What happened
On August 8, 1975, a Lockheed P2V Neptune, registration 59876, was performing a ferry flight from Anchorage, Alaska, to Greybull, Wyoming. The aircraft was operating under contract for the US Department of the Interior. Prior to the incident, one engine had been deactivated because it was running poorly, and a scheduled refueling stop in Ketchikan, Alaska, had been bypassed due to adverse weather conditions.
In the early hours of August 9, after approximately seven hours of flight, the aircraft experienced fuel exhaustion. The remaining operational engines began to fail while the plane was positioned over the northern end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. While approaching the 5000-foot paved runway at Port Hardy, the pilot attempted a go-around after perceiving the aircraft was too high on final approach. During this maneuver, the plane struck the ground, breached the airport perimeter fence, and traveled across a debris-strewn beach before coming to rest in the ocean about 100 yards from the shore.
Following the loss of radio contact, airport personnel initiated an emergency response. The two-man crew, disoriented by the crash, faced an immediate threat as water began entering the cockpit. After exiting through a roof hatch, the crew used a floating seat cushion to swim to the shoreline. Despite suffering from extreme cold, the crew managed to navigate through the darkness to reach the airport fence, where they were eventually located by emergency responders.
Findings
- The aircraft sustained significant damage to its underbelly, nose gear, and left wing tip/flap.
- Both crew members survived with minor injuries.
- The primary cause of the incident was fuel exhaustion.