Wreckage was found from a Pan Am flight that ditched in the ocean off Puerto Rico in 1952, a crash that killed 52 people and helped lead to mandatory passenger safety briefings on commercial flights.Searchers recently found the wreckage of the DC-4 by using an autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with high-resolution sonar to locate the fuselage and separated tail in nearly 2,000 feet of water.The Clipper Endeavor aircraft made a hard landing in the ocean after losing engine power shortly after departure from San Juan, Puerto Rico, en route to New York City.The 17 passengers and crew who lived told investigators everyone survived the landing, but many passengers struggled to locate life vests and the crew had a difficult time pulling out life rafts.The plane sank within minutes.FLIGHT ATTENDANTS BEG TRAVELERS TO STOP DOING THE ONE THING THAT ANNOYS CREWS MOSTThe Clipper Endeavor aircraft made a hard landing in the ocean after losing engine power shortly after departure from San Juan, Puerto Rico, en route to New York City.
(Pan Am Historical Foundation via AP)The Civil Aeronautics Board attributed the accident to inadequate maintenance that contributed to the engine failure and to the captain’s handling of the aircraft after power was lost.The panic from the occupants struggling to grab floatation devices helped spur aviation-safety reforms, including mandatory preflight passenger briefings and improvements involving flotation equipment.The crash first drew the attention of Air/Sea Heritage Foundation President Russ Matthews in 2019 when he heard about a luggage tag from the flight washing ashore in Florida and began to dig deeper.This led to years of combing through the Pan Am and Coast Guard archives in search of clues about the location of the plane's wreckage.Reports from the Civil Aeronautics Board, which preceded the Federal Aviation Administration, also aided the search.TRAVELERS REVISIT GOLDEN AGE OF FLYING AS NOSTALGIC COLLECTIBLES MAKE MAJOR COMEBACK...