Pan American World Airways' Captain Richard Ogg and his crew have just passed the "point of no return". Their Boeing 377 "Clipper Sovereign of the Skies" is experiencing engine problems which causes engine number one to fail. It is after midnight and the aircraft is flying over the Pacific Ocean in the dark. It has been calculated that they have enough fuel to keep them in the air, but not for long.
“Ladies and Gentlemen the water temperature is 74 degrees and the waves are only a matter of inches high. There is absolutely nothing to worry about -- things couldn’t be better for us. I’ll soon give you a ten-minute warning. Then one minute before touchdown I’ll tell you this is it. Do as the stewardesses tell you please.”
-Captain Richard N. Ogg to Passengers and Crew of PAA Flight 6.
“Ladies and Gentlemen the water temperature is 74 degrees and the waves are only a matter of inches high. There is absolutely nothing to worry about -- things couldn’t be better for us. I’ll soon give you a ten-minute warning. Then one minute before touchdown I’ll tell you this is it. Do as the stewardesses tell you please.”
-Captain Richard N. Ogg to Passengers and Crew of PAA Flight 6.
|
The aircraft took off from Honolulu at 8:26 p.m. HST on the flight's last leg to San Francisco. After reaching an altitude of 21,000 ft., at about 1:20am, the No. 1 engine began to overspeed. The first officer, George Haaker, who was flying the plane, immediately attempted to slow the plane by reducing power and extending the flaps. An attempt was also made to feather the propeller to reduce engine speed, but the propeller would not feather. As the engine continued to turn at excessive RPM, Captain Richard Ogg decided there was only one another way to stop the engine. He gave the order to the flight engineer to cut off the oil supply to the No. 1 engine. The RPMs declined as the engine quickly seized. The propeller continued to windmill in the air stream, causing excessive drag and increasing fuel consumption. As a result, the plane was forced to fly slow down even further, causing the plane to lose altitude. As power was given the remaining three engines to slow the rate of descent, the No. 4 engine subsequently began to fail, and was producing only partial power at full throttle. At 2:45am, the No. 4 engine began to backfire, forcing the crew to shut it down and feather the propeller. The crew calculated the added drag left them with insufficient fuel to reach San Francisco or to return to Honolulu.
Captain Ogg radioed a message: "PanAm 90943, Flight 6, declaring an emergency over the Pacific". |
Pan Am Flight 6 Flight Engineer, Mr. Frank Garcia, Jr.
U.S. Coast Guard Radioman USCGC Pontchartrain, Mr. Doak Walker.
|
Images: Pan Am Historical Foundation
In the 1950s and 1960s the United States Coast Guard maintained a cutter at Ocean Station November between Hawaii and the California coast. This ship was able to provide weather information and passed on radio messages to aircraft in the vicinity. It was located at the "point of no return" and intended to provide assistance to aircraft in distress. On that night, the ship was the 255-foot USCGC Pontchartrain, and Captain Ogg's message was relayed to them. The Clipper flew to the cutter's location, leveled off at 2,000 ft., and flew above it in eight-mile circles on the two remaining engines until daylight.
Captain Ogg had decided to wait for daylight because when he made his water landing it was important that he keep the wings level with the ocean swells at the point of impact. Although this could have been done at night had the remaining engines failed, it was to land in full sunlight. This also improved the odds that passengers could be rescued. As the plane circled the Coast Guard cutter, it was able to climb from 2,000 to 5,000 feet. At that altitude several practice approaches were made to see that the plane would be controllable at low speeds (the goal was to have the lowest speed possible, just before touching the water). Delaying the ditching also ensured that more fuel would be consumed, making the plane lighter so it would float longer and minimizing the risk of fire in the event of a crash landing.
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 told the flight's purser to clear passengers and crew from the back of the plane. The crew removed loose objects from the cabin, and prepared the passengers for the landing.
At 5:40am 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. The plane touched down at 6:15am, at 90 knots with flaps fully extended, landing gear retracted, and in-sight of the Pontchartrain. On touching the water, the plane moved along the surface for a few hundred yards. One wing hit a swell, causing the plane to rotate nearly 180 degrees to port, damaging the nose section and breaking off the tail. All 31 on board survived the ditching. Three life rafts were deployed by the crew and passengers who had previously been assigned to help. One raft failed to inflate properly, but rescue boats from the cutter were able promptly to transfer the passengers from that raft. All were rescued by the Coast Guard before the last pieces of wreckage sank at 6:35am. Crew on the cutter filmed the landing and the rescue. A ten-minute film was later produced, including a re-enacted recording of the radio conversation between the pilot and the Coast Guard. The passengers were housed in the ship's officers' quarters and returned to San Francisco several days later.There were 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.
VIDEO: USCG Films Ditching of Pan Am Flight 6
