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(NewsNation) — A search team has found the wreckage of a plane that crashed 74 years ago off the coast of Puerto Rico, killing 52 people and prompting permanent changes to aviation safety measures.
The wreckage of the Pan American Airways passenger plane was found on June 2, nearly 2,000 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean, broken into two sections, the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation announced in a release Tuesday.
The foundation said the plane was located using high-resolution sonar and an autonomous underwater vehicle following a years-long investigation led by the ASHF in partnership with the Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” and the Deep Sea Vision company.
What happened to the Clipper Endeavor in 1952?
In 1952, the Clipper Endeavor was set to transport five crew members and 64 passengers to New York City, according to the foundation. Shortly after takeoff, engine failures forced the pilot to make a water landing.
Everyone survived the initial impact, but “with no safety briefing provided, a significant language barrier, and no coordinated evacuation procedure in place, passengers faced chaos, confusion, and heavy seas as the aircraft flooded and sank in less than three minutes,” the foundation said. Only 17 people survived.
The tragedy prompted the Civil Aeronautics Board, a predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, to introduce mandatory preflight safety briefings and emergency procedure demonstrations, the foundation added.
“Every time you step onboard an airplane today, you are safer because of what happened to Clipper Endeavor and her passengers three quarters of a century ago,” Josh Gates, explorer and host of “Expedition Unknown” said.
Search for Clipper Endeavor started in 2019
In 2019, ASHF said its president, Russ Matthews, began looking through “scattered accident investigation reports and conducting several surveys off the coast of San Juan” in connection with the Clipper Endeavor.
A collaboration with Gates for an episode of “Expedition Unknown” that aired in 2024 led them to find several clues that aided in the search, including a chart map created by U.S. Air Force pilots who witnessed the crash, the foundation added. Then, “several weeks ago,” a research vessel containing an autonomous underwater vehicle agreed to assist with the search.
“Today” reported that Gates and Matthews were given just two days to use the underwater drone to locate the plane but were able to do so on their first attempt.
The “photographic survey of the wreck site provided conclusive identification with images clearly showing the iconic winged Pan American logo and aircraft name still legible on the battered, but largely intact and well-preserved fuselage,” the foundation added. The search and discovery will be covered extensively in an upcoming episode of “Expedition Unknown.”
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