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A 1952 Pan Am plane crash transformed passenger safety procedures – a former airline pilot explains how

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A newly rediscovered shipwreck is drawing fresh attention to one of aviation's pivotal disasters. The Conversation reports that in April of nineteen fifty-two, a Pan American DC-4 called Clipper Endeavor lost power minutes after leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ditched in the Atlantic. All sixty-nine people aboard survived the impact, but fifty-two drowned in the chaos that followed, as many passengers stayed buckled in their seats. Investigators found there had been no requirement to brief passengers on emergency exits or life vests, and the tragedy pushed regulators to mandate the pre-flight safety demonstrations travelers know today. The wreckage sat under two thousand feet of water until a marine survey company's underwater vehicle located it in June of twenty twenty-six.

Source: https://theconversation.com/a-1952-pan-am-plane-crash-tra...

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