At this point, the ground systems got a good triangulation on FT-28′s broadcasts, giving moderately precise indications of his location — he was within a 100-mile radius of the latitude-longitude position of 29 degrees North, 79 degrees West. In other words, within 100 miles of a point that is essentially 120 miles due east of Daytona Beach. Thus, had the flight leader flown west for 30 minutes, as noted above, they would have hit land. Incredibly, despite achieving a reasonable radio fix, somehow that information was not relayed to Flight 19! It was one of the final links in a disastrous chain of errors.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 20:46:47 +0000