BCPA Flight 304

BCPA Flight 304

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) Flight 304/44 was flown by a Douglas DC-6 named Resolution and registered VH-BPE, on a flight from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, with scheduled stops at Nadi (Fiji), Canton Island, Honolulu and San Francisco. It crashed during its initial approach towards San Francisco International Airport on 29 October 1953, killing all 19 people on board, including the American pianist William Kapell.

The aircraft was flying the Honolulu - San Francisco leg with a crew of 8 and 11 passengers (10 adults and 1 child). Captain Bruce N. Dickson (aged 34) and his crew took over the plane in Honolulu as scheduled. The estimated flying time was 9 hours and 25 minutes.

Dickson and his First Officer, Frank A. Campbell (aged 28), each had several thousand hours of flight time in a DC-6. Both pilots had made more than 100 approaches into San Francisco Airport, many of which were actual instrument approaches. The weather in the San Francisco area presented no adverse flight conditions; however, visual reference with the ground was precluded by the overcast foggy conditions and an instrument approach was required.