The NTSB’s X-File
The NTSB says it’s analyzing the composition of red smears found on the fuselage of a Cessna Caravan that crashed mysteriously in Alabama in 2002. The red marks have become the focus of urban legend-type speculation on the cause of the crash. Some think the Mid Atlantic Freight plane hit a drug runner, others say a military drone was to blame and the theories escalate to meteor strikes, aliens and beyond. The NTSB is, however, conducting a more down-to-earth examination of about 20 items in the wreckage that might have caused the mysterious red marks.
The NTSB says it's analyzing the composition of red smears found on the fuselage of a Cessna Caravan that crashed mysteriously in Alabama in 2002. The red marks have become the focus of urban legend-type speculation on the cause of the crash. Some think the Mid Atlantic Freight plane hit a drug runner, others say a military drone was to blame and the theories escalate to meteor strikes, aliens and beyond. The NTSB is, however, conducting a more down-to-earth examination of about 20 items in the wreckage that might have caused the mysterious red marks. The NTSB reopened the investigation earlier this year and has done a substantial reconstruction of the aircraft from the wreckage. It found 34 red "transfer marks" but it also noted that the marks "exhibited a random, smearing or rubbing pattern, rather than a unidirectional and/or penetrating pattern" that would indicate a collision. It also found the source of a mysterious piece of black debris imbedded in a wing that set the rumor mill abuzz. It came from an electrical dimmer light assembly on the aircraft.
