The wreckage of a Pan American Airways plane has been found 74 years after it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in a crash that prompted mandatory airline safety briefings, the BBC reports.
The Clipper Endeavor was found 610m below sea level off the coast of Puerto Rico with a sonar-equipped drone. It went down on 11 April 1952 following multiple-engine failure shortly after take-off.
Everyone onboard survived the impact – but passengers struggled to locate life vests and rafts as the plane rapidly sank. Of the 69 passengers and crew onboard, just 17 survived.
The disaster led to sweeping reforms in aviation safety, including compulsory pre-flight safety briefings on every commercial flight.
