The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Miami.

The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2. It is a low-wing metal monoplane with conventional landing gear, powered by two radial piston engines of 1,000–1,200 hp (750–890 kW). Although the DC-3s originally built for civil service had the Wright R-1820 Cyclone, later civilian DC-3s used the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine. The DC-3 has a cruising speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lbs (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 mi (2,400 km), and can operate from short runways.

The disappearance of a Douglas DST airliner, registered NC16002, occurred on the night of 28 December 1948 near the end of a scheduled flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami, Florida. The aircraft carried 29 passengers and three crew members. No probable cause for the loss was determined by the official investigation and it remains unsolved.

Miami is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-most populous city in Florida with a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census, while the Miami metropolitan area in South Florida has an estimated 6.46 million residents and is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Miami has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 70 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m). It is the county seat of Miami-Dade County.