Wreckage from a Pan Am flight that crashed in the ocean off Puerto Rico in 1952 has been located. The crash resulted in the deaths of 52 individuals and prompted changes in airline safety regulations, including mandatory passenger safety briefings. Searchers found the wreckage of the DC-4 aircraft using an autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with high-resolution sonar, discovering the fuselage and separated tail at a depth of nearly 2,000 feet.
The Clipper Endeavor aircraft lost engine power shortly after departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its way to New York City. Of the 17 passengers and crew members, those who survived reported difficulties in locating life vests and deploying life rafts before the plane sank within minutes. The Civil Aeronautics Board attributed the accident to inadequate maintenance and the captain's handling of the aircraft after the loss of power.
The crash led to aviation safety reforms, including improvements in flotation equipment and the introduction of mandatory preflight passenger briefings. The discovery of the wreckage was initiated by Russ Matthews, President of the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, who began researching the incident after a luggage tag from the flight washed ashore in Florida in 2019.
After years of investigation, including reviewing archives from Pan Am and the Coast Guard, a key breakthrough came from records of a hearing held in Puerto Rico and a map created by Air Force pilots who witnessed the crash. A previous search attempt was disrupted by bad weather, but a second attempt was made using an advanced underwater drone. The wreckage was located on the first pass over the designated search area.