Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402
Douglas DC-8-43 · Controlled flight into terrain due to poor visibility
From Kai Tak International Airport, Hong Kong to Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 64 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 72
- Survivors
- 8
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 8
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas DC-8-43
- Flight
- CP402
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-8
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- CF-CPK
- Operator
- Canadian Pacific Air Lines
- Onboard fatalities
- 64
- Route
- From Kai Tak International Airport, Hong KongTo Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On March 4, 1966, Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 struck the approach lights and a seawall during a night landing attempt in poor visibility at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Of the 62 passengers and 10 crew, only 8 passengers survived.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Japanese government-appointed investigation team concluded in their report, issued two years later, that there was no fault in the airport's control tower. They stated the cause was pilot error, while acknowledging that poor visibility could have caused an optical illusion that confused the pilot. The probable cause statement was that the "Pilot misjudged landing approach under unusually difficult weather conditions."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402” (revision 1375233149, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402
- Revision
- 1375233149 · 2026-09-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q689448
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402" (page 11548533, revision 1375233149)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.