SerpApi.Org
A plane that sunk to the bottom of the ocean decades ago was found recently, 74 years after the incident, the team responsible for the discovery said Tuesday.
The plane was the Pan American Clipper Endeavor, which is similar in size to a Boeing 737, and the flight that went down only lasted nine minutes. The flight was on its way from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York City.
All 69 passengers and crew members on board the plane survived the initial crash in 1952, but 52 of them later died after the plane's tail section broke off and the fuselage sank. The deadly incident inspired changes to airline safety briefings and procedures, according to the New York Times.
Josh Gates, the host of "Expedition Unknown" on the Discovery Channel, who was involved in the project, said the plane was discovered 2,000 feet beneath the surface on June 2, and an underwater vehicle equipped with sophisticated sonar and cameras showed images of a plane with the letters PAA for Pan American World Airways and the VOR in "Endeavor."
"When those first photos came in, it was a shock," Gates told the outlet. "It took my breath away because it was really beyond what I imagined we might see. You know, the aircraft is so intact, and to see that aluminum, which doesn't corrode, you know, gleaming up at us from the bottom was just staggering."
The Pan Am Flight 526A was flying to New York on Good Friday when two of its four engines failed, according to the pilot's testimony. The deadly incident was made worse when the passengers refused to follow the captain's orders to abandon the aircraft once it landed in the water, deciding to remain in the plane, along with the threat of sharks and rough waters.
A language barrier also made things more difficult, according to survivors.
"It is an accident that fundamentally reshaped aviation as we know it," Gates said.
Russ Matthews, the president and a co-founder of the nonprofit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation and who played a central role in the project, said it took more than seven years to find the wreckage because of delays from the COVID-19 pandemic and the plane being too far down for divers to be able to get to it.
Matthews praised the discovery as a "way to connect the present to the past," but said there were no plans to recover any remains from the site, which could amount to up to 39 bodies that were never recovered.
"That is the only grave marker they are likely to ever have," Matthews said of the site.
The "Expedition Unknown" episode about the Clipper Endeavor is scheduled to air in the fall.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
