Plane shot down at 2,500 feet in daylight
The CIA supply plane that blew open the scandal was flying at only 2,500 feet in broad daylight when it was shot down on October 5, 1986.
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Selects: Iran-Contra Affair: Shady in the 80s, Part 2
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Aug 8, 2026
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The Operation Unravels: The Shot-Down Plane
At 24:39 · chapter starts 20:00
By 1986, Congress had been worn down by Reagan's drumbeat and restored $100 million in Contra aid — but the covert operation kept running alongside the official funding. The operation had become routine to the point of sloppiness. On October 5, 1986, a C-123 cargo plane called the Provider made a supply drop at just 2,500 feet in broad daylight over Nicaragua, carrying 70 Soviet Kalashnikovs, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and rocket grenades. A young Sandinista soldier named José Fernando Canales Alemán shot it down. Three of the four crew members died; the fourth, Eugene Hasenfuss, survived because he had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother before the mission — a decision that became one of history's more consequential acts of preparedness. Hasenfuss was captured, paraded before cameras with a rope around his neck, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew: his 10th supply mission, his presumption that the CIA was running things, his previous Air America work during Vietnam. [1] — Josh Clark "On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The o…" 23:57 His wallet contained employee IDs from Southern Air Transport — a CIA front company so widely known as such that Josh likened carrying those IDs to wearing 'CIA junior badges' — and a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
The Plane That Blew It All Open
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
Southern Air Transport: The CIA Front Everyone Knew About
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
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