Canadian Pacific Air Lines - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

There were 12 major incidents aboard CP Air aircraft with a total of 234 fatalities.

• September 9, 1949: A Douglas DC-3 exploded in mid-flight en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau as the result of an onboard bomb, killing all 23 on board. See Albert Guay affair.
• December 22, 1950: (CP004) Douglas DC-3 struck a mountain in the Okanagan of British Columbia while on landing approach. 2 of 18 passengers/crew killed.
• July 21, 1951 – A Douglas DC-4 departed Vancouver, British Columbia for Anchorage, Alaska but disappeared en route without a trace. Eventually, all 37 on board would be declared legally dead.
• March 3, 1953: De Havilland DH-106 Comet crashed on takeoff from Karachi, Pakistan. All 11 passengers/crew were killed.
• August 29, 1956: (CP307) Douglas DC-6B crashed when it missed the landing due to pilot error near Cold Bay, Alaska. 15 of 22 passengers/crew killed.
• July 22, 1962: (CP301) Bristol Britannia 314 crashed in Honolulu, Hawaii. 27 of 40 passengers/crew were killed.

• July 8, 1965: Flight 21 (CP21) Douglas DC-6B crashed near Dog Creek, British Columbia when a bomb blew its tail section away. All 52 passengers/crew were killed.
• March 4, 1966: Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 (CP402) McDonnell Douglas DC-8-43 crashed on landing in Tokyo, Japan at Tokyo's Haneda Airport due to poor visibility. 64 of 72 passengers/crew were killed.
• February 7, 1968: (CP322) Boeing 707-138B leased from Standard Airways (of Seattle) crashed into aircraft and buildings at Vancouver while attempting to land in low visibility after a flight from Honolulu; 60 crew and passengers survived, but one flight attendant died, as did one person on the ground.
• June 23, 1985 a piece of luggage that had come from CP Air 3 exploded as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301; the explosion killed two baggage handlers (Hideo Asano and Hideharu Koda) in Narita and injured four other people. The same kind of bomb was transferred on to Air India Flight 182 killing all passengers. The bomb exploded just south west of Cork, Ireland.

Some other incidents involving CP aircraft:

• November 1974: a Boeing 737 was hijacked in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. No fatalities occurred in this incident.
• May 1953: a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina crash landed at Prince Rupert, British Columbia with 2 fatalities
• February 1950: a Canadair C4 overran the runway at Tokyo-Haneda Airport and plunged into Tokyo Bay. All the passengers and crew were rescued.
• January 29, 1971: Trans Australia Airlines oldest Boeing 727-100 VH-TJA was operating flight TN592 from Sydney to Perth. Cleared for departure on Runway 16 at Sydney, the underside of VH-TJA hit the top of the fin of CP Air DC-8-63 (CF-CPQ) which had failed to clear the active runway after landing. The top half of the DC-8 fin was broken off, and the B727-76 landed safely with a gashed lower fuselage. There were no injuries or fatalities.