Fun on Friday: Oops!

Pro-tip – If you ever have to load 9.3 tons of gold, silver and platinum in an airplane, make sure you secure the load. I mean, tie it down good. You know, throw a few bungee chords over it. Or maybe a strap or two. Something. At least some rope. Because here’s a dirty little secret.

Things shift during flight.

Apparently, the guys loading the Russian AN-12 cargo plane in Siberia never read the little warnings on the overhead bins or listened to the flight attendant spiel. They loaded more than 18,000 pounds of gold and other precious metals on the plane and, as a Time Magazine report put it, “didn’t properly stabilize the load” before takeoff.

As you can probably imagine, this didn’t end well.

You see, there is this thing called physics. When a 9.3-ton load shifts and slams into the cargo door of an airplane, bad things happen. Doors fly open. And when doors fly open as an airplane is hurtling down a runway to take off, stuff spills out.

You can see where this is going.

Yes, 3.4 tons of gold flew out of the plane and scattered all over the runway.

According to a CNBC report, authorities recovered 172 gold bars weighing 3.4 tons. A Siberian Times report said platinum and diamonds also fell out of the plane. Other reports mentioned silver as well.

It’s -21C in Yakutia, sunny, we expect showers of diamond, platinum and gold… Plane loses its $368 million cargo; gems and precious metals rain over Russia’s coldest region as police and secret services stage emergency search https://t.co/NsUeOWxZf5 pic.twitter.com/8OXd6Al9is

— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) March 15, 2018

The value of the load was estimated to be about 21 billion rubles. At the current exchange rate, that equals about $364.6 million.

Can you imagine the conversation between the guys who loaded the plane?

Alexander – “Hey, Ivan, did you tighten the straps on that gold?”

Ivan – “No. That was Shasha’s job!”

Sasha – “What? No! I was on break!”

Alexander – “You’re always ‘on break.'”

Sasha – “Don’t put this on me. You’re the one who forgot the get the extra bungee cords out of the shed.”

Ivan – “Eh. Don’t worry about it boys. It’s almost happy hour. It’ll be fine.”

All three – “Uh-oh.”

According to the Siberian Times, “Technical engineers at the Yakutsk airport who prepared the plane for takeoff have been detained.”

Detained?

That sounds ominous. I get the feeling we may never hear from Alexander, Ivan and Sasha again. Reading between the lines, there may be more than a drug test and a paid suspension involved here. Of course, you have to wonder – what exactly can they do to these guys? They’re already in Siberia.

This story is reminiscent of the Fun on Friday post I did last month after a truck in South African lost its load and people thought it had scattered gold along the highway. Except this story is better because it was actually real gold. Of course, in this case, you didn’t have area residents wandering around picking stuff up. I’m guessing anybody who tried that in Russia would have probably been shot.

On the South Africa story, I wondered who would haul a bunch of gold in a truck. This story raises a similar question. Who would haul 9.3 tons of gold in this dilapidated looking old airplane? You need to click the Siberia Times link and look at the photos. I mean – who would haul 9.3 tons of anything in that old bird? Then again, when you have “technical engineers” like Alexander, Ivan and Sasha on the job, I guess you can make it work.

Or not.

Anyway, the takeaway here – whether you’re hauling an old mattress in your brother-in-law’s pickup or tons of gold and a rundown old airplane – tie down that load!

Also, make sure you’re taking good care of your precious metals. SchiffGold can help with that. We can help you with storage solutions to keep your investment safe and secure. Just give us a call at 1-888-GOLD-160.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. We dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals and the economy, and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Click here to read other posts in this series.