Were the engine or engines generating enough heat to melt that path through the crust, then sink beneath the surface.
8 seconds sound clip from the The Thing from Another World movie soundboard.
You can hear this line at 00:18:10 in the Blu-ray version of the movie.
Quote context
[...]
- Let me get a picture before you track up the whole place.
- This Geiger counter's going crazy.
- Something's melted that surface crust.
- It's frozen over again into clear ice.
- What could melt that much ice?
- Take the dogs over on that side.
- Could an airplane melt that much ice?
- One of our own jets generates enough heat to warm a 50-storey office building.
- It's part of an airfoil... probably a stabilizer of some sort.
[...]