Maritime Central Airways accident in Sandwich Bay
Boeing-Canada PB2B-1 Canso A (PBY-5A) · The Maritime Central Airways accident in Sandwich Bay occurred on 18 May 1952
From Gander International Airport (YQX) to Cartwright, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
Boeing-Canada PB2B-1 Canso A (PBY-5A)
- Aircraft type
- Boeing PB2
- 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-FAN
- Operator
- Maritime Central Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Gander International Airport (YQX)To Cartwright, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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
The Maritime Central Airways accident in Sandwich Bay occurred on 18 May 1952. On that day a Maritime Central Airways Boeing-Canada PB2B-1 Canso A (PBY-5A) (CF-FAN), which was to operate a charter cargo flight from Gander Airport to Cartwright, crashed while landing in Sandwich Bay. All three people on board the aircraft were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft, loaded with cargo, took off from Gander at 13:17 local time. During the approach to Cartwright, eyewitnesses observed the aircraft descending with its landing gear extended on final approach for a water landing on Sandwich Bay near the harbour of Cartwright. When the wheels touched the water, the aircraft came to an abrupt stop. The aircraft reared up vertically in the water, after which the tail swung from the 90-degree angle to an angle of about 45 degrees. All three crew members were killed in the accident.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was the failure of the pilot in command to ensure that the landing gear was retracted for the water landing. When the landing gear wheels touched the water, a lever effect was produced, and the aircraft was then levered into a vertical position in the water.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Maritime Central Airways in der Sandwich Bay” (revision 237184524, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Maritime Central Airways in der Sandwich Bay
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237184524 · 2023-09-10 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q93990449
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Maritime Central Airways in der Sandwich Bay" (page 11270414, revision 237184524), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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 article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.