The Douglas DC-3 Dakota has probably been the most reliable aircraft ever designed and built. There were more than 10,000 DC-3 planes manufactured, and still hundreds remain in use. These are propeller driven aircraft and you will see a lot of these aircraft in Florida and also in the whole of the Caribbean and Bahamas. Their job is mainly island hopping.

At 7:40 p.m. on December 27th, 1948, a DC-3 landed at San Juan airport in Puerto Rico. It came from Miami and was scheduled to return after a short halt at San Juan. At 10:03 p.m. when all seemed to be okay, the flight was allowed to take off. The captain was advised to stay close to San Juan until the two-way communication was fully established from the air. At 11:23 p.m., the captain sent his routine radio transmission to indicate the flight position - it was at 8,300 feet altitude and reported ETA of 4:03 a.m. in Miami. Strangely, the message was received at the Miami control tower, which is some 700 miles away and there was no transmission received at San Juan, which is much closer. The captain next reported the flight position when the aircraft was 50 miles south of Florida and only 20 minutes to landing. Strangely again, the message was received in New Orleans, which is about 600 miles away, and not in Miami. The New Orleans radio tower forwarded the message to the Miami station and that was the last message ever received from the DC-3. The weather was normal and repeated radio signals from the control towers did not get any response. The DC-3 had suddenly disappeared and no trace of the plane or its passengers has ever been found.