Pan Am Flight 6

Pan Am Flight 6

Pan Am Flight 6 ditching in the Pacific Ocean US Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain
Accident summary
Date	October 16, 1956
Type	Engine failure, ditching at sea
Site	Pacific Ocean Northeast of Hawaii 30°01.5′N 140°09′W
Passengers	24
Crew	7
Injuries	a few minor
Fatalities	0
Survivors	31 (all)
Aircraft type	Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-29
Aircraft name	Clipper Sovereign Of The Skies
Operator	Pan American World Airways
Tail number	N90943

Pan Am Flight 6 ditching

Pan Am Flight 6 ditching

Pan Am Flight 6 ditching

Pan Am Flight 6 (registration N90943, and sometimes erroneously called Flight 943) was an American around-the-world commercial passenger flight, that was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean on October 16, 1956, after the failure of two of its four engines. The service originated in Philadelphia, traveling eastwards around the globe via many stops, with a final scheduled destination at San Francisco. On the evening of October 15, 1956 the flight was operated over its final stages by a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, named "Clipper Sovereign Of The Skies" (Pan Am fleet number 943) and registered N90943.

Accident details

The aircraft took off from Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, at 8:26pm HST on the flight's concluding leg to San Francisco. After passing the point of equal time, the flight requested and received permission to climb to an altitude of 21,000 ft. When that altitude was reached, the number one engine entered an overspeeding regime, simultaneously with the reduction of power. The First Officer, who was flying the plane, immediately slowed the plane by further reducing power and by extending the flaps, and then an attempt was made to feather the number one propeller. The propeller would not feather and the engine continued to turn at excessive RPM. The captain then decided to cut off the oil supply to the engine. Eventually, the RPM declined and then the engine seized. The propeller continued to windmill in the air stream, causing excessive parasitic drag, which significantly increased the fuel consumption. As a result, the plane was forced to fly much slower, below 150 knots, and lost altitude at the rate of 1,000 feet per minute. Climb power was then added to the remaining three engines, in an attempt to slow the rate of descent. The number four engine then began to fail, and soon was able to produce only partial power at full throttle. At 0245 the number four engine began to backfire, forcing the crew to shut it down and feather the propeller.

The crew calculated the additional aerodynamic drag left them with insufficient fuel remaining to reach San Francisco, or to return to Honolulu. At that time the United States Coast Guard maintained a ship known as Ocean Station November between Hawaii and the California coast. The plane was flown to the USCGC Pontchartrain's location and circled the station until daylight. They finally were able to level off at 2,000 feet, with just the power of the two remaining engines.

The captain decided to wait for daylight, since it was important to keep the wings level with the ocean swells, at the initial ditching impact. As the fuel was burned off while the plane circled the Coast Guard cutter, the plane was able to climb from 2,000 feet to 5,000 feet. At that altitude, several practice approaches were made, to ensure that the plane would be controllable at low aircraft speeds (the goal was to have the lowest speed possible, just prior to water contact). The delay of the ditching, until after first daylight, also made the plane lighter and more buoyant, which would help the plane to float for a greater length of time.

Aware of the Pan Am Flight 845/26 accident the year before, in which a Boeing 377's tail section had broken off during a water landing, the captain instructed the flight's purser to clear passengers from the back of the plane. The crew also removed loose objects from the cabin, and prepared the passengers for the landing. As with other flights in the era, small children were allowed on their parents' laps, without separate seats or seat belts. The captain planned to land near the ship, in full sunlight, to improve the likelihood of rescuing passengers, but became concerned that the ocean waves were beginning to rise.

At 0540, Captain Ogg notified Pontchartrain that he was preparing to ditch. The cutter laid out a foam path for a best ditch heading of 315 degrees, to aid the captain's vision of his actual height above the water. After a dry run, the plane touched down at 0615, at 90 knots with full flaps and landing gear retracted, in sight of the Pontchartrain, at 30°01.5'N. 140°09'W.

One wing impacted a swell, causing the plane to rotate, inflicting damage to the nose section and breaking off the tail. Nevertheless, all 31 on board survived the ditching. Three life rafts were deployed by the crew and passengers that had been previously assigned to help. One life raft failed to inflate properly, but rescue boats from the cutter were able to promptly transfer the passengers from that raft. All were rescued by the Coast Guard before the last pieces of wreckage sank, at 0635.

They were housed in the ship's officers' quarters and returned to San Francisco several days later.

There were only a few minor injuries, including an 18-month-old girl who bumped her head during the impact and was knocked unconscious. Forty-four cases of live canaries in the cargo hold were lost when the plane sank.

Flight crew

• Captain Richard N. Ogg, age 43.
• First Officer George L. Haaker, age 40.
• Navigator Richard L. Brown, age 31.
• Flight Engineer Frank Garcia Jr., age 30.
• Purser Patricia Reynolds, age 30.
• Stewardess Jan Patterson.
• Stewardess Mary Ellen Daniel, age 24. She is on the life raft which made the front cover of Life magazine. She has been interviewed for her account of the events that day many times.
• Stewardess Katherine S. Araki, age 23.

Books and periodicals

Adams, Michael R. Ocean Station: Operations of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1940-1977. Eastport, Maine: Nor'easter Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9779200-1-3. [Describes the ditching of Sovereign of the Skies and the rescue of its passengers and crew by the crew of USCGC Pontchartrain.]

Oct. 29, 1956, issue of Life Magazine. The article by Herbert Brean, "Ordeal On Flight 943: The Last Five Hours," Life: Oct. 29, 1956, p. 23. "Crippled Airliner With 50 Aboard Lands Safely"

See also

• US Airways Flight 1549

References

• Accident Investigation Report File No. 1-0121 U.S. Department of Transportation Archived Report
• Aviation Safety Network Description of the accident
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft

External links

• CAB Accident Report
• Time Magazine Article
• United States Coast Guard Video "Ready on Ocean Station November"
• San Francisco Chronicle "Danville Pilot Has Historical Predecessor"