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Hey, everyone. It's Rachel Motto. I

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have a new podcast. It's an eight

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part original series called Rachel

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Motto presents Ultra. Ultra

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is a story about American politics.

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It's a story about politics going

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over the edge beyond extremism.

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It's a story you probably haven't heard before, but

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I can assure you there is a good reason to

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hear it right now. You can stay right

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here and listen to a preview of Ultra to

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hear the first two episodes. search for

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Rachel Motto presents Ultra wherever

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you're listening right now and follow us there

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to get the whole series.

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Ernest Lundin, sixty two years old,

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had been onboard that flight and he

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was among the dead. A

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sitting US senator gone

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in an instant

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In a plane crash that from the very

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starved was a real mystery.

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Why did

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this plane go down with these experienced

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pilots and a seemingly good airplane and

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a storm that planes go through.

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The plane that rashed was a

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new DC3 It was in perfect

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repair. It had passed all its checks.

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Pennsylvania Central Airlines had

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never had crash in its entire history

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as an airline. The pilot was very

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experienced. He had a spotless record.

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There was a federal investigation. by

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the Civil aeronautics board. That

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investigation found that while there was bad

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weather, there was thunder and lightning and some heavy

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rainfall in the area, there was nothing

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so unusual about the storm that

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the plane shouldn't have been cleared to

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fly. The investigation found

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that there was no evidence of a fire

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on board the plane, no evidence

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of an explosion. There was no

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evidence

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that the plane had been struck by lightning.

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Its engines certainly weren't knocked

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out. Witnesses say in fact, they

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heard the engines roaring full tilt

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right up until the moment of impact. And

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all of a sudden, All

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we heard was that's

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when it news, Dave.

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The

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aeronautics board port concluded

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that the multiple witnesses who described

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abnormally loud roaring engines

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right at the time of the crash, Those

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witnesses were onto something. The

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two engines of the DC3 had

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been at wide open full throttle

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when the plane slammed into the ground. The

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board also concluded that neither the pilot

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nor the co pilot were actively

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controlling the plane when it crashed.

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The report said it is possible that

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for some reason the pilot and co pilot

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were prevented from effectively operating

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the controls. That's what

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the report said, prevent it from effectively

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operating the controls. Prevent

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it by what When

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Lundin's secretary raced to the

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scene of the crash that afternoon to learn the fate

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of her boss, one report from

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the time says she met a a policeman

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at the scene of the crash who told her something

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strange. He told

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her there was a fight onboard

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the plane. Now, of course,

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there were no survivors of the crash

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to tell anyone anything about what had happened

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onboard the plane. But that's

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supposed report from the policeman, it

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was not a totally incongruous detail.

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In fact, the senator's secretary herself

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have reportedly witnessed something along those

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same lines. When she dropped

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her boss at the airfield for the flight,

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the senator secretary according to some

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accounts had noticed through the open

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doorway of the plane that

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something was happening between

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the passengers. Some of the passengers

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were locked in a struggle of some

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kind. And it looked to her like

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her boss, senator

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Lundin, might have even been

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among the people involved in that

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struggle. but she couldn't be entirely sure.

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The reports of a possible physical altercation

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among the passengers on the plane those

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reports would never be fully verified.

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And the mystery of what caused that crash,

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that mystery has endured We

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still don't know what caused it. We certainly

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don't know if something weird happening between

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the passengers brought the plane

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down. But there was even more

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that was strange about trip nineteen

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as it came to be known, including

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who else was on board along with senator

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Lundin when the plane crashed. And

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what exactly the senator was carrying with

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it when he stepped onboard that flight?

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Why was he so upset before he got

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on board? That one we think we

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know. And it only

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makes the mystery of the plane's crash

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all the more confounded.

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From MSNBC,

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I'm Rachel Motto, and this is

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Ultra. Search for Rachel Motto

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presents Ultra wherever you're listening

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right now and follow the series.

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