1957 — Nov 9, Pan Am Flight 7 lost in Pacific between San Francisco & Honolulu, HI–all 44

— 44 AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 11091957.
— 44 CAB. AAR. Pan American…Pacific Ocean, Between Honolulu and SF, Nov 9, 1957.
— 44 Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJFMP, 3/1, Mar 1982, Table 1.
— 44 Gero, David. Aviation Disasters…(Second Edition). 1996, p. 27-28.
— 44 NFPA. “Large Loss Aircraft Fires of 1957.” Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 4, April 1958, p. 293.
— 44 San Francisco Chronicle. “Romance of the Skies Plane Crash…” November 4, 2007.
— 44 Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 77.
— 44 Wikipedia. “Pan Am Flight 7.”

Narrative Information

Civil Aeronautics Board: “Pan American Flight 7 [Clipper Romance of the Skies ], a Boeing 377, N 90944, was lost in the Pacific Ocean approximately midway between San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, on November 9, 1957, at 1627 local time. An extensive sea and air search over thousands of square miles of ocean ensued. Bodies of 19 of the 44 occupants were found as were small and light aircraft parts and cargo…

“Clipper 944, a regularly scheduled around-the-world flight, originated at San Francisco with its first stop scheduled at Honolulu. It departed San Francisco at 1951 on November 8 estimating arrival at Honolulu at 0550, November 9. There were 36 passengers and a crew [of 8]….

“All required position reports were made and Clipper 944 reported to Ocean Station vessel “November” at 0030; its position was fixed by radar as 10 miles east of the vessel. The last position report, at 0104, was routine with no indication of anything unusual. The next scheduled position report, due at 0204, was not received and 30 minutes thereafter the flight was designated unreported….

“On November 14, the fifth day of search, aircraft from the carrier located bodies and parts of wreckage some 940 miles east of Honolulu and approximately 90 miles north of the flight’s intended track. The next day additional bodies were recovered making a total of 19. Fourteen of these wore lifejackets. Bodies and material were taken aboard the carrier. Continuing intense search was unproductive and was abandoned on the evening of November 15….

“Some of the recovered pieces bore distinct evidence of fire damage. However, it was determined that the fire damage on all pieces was on those portions which floated above the water. No evidence of inflight fire was found on any of the recovered fuselage material. Fire markings were fairly uniform over material from all positions in the fuselage, including mail and cabin material, and each charred piece had a definite waterline below which charring did not occur. Laboratory tests of the charred pieces disclosed no evidence of prohibited or explosive material.

“Board investigators carefully examined the recovered debris for evidence of an inflight explosion. This examination included a thorough inspection of recovered items of cargo, passenger effects, and mail. No evidence of an inflight explosion in the fuselage was found….

“Because of the limited amount of wreckage recovered, it became all the more important to determine as much information as possible from the recovered bodies in order to arrive at a better understanding of the emergency that had caused the accident. It was chiefly for this reason that the Board enlisted the aid of expert pathologists familiar with aircraft accident fatalities to assist in the development of all significant information. Their examination of the 19 bodies recovered disclosed that 10 had probably died from drowning. Further, the lack of extensive crash-induced mutilation, together with the general condition of the bodies, suggested that the water impact, although severe, was not sufficiently great to cause complete disintegration of the aircraft.

“Life preservers were found on 14 bodies two of them children. One of the recovered bodies, wearing a life preserver, was one of the stewardesses who was still strapped by her safety belt to a seat.

“Bruises and abrasions on the thighs of the captain’s and the purser’s bodies indicated that their seat belts also were fastened at the time of impact. Similar indications were lacking on other bodies. The medical examination further disclosed that none of the bodies had been subjected to fire before or after impact.

“As part of the pathological examination, a series of tests for toxic material was conducted. Initially these tests indicated elevated levels of carbon monoxide in several of the recovered bodies. This preliminary finding indicated (1) the need for further corroborating tests, and (2) that a study should be undertaken to determine how high concentrations of carbon monoxide could have been present in the inhabited portions of the fuselage. To accomplish the latter objective a Board investigating group made a detailed study of the Boeing 377 systems to determine possible malfunctions which could lead to the generation of carbon monoxide. These were considered with probable variations in the pattern of airflow throughout the fuselage. This study disclosed that high levels of carbon monoxide could be generated and distributed unevenly throughout the fuselage in several ways. However, it was impossible to relate the elevation of carbon monoxide found in bodies with the seating arrangement and, consequently, with the source of the carbon monoxide.

“Medical tests have continued from the time of the accident to the present to verify the initial findings relative to carbon monoxide concentrations in certain of the bodies. These tests, conducted independently by different federal agencies, verified the concentrations as found initially but raised doubt as to the suitability of any test method because of the decomposed state of the bodies. Additional studies are presently being performed which may answer the question regarding reliability of carbon monoxide results in cases of post-mortem decomposition, but as yet this question is unsolved….

“The Board has insufficient tangible evidence at this time to determine the cause of the accident. Further research and investigation is in process concerning the significance of evidence of carbon monoxide in body tissue of the aircraft occupants.” (Civil Aeronautics Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Pan American World Airways, Inc. Boeing 377, N 90944, in the Pacific Ocean, Between Honolulu and San Francisco, November 9, 1957. Washington, DC: CAB (File No. 1-00), January 20, 1959.)

The unclear taped message from Flight 7 as well as the material evidence gathered from the crash scene is now lost or missing. For a discussion of what might have happened see the San Francisco Chronicle article.

Sources

AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 11091957. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=11091957&reg=—&airline=Pan+American+World+Airways

Civil Aeronautics Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Pan American World Airways, Inc. Boeing 377, N 90944, in the Pacific Ocean, Between Honolulu and San Francisco, November 9, 1957. Washington, DC: CAB (File No. 1-00), January 20, 1959, 16 pages. Accessed at: http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C110957.pdf

Eckert, William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982, Table 1.

Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (Second Edition). London: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1996.

National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Aircraft Fires of 1956.” Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4, April 1957. Boston, MA.

San Francisco Chronicle. “Romance of the Skies Plane Crash Haunts Pair 50 Years Later,” Nov. 4, 2007. At: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/04/MNRHT5IIV.DTL

Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, 86 pages. Accessed 9-20-2012 at: Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii – eVols – University of Hawaii. Accessed at: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fevols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10524%2F150%2FJL03074.pdf%3Fsequence%3D2&ei=UPSvVK2bLoO4yQTO74L4DA&usg=AFQjCNHER9A57xAr6d0m9mJcnsc4F2Z8Gg&bvm=bv.83339334,d.aWw

Wikipedia. “Pan Am Flight 7.” Accessed 2-23-2009 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_7