The Puerto Rican Clipper

CLXXV

An unidentified S-42 at Dinner Key. The Puerto Rican Clipper (NC824M) was lifting off from a stop in the West Indies when it was lost in a freak accident

On the whole, Pan Am had been a lucky airline. In an era of loose, sometimes nonexistent, safety regulations and technical innovations made literally on the fly, Pan American Airways had suffered surprisingly few accidents in the decade it had been flying commercial passengers. On August 15, 1928, the Clipper General Machado, Pan Am’s first Fokker Trimotor had ditched at sea; passenger Norman Ageton had drowned. The loss of Mr. Ageton, Pan Am’s first passenger fatality, had driven Juan Trippe to promote passenger and crew safety above all else. Since then, there had been remarkably few accidents involving Pan American Airways System craft. In most the few incidents, no one suffered more than bumps and bruises due to controlled forced landings. Panagra had experienced a Peruvian hijacking in 1931, when one of it’s as-yet unnamed Ford Trimotors had been forcibly seized. There were a handful of ground accidents. One of the older NYRBA Commodores, Clipper Cuba, was lost in a Dinner Key hangar fire in April of 1935.  

   

Almost a year to the day later, on April 11, 1936 , Pan American suffered a major loss when the S-42 Puerto Rican Clipper en route from Miami to Buenos Aires, crashed on takeoff from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. During liftoff, a fishing smack had sailed into the path of the flying boat. The Pan Am skipper tried to avoid the boat, and nearly did, but the plane, “on the step,” half-aloft and half-seaborne, waterlooped dramatically. One of its pontoons struck the fishing boat, and the plane overturned, killing three of the 25 people aboard (one crewman and two passengers).

The accident was ascribed to the error of the fishing boat captain for wandering into the path of the aircraft, but among the dead and injured were several wealthy passengers whose families sued Pan American for damages.  

The Puerto Rican Clipper  itself was a total loss. Pan Am tried to downplay the story, but unsuccessfully, and it was a black mark against the airline for some time.

The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported:

FLYING BOAT.

Capsize in Harbour.

THREE PERSONS DROWNED.

PORT OF SPAIN (Trinldad), April 11 --- The flying boat Puerto Rican, a clipper of Pan-American Airways, similar In design to those used on the Pacific service, capsized in the bay here to-day when the pilot, taking off for Buenos Aires, swerved sharply to avoid a small fishing boat. Two of the 16 passengers and, a steward were drowned by the water which quickly filled the cabins. Five passengers were superficially injured.

The passengers who were killed were Mr. Roman Martinez, a New York exporter, and Mr. Eric Brough, of London. Jose Iturbl, a Spanish pianist, on his way to give a concert tour in South America, and Mrs. Claiborne Foster 'Rice How, formerly a leading actress, were among the injured.

Officials of Pan-American Airways could not immediately determine the extent of the damage to the aircraft. The fishing boat was only grazed,