1962 Godthab Catalina crash
Eastern Provincial Airways on behalf of Greenlandair (now Air Greenland) Canadian-Vickers PBY-5A Canso · Sank on landing
From Kangerlussuaq International Airport (SFJ) to Godthåb, Greenland
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
- 15 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 21
- Survivors
- 6
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Canadian-Vickers PBY-5A Canso
- Aircraft type
- Canadian Vickers PBY-5
- 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-IHA
- Onboard fatalities
- 15
- Route
- From Kangerlussuaq International Airport (SFJ)To Godthåb, Greenland
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 12 May 1962, an Eastern Provincial Airways Canso amphibian flying boat operating for Greenlandair (now Air Greenland) sank at Godthåb (now Nuuk) in Greenland, causing the death of 15 passengers.
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 sank with 15 passengers being killed. Initial reports were that the aircraft had hit debris on the water.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
A technical investigation concluded that the nose wheel doors had not closed properly probably due to mechanical failure. 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.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1962 Godthab Catalina crash” (revision 1352222389, 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: 1962 Godthab Catalina crash
- Article
- 1962 Godthab Catalina crash
- Revision
- 1352222389 · 2026-05-02 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q48817656
- 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 "1962 Godthab Catalina crash" (page 56548888, revision 1352222389)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline 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.