Patrol 484

Patrol 484 – Ghost Flight to Hell and Back

On May 17, during the height of the Cold War standoff around the East China Sea and the Senkaku island cluster, A Grumman E-2 Hawkeye vanished while on patrol.

The plane had taken off from its Carrier, the UNS Kofi Annan, the only Carrier to be assigned to the fledgling UN Naval Forces. Air Wing 14, the Black Eagles, had a long service record of high maintenance and efficiency.

Deep Sensor Patrol 484 took off from the Kofi Annan’s flight deck at 0745 local time. It arrived at station at 0832 and then commenced sensor and radar sweeps of the Senkaku islands and the surrounding seas for unreported activity.

The aircraft’s complement of five included Pilot Jonathan ′JT′ Thomas, Copilot Kyasarin ′Kraft′ DeSinlo, Radar Officer Jackson ′Fish′ Pollack, Combat Information Centre Officer Matthew ′Steel′ Ironside, and Aircraft Control Officer Fred ′Flapjack′ Lewis. All were seasoned officers and flight crew, with more than four hundred hours of Carrier flight time combined between the pilot and copilot.

Three hours into it’s scheduled patrol time, a garbled message was received by the Kofi Annan and the Carrier’s Doppler radar reported the aircraft was doing some violent maneuvers, No further radio response was heard from the craft and it rapidly descended and vanished off Radar.

Immediate rescue and recovery helicopters were launched and were at the last recorded position within thirty-one minutes, but no sign of the aircraft was reported. No debris over the water, no fuel or oil slicks on the surface. The aircraft had vanished into thin air.

The Admiral, Ryu Mazuru, kept up a constant search for the missing plane. Fighter patrols would pass over the region regularly, and their sensor logs were examined to see if there was any sign or indication of the missing plane. Other ships in the region had their logs examined, and everything indicated the same story. The plane had suddenly begun violent aerial maneuvers, then dropped to the deck and had not come back. No sign of impact or debris. It had simply vanished.

On Day Seven, at 1322 hours local time, Doppler radar on board the Kofi Annan detected an inbound aircraft approaching on the correct vector for landing on the deck. No IFF transponder was detected, and no response to signal pings. An F-18 Super Hornet patrol was diverted to intercept, and they reported the inbound aircraft was an E-2 Hawkeye, registration 4044. It was the missing patrol craft from flight 484.

The F-18 crew could see the pilot and co-pilot were both in their seats, and appeared to be operating the craft, but they did not respond to signals, light flashes, or even wing waggling. The F-18 followed the Hawkeye inbound until it reached the outer signal marker, then the Hawkeye began to deviate from it’s course, and seemed to struggle to maintain flight direction and correct path of landing.

On board the Kofi Annan, they prepared for the worst. The left engine of the Hawkeye had ignited and was on fire, smoke billowing behind it as the plane made it’s way towards the Kofi Annan. Fire crews were brought up to standby, and the entire deck was coated in retardant foam, with all arrest lines and safeties in place to capture the plane if it managed to touch down. Two Hueys were hovering half a mile outboard of the Kofi Annan on both sides in case the plane ditched, with four inflatables standing by to get to the plane if it did make a water landing.

At the five-mile mark, the gear came down, and the Carrier’s deck crew saw the arrest hook deploy. The plane was preparing to land, but it was coming in too low and too fast. To the surprise of the deck crew, the plane pulled up sharply and the remaining engine cut as it stalled, then it glided onto the deck and landed hard, nose gear snapping from the impact. As the plane slid across the deck, the arrest lines and safety nets slowed it, while the foam worked to reduce the fuel flare and stop fires from the broken engine which was blowing sparks. The plane managed to stop its slide before it fell off the edge of the deck and was at rest, smoke pouring from the left engine.

No movement from within the plane prompted Flight Deck Officer Lieutenant Nathanial Briggs to run to the stricken craft and pull open the hatch so that he could get inside to try and pull the crew out.

What he saw would haunt him for many months. The three crewmen in the central cabin were all deceased. Their bodies looked to have been torn apart and were mutilated. They were beyond his help, so he made his way to the cockpit, where Pilot Thomas and Copilot DeSinlo were both still in their seats. He unbuckled them both and carried DeSinlo out to the waiting deck crew, then went back for Thomas.

Pilot Jonathan Thomas died an hour later of internal injuries and extreme shock caused by stress.

The three officers in the main compartment were all autopsied and the results were that all their injuries were self-inflicted. They had horrifically killed themselves, fingernails tearing skin and sinew, teeth ripping veins and arteries. Eyes had been gouged out. Whatever had occurred on that patrol flight, had driven the three men in the main cabin insane enough to commit a horrific type of suicide.

Copilot Kyasarin DeSinlo never recovered from her ordeal and never regained her sanity. She was examined and treated on board the Kofi Annan. Physically, she did not appear to have suffered any trauma, but her mental and psychological profile was now off the charts. She was unable to be coherent, prone to intense violent outbursts, and needed to be restrained most if not all of the time when she was awake. Even her sleep was very disturbed, the only rest she had was when she was sedated.

The Mystery of Flight 484 has not been solved, and some very damning questions remain. According to flight transponders, the plane landed and was at rest for 6 days. No location was recorded or noted, no sensor data was recorded or noted. The injuries to the crew had all occurred within the last two hours before landing. No unusual noise was recorded in the cabin, and no communications were recorded in the cockpit.

The final report on the patrol was that a chemical gas leak from the electronics had rendered the cabin crew insensible and the three had reacted from a previously undiagnosed psychosis to commit suicide. All of the deceased officers were reported as having been killed in the line of duty, and were honored with military funerals. Lieutenant DeSinlo has never left the roster and is still listed as an active officer, assigned to the UNS Kofi Annan. Her current whereabouts are unknown, however, it is presumed she is in a medical facility in the Greater Victoria region.

This is the real story of what happened to Lieutenant Kyasarin DeSinlo.