Historic Boeing plane ditches in Elliott Bay

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 27, 2002

SEATTLE – A historic four-engine passenger plane ditched in Seattle’s Elliott Bay Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard said, and all four people aboard were safely rescued.

The plane, a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, landed at about 1:15 p.m. near the shore of West Seattle, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Aida Cabrera. Coast Guard crews from the nearby Seattle base were able to rescue those aboard and take them to a nearby boat launch, she said.

The plane was slowly sinking, though rescue boats attached a line to it and were trying to save it by pulling it to shore.

The plane took off from Boeing Field-King County International Airport at 12:30 p.m., but acting airport manager Mike Colmant could not immediately confirm where it was headed or when it was scheduled to return.

Officials at Seattle’s Museum of Flight identified the plane as the Stratoliner, the only one of its type still in existence

Dennis Parks of Boeing’s Museum of Flight told KING TV that Boeing pilots and flight test pilots are the only ones authorized to fly the aircraft.

He said the aircraft is kept in a hangar at the north end of Boeing Field.

“They are planning on doing some flying and maintenance and it’s scheduled to stay here until it’s delivered for installation in the National Air and Space Museum’s new expansion gallery at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

The 1940s-era plane, the first commercial plane with a pressurized cabin, was restored by Boeing employees and was to be the centerpiece of the new Smithsonian Institution museum being built at Washington Dulles International Airport, when the complex opens in 2003. The plane is owned by the National Air and Space Museum.

The aircraft, which was first delivered to Pan American Airways in 1940 and named the Clipper Flying Cloud, was one of only 10 Boeing 307s built.