If only she had kept her habit, which acted as a vertical stabilizer.

The black box from the Flying Nun has been recovered.  Sister Bertrille of the convent of San Tanco in Puerto Rico, commonly known as the “flying nun”  disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean while flying from Brazil to France.  Sister Bertrille had travelled to Brazil to take part in a conference of her order and from there was flying to France to pick up orphans.  Her last contact with ground control was at 2:10 local time when she said that she was experiencing turbulence and was going to climb higher to avoid it.

Immediately an intensive search of the Atlantic was begin.  One day after she disappeared her luggage was discovered.  It is believed that Sister Bertrille broke up on impact.

After careful review of the black box authorities from the TSA have released the following statement which they believe is the official cause of her death:

Sister Bertrille, aka the Flying Nun pitched her nose up to avoid turbulence.  As her angle of attack increased stall warnings went off.  Sister Bertrille amazingly ignored these stall warnings and continued to pitch her nose up, causing her to fall from 38,000 feet to the sea in two minutes.

As to why Sister Bertrille ignored the stall warnings the TSA believes that she may have become disorientated.

She (the Flying Nun) was experienced in flying over land but she did not have much experience flying over deep ocean at that altitude.  With the lack of visual objects of reference she may not have realized the danger she was in.  When a stall develops the normal thing to do is pitch the nose down and build up speed.  Sister may have tried to do this but by the time she saw the ocean it was too late.

The TSA also criticized Sister Bertille for getting rid of her nun’s habit.

It was the vertical stabilizer!

By getting rid of her habit and dressing in “street clothes” Sister Bertrille was dooming herself.  Without her habit she became aerodynamically unstable. In our final analysis the crash was caused by her inexperience flying at night over the sea and her unwise decision to forgo her habit.

Her superior in her order stands by the decision to abandon the habit.

The spirit of Vatican II calls us to be engaged in the world.  Our habits prevented us from moving among the laity as one of them. Also our habits were a symbol of the oppression caused by male-dominated patriarchal church.

In lieu of her body which may never be recovered her order is soliciting for funds to build a memorial on the convent’s grounds.

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