What happened
On the morning of the accident, Pan Am Flight PA292 was operating a scheduled multi-leg service traveling from Fort-de-France, Martinique, toward New York, with several planned stops including Saint John's, Antigua. The aircraft, a Boeing 747 registered as 'Clipper Constitution', departed Fort-de-France at 0704LT. The flight was operating under an IFR flight plan for the segment to Antigua, with an intended cruising altitude of FL165.
After reaching its cruising altitude, the crew established communication with air traffic control in Antigua at 0715. The controller provided instructions to proceed to the Coolidge NDB beacon, maintaining an altitude of 2,500 feet and requesting a report upon reaching the beacon or seeing the airfield. At roughly 0725, the flight reported passing through FL40 but noted that the field was not yet visible.
During this period, the aircraft was observed flying near the coast of Montserrat. The plane was operating beneath cloud cover in heavy rain with its landing gear deployed and flaps partially extended. Shortly after this observation, the Boeing 747 impacted a mountain at an elevation of 2,760 feet, striking the terrain approximately 242 feet below the summit. The impact caused the total destruction of the aircraft, and all 30 fatalities were recorded.
Findings
The investigation determined that the primary factor in the accident was the aircraft descending below a safe altitude before the crew had correctly identified its exact position.