Accident description
Last updated: 23 May 2013
| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 25 APR 1951 |
| Time: | 11:49 |
| Type: | Douglas DC-4 |
| Operator: | Cubana de Aviación |
| Registration: | CU-T188 |
| C/n / msn: | 10368 |
| First flight: | 1944 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 13218 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 34 / Occupants: 34 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 39 / Occupants: 39 |
| Collision casualties: | Fatalities: 4 |
| Airplane damage: | Destroyed |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | ca 1 km off Key West, FL (United States of America)
 |
| Phase: | En route (ENR) |
| Nature: | International Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Miami International Airport, FL (MIA/KMIA), United States of America |
| Havana-Rancho Boyeros Airport (HAV/MUHA), Cuba | |
| Flightnumber: | 493 |
The Cubana aircraft, on a flight from Miami to Havana, was in, or had just performed, a gentle left bank leveling out on the Havana heading of 197 degrees when it collided with a US Navy Beech SNB-1 Kansan (39939) at an altitude of 4000 feet. The Navy plane was on an instrument training flight out of Key West-NAS. The SNB crashed into the water just west of the Naval Station, but the DC-4 continued for some distance before commencing a left bank which became progressively steeper until the aircraft assumed a nose-down attitude, crashing into the ocean 1,7 miles from the point of the collision.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of the crews of both aircraft to maintain sufficient vigilance under VFR conditions to prevent a collision." Events:
Sources:
» CAB File No. F-104-51
» ICAO Aircraft Accident Digest No.2, Circular 24-AN/21 (93-94)
Sample newspaper article from Newspaperarchive.com
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Miami International Airport, FL to Havana-Rancho Boyeros Airport as the crow flies is 376 km (235 miles).
Distance from Miami International Airport, FL to Havana-Rancho Boyeros Airport as the crow flies is 376 km (235 miles).
languages:
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Douglas DC-4
- 141st loss
- 1242+ built
- 15th worst accident (at the time)
- 31st worst accident (currently)
United States of America- 8th worst accident (at the time)
- 85th worst accident (currently)