Jim Valentine and Brian Lupinske took along Norma Peddle as a passenger for a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Eleuthera Island. The date was November 5, 1982. Thirty minutes after takeoff they were nearing Bimini Island, a common landmark for planes heading to the Bahamas.

   Passing over Bimini at 4:45 p.m. at an elevation of 5,000 feet their Beechcraft twin engine Queen Air was last seen against a backdrop of broken
   tropical clouds. Their plane continued to drone out to sea, over the bright,
       aquamarine waters of the shallow Grand Bahama Bank.

                 Valentine, the pilot in command, then contacted Miami
                   and reported his position. At the same time Valentine
                   reported their ETA at Eleuthera as 5:25. p.m. Miami
                 told him to switch channels for Nassau control to take over.
                   “Roger.”
                   They signed off with all reported well.

               But something must have suddenly happened, reminiscent
             of Star Ariel, for neither Lupinske or Valentine activated their
           Flight Plan with Nassau Control but must have suddenly disappeared
           from the air. Nassau never had contact with them.

       Closer examination of the weather radar depiction completes the incident with a question mark. All this showed was that a thunderstorm had been between Miami and Bimini that day. But the Queen Air was already past that point when last seen. Moreover, the thunderstorm had been there at 2:55 p.m. about two hours before the Queen Air was even at that location. Weather radar logs confirmed it had been moving away northward at 15 knots.

 Queen Air 65-B80 N1HQ