The simplest explanation put forward to date is that the spacing of the rapidly sent message was misheard or sloppily sent. In Morse code, determining accurate spacing between characters is vital to properly interpret the message; "STENDEC" uses exactly the same dot/dash sequence as "SCTI AR" (SCTI being theĀ ICAOĀ four-letter codeĀ forĀ Los Cerrillos AirportĀ in Santiago, AR being theĀ Morse abbreviationĀ for "over").Alternatively, the Morse spelling for "STENDEC" is one character off from instead spelling VALP, the call sign for the airport atĀ Valparaiso, 110 kilometers north of Santiago.
As for the crash itself, wreckage was actually found in the late ā90s. It was likely a textbook case of Controlled Flight into Terrain. āPlane hits mountain, everyone diesā was a common occurrence prior to the mid-1970s.