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Plane Crashes

Wreckage of Pan Am Clipper Endeavor Located Off Puerto Rico, 74 Years After 1952 Crash

A search team has found the remains of Pan Am Flight 256 in about 2,000 feet of water, according to reporting by today.com.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Jul 21, 2026, 9:13 a.m. ETWritten Aug 12, 2026, 1:17 p.m. ET
Searchers have located the wreckage of the Clipper Endeavor, which crashed off Puerto Rico on April 11, 1952, according to reporting by today.com. The outlet reported that people died and that there were survivors. The recovery effort is still developing, and details beyond the initial reporting remain limited. The aircraft, operating as , went down during on a flight bound for what is now John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, today.com reported. The wreckage was found in about 2,000 feet of water off Puerto Rico, with sonar and high-definition imagery showing the logo, landing gear and an engine. According to the outlet, the team used an autonomous underwater drone of the kind normally employed to survey gas and mineral fields. The Air/Sea Heritage Foundation has been working to track down the Clipper Endeavor since 2019, today.com reported. The cause of the 1952 crash is not established in the available reporting and has not been determined here. today.com reported that flight attendant safety briefings were not yet standard on aircraft at the time of the crash, and that pre-flight safety briefings became mandatory afterward. The aircraft's registration is not given in the available reporting, and the airframe has not been identified beyond its name and flight number.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
197 ft
Nearest aerodrome
5.1 miles SW of Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (TJSJ/SJU)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 112 Aug 2026, 17:17current

    First published.

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