwest Orient Flight 2501 took off from La Guardia Airport in New York the evening of June 23, 1950. The plane was scheduled to make two stops — Minneapolis and Spokane, Wash. — before reaching its final destination in Seattle. However, the plane lost contact with air traffic control after encountering rough weather and never made its scheduled flyover near Milwaukee's Mitchell Field, according to The Detroit News. The tragedy was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history at the time. Michigan's South Beach was closed for nine days as body parts and plane debris washed ashore, but no victims were ever positively identified, and the ensuing investigation did not yield a cause for the crash. No further investigation was done into the matter until 2004, when adventure writer Clive Cussler became interested in the crash. Cussler reached out to the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association and offered to fund an investigation into the cause of the disaster, per The Detroit News. Researchers with the organization scanned 700 miles of Lake Michigan using sonar technology and used models to recreate the weather patterns that Flight 2501 would have encountered the night of the crash. "With all of our research and by connecting with Northwest personnel, we came up with information never publicly shared," said the organization's executive director, Valerie van Heest, while talking to The Detroit News. She added, "We feel quite confident the plane entered the storm front, unaware the storm front had shifted south. We feel quite confident that a downdraft, also called a microburst, hit the plane. And we say that based on the debris that came ashore and that the Coast Guard collected ... We know this plane hit the water with great force, and we know there was no way to survive this." Researchers additionally believe that the plane was ultimately destroyed into many pieces of debris, much of which has since sunk to the depths of the lake floor. Van Heest — who has since authored a book and curated a traveling museum exhibit about the crash — said that family members of the victims have reached out to her over the years, making her realize that the tragedy was still alive for many. "I had heartbreaking conversations with seniors who would cry over [the] phone talking about this, so it was still so raw," she told The Detroit News, adding, 'My interest was a feeling of responsibility of bringing closure to the families, and I feel like I've done it with the book, the exhibit and knowing details that they didn't have in 1950." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Van Heest also told the outlet that she has mixed emotions about officially calling off the 20-year search effort. "It's a hard thing to have to say because part of me feels like we have failed, but we have done so much to keep [the] memory of this accident and these victims at [the] forefront … I feel like we've done better for them than if we'd found the wreckage," she said. The organization also helped locate two unmarked mass grave sites at Michigan cemeteries that contained the remains of flight victims. Stone markers commemorating the victims and the crash have since been placed at both sites. Read the original article on People
New York Times
26-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
75 Years After a Deadly Plane Crash, the Search for Its Wreckage Ends
In June 1950, a four-engine, propeller-driven passenger plane headed from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Minneapolis encountered a violent storm over Lake Michigan and crashed into the turbulent waters below. 'If all aboard are lost, the crash will be the most disastrous in the history of American commercial aviation,' an article on the front page of The New York Times reported the next morning about Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501. The search turned up no survivors and no plane, only small pieces of the wreck. All 58 people on board were declared dead. The few human remains that the Coast Guard skimmed off the lake's surface were buried in an unmarked mass grave. Newspapers were quickly distracted by the beginning of the Korean War. Until a team led by local explorers set out in 2004 to find the plane, the mystery of Flight 2501 was little more than fodder for conspiracy theorists. But more than 20 years later, that search has been called off. While it turned up no physical remains, explorers say, the effort revived the memory of the crash and honored the victims. On Tuesday, the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the crash, Valerie van Heest, a local maritime history enthusiast who helped revive the search, told surviving family members of the victims that, after scanning the last of the 700-square-mile section of Lake Michigan where researchers suspected the wreckage had settled, she had determined that the plane had shattered upon piercing the surface of the lake and that time had buried the remnants too deep to detect. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Post
26-06-2025
- General
- New York Post
75 years after the then-worst crash in US history, search ends for a plane in Lake Michigan
A group is ending a 20-year search for a plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing all 58 people on board, after sweeping the vast body of water using sonar technology and even getting support from an acclaimed adventure writer. When Northwest Orient Flight 2501 crashed, it was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history. Valerie van Heest, executive director of the Michigan Shipwreck Association, said she has mixed feelings about ending the search, which began in 2004. This undated photo from the 1940s provided by author and researcher Valerie van Heest shows a Northwest Orient plane in Milwaukee before it crashed in Lake Michigan in 1950. AP 'It's a hard thing to have to say because part of me feels like we have failed,' van Heest told The Detroit News, 'but we have done so much to keep memory of this accident and these victims at forefront that I feel like we've done better for them than if we'd found the wreckage.' After covering 700 square miles (1,813 square kilometers) of Lake Michigan, Van Heest said scientists believe the plane broke up into pieces too small to be detected by side-scan sonar and likely 'sunk into the muck' on the bottom. The plane, a propeller-driven DC-4, left LaGuardia Airport in New York at night on June 23, 1950, with two stops planned on the route to Seattle. An intense storm suddenly appeared and the plane went down. Debris and body parts washed ashore in South Haven, Michigan. In this photo provided by Valerie van Heest, a historical exhibit of the 1950 crash of a Northwest Orient plane in Lake Michigan is on display at the Heritage Museum in St. Joseph, Mich., Oct. 7, 2024. AP 'We know this plane hit the water with great force, and we know there was no way to survive this,' said van Heest, who has written a book about the mystery, 'Fatal Crossing.' Clive Cussler, an author whose adventure fiction has sold in the millions, financially supported a search until 2017. Also known for his own shipwreck hunting and underwater exploits, Cussler died in 2020. 'I hope someday the families of those lost will have closure,' Cussler wrote in 2018.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
75 years after the then-worst crash in US history, search ends for a plane in Lake Michigan
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A group is ending a 20-year search for a plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing all 58 people on board, after sweeping the vast body of water using sonar technology and even getting support from an acclaimed adventure writer. When Northwest Orient Flight 2501 crashed, it was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history. Valerie van Heest, executive director of the Michigan Shipwreck Association, said she has mixed feelings about ending the search, which began in 2004. 'It's a hard thing to have to say because part of me feels like we have failed," van Heest told The Detroit News, 'but we have done so much to keep memory of this accident and these victims at forefront that I feel like we've done better for them than if we'd found the wreckage.' After covering 700 square miles (1,813 square kilometers) of Lake Michigan, Van Heest said scientists believe the plane broke up into pieces too small to be detected by side-scan sonar and likely "sunk into the muck' on the bottom. The plane, a propeller-driven DC-4, left LaGuardia Airport in New York at night on June 23, 1950, with two stops planned on the route to Seattle. An intense storm suddenly appeared and the plane went down. Debris and body parts washed ashore in South Haven, Michigan. "We know this plane hit the water with great force, and we know there was no way to survive this," said van Heest, who has written a book about the mystery, 'Fatal Crossing.' Clive Cussler, an author whose adventure fiction has sold in the millions, financially supported a search until 2017. Also known for his own shipwreck hunting and underwater exploits, Cussler died in 2020. "I hope someday the families of those lost will have closure," Cussler wrote in 2018.
