From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 The four-motored transport, with 34 passengers
US Navy SNB-1 Kansan and five crewmen, power-dived into the ocean a
Accident summary half-mile offshore at a speed estimated by onlook-
Date April 25, 1951 ers at 600 miles an hour and sank in water 20 feet
deep. The Navy plane, a twin-engined Beechcraft
Type Mid-air collision with a crew of four on a routine instrument-train-
Site Key West, Florida ing flight, went to pieces as it fell and crashed two
miles west of the transport.
Total fatalities 43 (all) Witnesses’ accounts of the collision varied. Mrs.
First aircraft Lucille Cleary, wife of a Navy pilot, said she believed
the tail of the transport was on fire before the
Type Douglas DC-4
planes rammed. Other spectators said they saw no
Operator Cubana de Aviación fire on either plane. George and Charles Faraldo,
operators of a Key West Flying Service, looked up as
Tail number CU-T188
they heard the noise of the collision. They said the
Passengers 34 left wing of the transport had been sheared off op-
Crew 5 posite the outer engine.
The plane then went into a tight spiral, the Far-
Survivors 0 aldos related, but the pilot managed to pull out
Second aircraft with full power. Then it went into a straight nose-
dive. As it crashed, water spewed so high into the
Type Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan
air that they could see it over the treetops at the
Operator United States Navy airport.
Although the Navy plane was engaged in blind
Tail number 39939
flying practice, Capt. R. S. Quackenbush Jr., com-
Passengers 0 manding officer of the Boca Chica Naval Air Station
here, said that in such cases "one of the pilots has
Crew 4
clear visual observation at all times." The DC-4 fell
Survivors 0 just offshore from the "Little White House" where
President Truman sometimes vacations. He spent
493,
Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 registration CU-T188, was three weeks here last month.
a Douglas DC-4 en route from Miami, Florida, United Hundreds of sunbathers on the beaches were
States, to Havana, Cuba, on April 25, 1951. A US Navy shocked to attention by the explosive noise of the
Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan, BuNo 39939, was on an instru- collision and saw the planes plummet into the sea.
ment training flight in the vicinity of Naval Air Station The transport splashed columns of water fifty feet
Key West at Key West, Florida, at the same time. The two into the air. There was no hope from the beginning
aircraft collided in mid-air over Key West, killing all 43 that anybody on either plane had survived.
aboard both aircraft. Rescue boats swarmed to the scene so quickly
that the first body from the Navy plane was recov-
Flight history ered within ten minutes and the first from the air-
liner within 15 minutes. By 11 p.m., Navy divers had
Flight 493 departed Miami at 11:09 a.m. that day and was brought up 19 bodies from the submerged wreck-
cleared to climb to 4,000 feet on a direct heading to Key age of the transport. Shortly before dark, diving op-
West. Approximately ten minutes later, the SNB-1 took erations were halted temporarily and efforts were
off from Key West NAS for simulated instrument train- started to raise the wreckage to the surface. The
ing. Although the flight was not cleared to a specific al- engines came up first. The fuselage, which rolled
titude or heading, standard instrument training proce- up like a ball on impact with the water, will not
dures were in place. At 11:49 a.m. Flight 493, heading be raised until morning, but the Navy craft used
south, and the SNB-1, heading west, collided over the Key searchlights to continue the hunt for more bodies
West NAS at an estimated altitude of 4,000 feet. through the night.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
An investigation of the crash was started im-
mediately by a naval board of inquiry headed
External links and references
by Captain Quackenbush. Officials also were • Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on
here from the Civil Aeronautics Authority. the collision from the Department of Transport’s
—The New York Times, April 26, 1951 Special Collections
• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• "Airliner and Navy Plane Collide; 43 Persons Die"
Investigation (PDF). St. Petersburg Times. UP (St. Petersburg, FL):
Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) investigators deter- p. 1. April 26, 1951. http://news.google.com/
mined that there were no mechanical problems with ei- newspapers?id=YcUKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Lk4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5138,4166
ther aircraft. Both were operating under visual flight Retrieved 2009-11-22. (plaintext)
rules, as the weather at the time of the crash was clear • "Airliner in Collision" (PDF). The Sydney Morning
and calm. The probable cause of the accident was given Herald. AP (Sydney, Australia): p. 3. April 27, 1951.
by the CAA as a failure on the parts of both air crews to http://news.google.com/
exercise due vigilance in looking for and avoiding con- newspapers?id=qvgQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EpMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3654,7885
flicting traffic. The CAA also called for a review of air traf- Retrieved 2009-11-22. (plaintext)
fic control procedures. • "Raising Shattered Plane Which Claimed 39 in
Atlantic Collision" (PDF). Rome News-Tribune. INS
See also (Rome, GA): p. 1. April 26, 1951.
http://news.google.com/
• Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial newspapers?id=0koIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=izEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2256,182706
airliners Retrieved 2009-11-22. (plaintext)
• Air safety
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/in-
dex.php?title=Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_493&oldid=463906916"
Categories:
• 1951 in the United States
• Airliner accidents and incidents in Florida
• Aviation accidents and incidents in 1951
• Mid-air collisions
• Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-4
• Airliner accidents and incidents involving mid-air collisions
• Cubana de Aviación accidents and incidents
• Cuba–United States relations
• History of Key West, Florida
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