- This article is about the plane that crashlanded in the Algerian desert. For the first level of Amnesia: Rebirth after the intro sequence, see The Cassandra (level).
Cassandra's interior, a view of the cockpit.
The Cassandra was (the callsign of) an airplane making a private business flight, aboard which was the protagonist of Amnesia: Rebirth, Tasi Trianon. The plane was to fly from Algiers to French Sudan, on the behalf of the Triple Crown Mining Company.[1]
It suffered a breakdown of some sort and crashed in the Algerian Desert, somewhere between In Salah and Kayes, and is the site of Tasi's amnesiac reawakening.
Information[]
The Cassandra was owned by and operated on behalf of the Sterling Shipping Company,[1] run by the Sterling family in London, who also sponsored the expedition to French Sudan.
Specifications[]
The Cassandra was a Douglas DC-3 propeller plane, a commercial aircraft privately flown in North Africa on its last voyage by Nicolas Masson.[1][2] The DC-3 had two "radial piston engine[s]" and "3-bladed" propellers. It had a length of just under 20 meters and a wingspan of 29 meters. The Cassandra's exterior was an unpainted steel, save for the logo of its sponsoring company. It was not, as far as can be told, the variant of the DC-3 with sleeper cabins, called the "DST" (Douglas Sleeper Transport).[3]
The DC-3 could carry "21 to 32 passengers" and could fly up to "2,400 km" (or "1,500 [miles]") without refueling.[3] It was provided for the Triple Crown expedition by the Sterling Shipping Co. It had a cruise speed of up to "333 km/h" ("207 mph").
The flightpath of the Cassandra's first leg.
One of the advantages of the DC-3 while it was in service was that it could take-off from and land on a short runway, as well as an unpaved runway, as rural airports, or those in poorer countries, often could not afford paving. Its excellent speed and fuel economy cut air travel times drastically -- for example, cutting flights across the United States from as high as 48 hours with many stops and transfers to trains,[4] to 15-18 hours with only three stops -- and it was responsible in part for making air travel accessible and profitable.[3]
The probable flightpath of the Cassandra's second leg.
Final flight[]
The Cassandra's final voyage, or at least one leg of it, was to be travelling to Kayes, French Sudan (now Mali), stopping at In Salah, Algeria,[1] likely to refuel, as planes in the early 20th century needed to do often. Before that, according to the note "Flight Plan" left in the plane, it began from the Maison Blanche Airport (as it was then known) at Algiers, the capital and largest city of Algeria.
The first leg of this journey would have been roughly 1,000 km, assuming a relatively straight flightpath, and the time was estimated at "1.5 hours."[1] The second leg would have been roughly 2,000 km, again assuming a straight flightpath, and the time was estimated at "7 hours."[1] The much longer time estimate on the second leg, only twice as long as the first, may have included refueling time at In Salah. Some of the extra time would also owe to the flightpath's westbound trajectory, since planes travelling west usually take extra time compared to the same flightpath travelling east.
The plane departed Maison Blanch Airport on March 3, 1937, at roughly 8:30 a.m.[1] Assuming the first leg went according to schedule, the Cassandra would then have arrived at In Salah at around 10:00 a.m. If complications arose or long wait while refueling was necessary, they may have left anywhere between under half an hour up to two hours later.
Events of Amnesia: Rebirth[]
- Main article: Amnesia: Rebirth
Accident[]
The most likely time to place the accident would be sometime relatively soon after take-off from In Salah, as the sun was still in the sky and the Cassandra was flying over the Algerian Desert. Assuming the longest reasonable amount of time spent at In Salah, two hours, the Cassandra would have left around noon and proceeded flying southwest toward Kayes. This places the time of the accident somewhere between shortly after 12:00 p.m. and well-before 7:00 p.m. which is roughly the time when the sun sets in early March in the Algerian Desert.[5]
Turbulence rocked the plane somewhat just prior to the beginning of the event, wracking the nerves of Salim Hannachi. Tasi attempted to calm him, somewhat successfully, and she bade him to get some rest.
Post-crash[]
The survivors went to the caves, burying the dead and tending to the wounded. Some of the passengers had somehow become stuck in the wreckage of the plane, though not totally injured.
Tasi's view of the Cassandra's interior upon reawakening.
Reawakening on the Plane[]
Tasi Trianon awoke back at the Cassandra crash site with absolutely no memories retained between the moment of the crash and that moment. Individual memories occasionally came back from moment to moment as she re-explored the areas she'd visited days before, but only had an incomplete picture of what had occurred immediately after. However, she retained the strong desire to find Salim, and so left the wreckage to look for him.
Cassandra Crash investigation[]
Newspaper article about the crash.
A newspaper article describing the crash and the investigation was published in March 6, 1937. According to the article, the plane was last heard of on March 3, when it left In Salah, Algeria and began the second part of its flight towards French Sudan.
The British embassy supposed, based on the passage of time with no new discoveries or contact, that there would ultimately be no survivors left. This however may prove wrong, as Tasi Trianon and Amari Trianon survived the initial crash and possibly the events afterward.
Crew and Passengers[]
Crew[]
Passengers[]
- Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon
- Rachael Holt
- Eva Ritter
- Lukas Ritter
- Salim Hannachi
- Jonathan Webber
- Anton Metzier
- Malick Tamboura
- Alexander Melville "Alex" Sterling
- Richard Fairchild
- Leon De Vries
- James Henry "Hank" Mitchell
- Amari Trianon
- Role: N/A
- Immediate Fate: survived the crash.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The logo of the Triple Crown is visible on the plane seats.
- The Tomb of Tin Hinan is located relatively close to the area between Salah and Kayes, which is the estimated location Cassandra has crashed.
- "Cassandra" is the name of the priestess of Apollo in Greek mythology cursed to utter true prophecies, including catastrophes, but never to be believed.
- According to a design document found in the super secret file, the expedition was originally meant to include an additional two members, by the names of Gabs Mayer and Andrew Erskine, who were meant to be hurt in the crash and join the group of survivors at the caves. By the time Tasi arrive at the caves, both Mayer and Erskine were both supposed to have gone missing.[20]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Flight Plan (Rebirth)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hank's Dossier – "Nicholas Masson"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 DC-3 Wikipedia article on the "Douglas DC-3"
- ↑ Air Transport Wikipedia article on "Transcontinental Air Transport"
- ↑ timeanddate.com "In-Salah, Algeria"
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.26 6.27 Note – "Crew Roster"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Anastasie Trianon"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Rachael Holt"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Eva Ritter"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Note – "Eva's Suicide Note"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Lukas Ritter"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Salim Hannachi"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Jonathan Webber"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Anton Metzier"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Malick Tamboura"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Alexander Melville Sterling"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Richard Fairchild"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "Leon De Vries"
- ↑ Hank's Dossier – "James Henry Mitchell"
- ↑ Caves – High Level Design pdf from the Super Secret file
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