Search team discovers largely intact remains of aircraft that crashed off Puerto Rico in 1952, killing 52 people.
6:00 PM
A search team has located the wreckage of a Pan Am aircraft more than 74 years after it crashed off Puerto Rico, killing 52 people aboard.
The "Clipper Endeavor" departed San Juan on Good Friday, April 11, 1952, bound for New York City when it went down shortly after takeoff. The largely intact remains of the aircraft were discovered on the ocean floor following a seven-year investigation led by the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, which partnered with the Discovery Channel.
"Seeing the bright aluminum fuselage shining back at us from the ocean floor was a hugely emotional moment," said Josh Gates, host of the Discovery Channel program "Expedition Unknown," in remarks to NBC's "Today" show, which first reported the discovery.
The crash prompted major changes in pre-flight safety procedures within the aviation industry. The discovery of the wreckage marks the conclusion of an extended search effort to locate the aircraft, which had remained lost in the Atlantic waters off Puerto Rico for decades.
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