1954 Bjørnøya Consolidated PBY Catalina crash
1954 aviation accident / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1954 Bjørnøya Consolidated PBY Catalina crash (Norwegian: Bjørnøya-ulykken) was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) of a Consolidated PBY Catalina on the island of Bjørnøya in Svalbard, Norway, on 28 March 1954 at ca. 15:00. The Royal Norwegian Air Force aircraft of No. 333 Squadron RNoAF (333 Sqn) was conducting a postal drop flight from Tromsø to five settlements on Svalbard, including Bjørnøya Radio, making a low pass over Bjørnøya at a height of 40 meters (130 ft) before crashing into the ground. Only one of the nine on board survived.
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 28 March 1954 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site | Bjørnøya, Svalbard, Norway 74.46°N 18.92°E / 74.46; 18.92 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing-Canada PB2B-1 Catalina IVB |
Operator | Royal Norwegian Air Force, 333 Squadron |
Registration | KK-N |
Flight origin | Tromsø Airport, Skattøra |
1st stopover | Bjørnøya Radio |
2nd stopover | Isfjord Radio |
3rd stopover | Longyearbyen |
4th stopover | Ny-Ålesund |
5th stopover | Hopen Radio |
Destination | Tromsø Airport, Skattøra |
Passengers | 1 |
Crew | 8 |
Fatalities | 8 |
Survivors | 1 |
The crew at the station set out to find the aircraft in 3 ft (1 m) of snow, and did not manage to bring the survivor back to the station until the following day. Four military ships were dispatched to search for the aircraft. Once it was found, Andenes and Sørøy returned to Tromsø and then took the investigation commission to Bjørnøya. They concluded that the accident was caused by the aircraft losing altitude through a sideslip, possibly due to the pilot losing spatial awareness in the poor visibility.