CF-CUP  Douglas DC-6B               (c/n  43843)

                                       

                                              A poor shot of the ill fated CF-CUP, "Empress of Mexico City"  Delivered in February 1953,
                                              this aircraft crashed at Cold Bay, Alaska, on 29 August 1956.   It was Canadian Pacific's Flight
                                              307 enroute from Vancouver to Hong Kong, with a technical stop in Cold Bay, Alaska.  Upon
                                              reaching the Alaskan location Cold Bay weather reported to the crew was of indefinite ceiling,
                                             500 feet sky obscured; visibility 1,5 miles; light drizzle, fog; temperature 47F; dewpoint 46F; wind
                                             WNW 21 knots. At 20:35 the crew reported over the Cold Bay range station outbound on a standard
                                              instrument approach to Runway 14. The procedure turn inbound was completed at 20:42. When the
                                              aircraft broke through the clouds it may have been too close in and high. Combined with an excessive
                                              groundspeed due to a quartering tailwind, this may have caused the pilot-in-command to decide to
                                              go-around.  Power was applied and flaps raised fully (instead of retracting to 20 degrees).  The aircraft
                                              then struck the ground in a descending left turn and caught fire.  Cause was attributed to the failure of
                                              the pilot in command to leave enough flap to provide the necessary lift at that altitude.   All 22 persons
                                              on board perished.