Flight 502

Flight 502(Tom Di Roma) Flight 502


If it’s during the day, and I’m working in the hanger with the other mechanics, I’m usually not bothered much by the sight of the plane. But if it’s night, and I’m alone working on a corporate jet or someone’s private jet, I often find myself getting the willies—even though the entire plane is covered by a shroud. Which is why, once I’m done, I usually make a beeline for the cantina to get a drink while I wait for my nerves to settle down.
The plane I’m talking about is a 1950s era Constellation with its four big propeller-driven engines and its three-vertical rear stabilizers. What it’s doing in our hanger is a real headscratcher of a story.
The year was 1955. Flight 502 was returning to Miami from England with 85 passengers and crew aboard. Everything was going great until it was about an hour outside of Miami. That’s when it disappeared from radar. No matter what the Miami controllers did, they couldn’t raise the plane.
Panic set in right away, which was why the FAA immediately sent out spotters to scout for any sign of the Flight. The search went on for weeks, both in the air and on the water, but no sign of the plane was ever found.
Then last month, Flight 502 landed on our runway . . . 52 years after it had disappeared!
If that wasn’t freaky enough, when they opened the plane, no passengers or crew were found, and yet, somehow, the plane had landed itself. Absolutely no way, I thought!
A lot of ideas about what had happened were tossed about, but one of the most agreed a pond was that space aliens had stolen the plane! But what had they done with the passengers and crew? And where had it been all these years? It gave all of us the creeps every time we thought or talked about it.
Then one evening, just before quitting time, all of us in the hanger heard a low buzzing sound. Looking around, we couldn’t decide where it was coming from. Suddenly, one of the guys shouted, “Look!” When I turned to see where he was pointing, I almost choked on my gum. The plane and its shroud had gone semi-transparent!
With my mind totally blown, I didn’t know whether to keep looking at it or run away. Fortunately, I didn’t have to decide. While I and the others were still staring at the plane, it completely faded out—along with the buzzing sound.
For the longest moment, none of us moved. We all just kept staring at the spot where the plane had been. Of course, none of the higherups believed us. They insisted that someone must have climbed aboard and flew the plane away when no one was looking. Lucky for us, there were surveillance cameras all over the hanger, but even with the videos, our bosses and the feds kept insisting that we tell anyone who asked that the plane had been stolen.
I didn’t care what they told us to say. No way was I going to hang around there any longer! Within a month, I, along with a couple of the other guys, had transferred to other airfields. The only problem is, every time I hear a low-frequency buzzing, I feel my nerves start to tingle.