1962 Godthab Catalina crash

1962 Goodthab Catalina crash
Accident
Date 12 May 1962
Summary Sinking
Site Goodthab harbour
Aircraft type Canadian-Vickers PBY-5A Canso
Operator Eastern Provincial Airways
Registration CF-IHA
Flight origin Kangerlussuaq Airport, Greenland
Destination Godthåb, Greenland
Passengers 18
Crew 3
Fatalities 15
Survivors 6

On 12 May 1962, an Eastern Provincial Airways Canso amphibian flying boat sank at Godthåb (now Nuuk) in Greenland, causing the death of 15 passengers.[1]

Accident

The Catalina was operating a scheduled flight from Kangerlussuaq Airport to Godthåb for Greenlandair with 21 on board, while landing on the water at Goodthab harbour it sunk with 15 passengers being killed.[1] Initial reports were that the aircraft had hit debris on the water.[2]

Aircraft

The aircraft CF-IHA was a Canadian-built variant of the Consolidated Catalina built by Canadian-Vickers in 1944.[1] It was built for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with serial number 11058 until it was sold in 1947.

Investigation

A technical investigation concluded that the nose wheel doors had not closed properly probably due to mechanical failure.[1] With a gap of 70mm, the doors were torn off on landing letting water into the nose wheel bay, the pressure of water caused a bulkhead to fail and the aircraft to sink.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 10 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "Eastern Provincial Airways Accident". Flight International. 24 May 1962. p. 816.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.