SerpApi.Org
A search team has found the wreckage of a New York City-bound Pan Am flight more than 74 years after it crashed off Puerto Rico, killing 52 and prompting major changes in pre-flight safety procedures.
The largely intact remains of the “Clipper Endeavor,” which went down after taking off from San Juan for the city Good Friday 1952, were finally discovered after a seven-year investigation led by the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, which partnered with the Discovery Channel, according to a press release.
“Seeing the bright aluminum fuselage shining back at us from the ocean floor was a hugely emotional moment,” said “Expedition Unknown” show host Josh Gates to NBC’s “Today” show, which first broke news of the discovery.
The recovery team used cutting-edge sonar technology to locate the Douglas DC-4 aircraft, which is roughly the size of a modern Boeing 737, about 2,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in June.
It was found broken into two sections — with its Pam Am logo still clearly visible.
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The plane crash — which happened before flight-attendant safety briefings to passengers were standard — occurred because of a multiple engine failure just 10 minutes after takeoff with 64 passengers and five crew members aboard.
Everyone miraculously survived the initial impact, but the plane soon began taking on water in the rough seas.
Floatation devices were available, and protocols for using them had been established, but 52 souls ended up perishing as the plane sank within 3 minutes.
There were only 17 survivors despite heroic efforts from the US Coast Guard and Air Force.
After the tragedy, pre-flight safety briefings to passengers, includning emergency procedure demonstrations, became mandatory, changing forever how travelers fly and saving potentially thousands of lives.
“There was no demonstration of where the exits were, where the flotation devices are. And so in all of that chaos and all that panic, 52 people drowned in and around this plane,” Gates said.
The plane remained on the sea floor for more than seven decades, far out of the reach of previous investigations until the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, which works to track down and preserve wreckage sights from air and maritime disasters, began searching for the plane in 2019, according to Discovery.
The group teamed up with Deep Sea Vision, an Eco Minerals company, and their advanced autonomous underwater vehicles to finally find the plane with its Pan Am logo still visible.
“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,” Gates said in a statement.
“This aircraft vanished beneath the waves, and the legacy of those aboard was at risk of being lost with it.
“I hope this historic discovery brings some peace to the families of those aboard and serves to remind the flying public today of the debt of remembrance we owe to this fateful flight.”
Discovery Channel intends to cover the finding in an episode of its “Expedition Unknown” series later this year.
