On the morning of January 19, 1952, the flight crashed into Hecate Strait in British Columbia, Canada, while making an emergency landing at Sandspit Airport.

All three crew members and 33 of the 40 passengers were killed, making the flight the third-deadliest aviation accident in Canada at the time.

[3] There was one flight attendant on board, Jane Cheadle, who had been employed at Northwest Airlines since April 1, 1950.

[3] The flight originated in Tokyo and was headed to McChord Air Force Base with stops in Shemya and Anchorage.

Prior to departing Anchorage, weather on the flight path was forecasted to be overcast with snow/rain showers.

At 12:29 am, the pilots ascribed the engine trouble to a "broken" oil cooler and asked for weather forecasts at nearby airports in Annette, Sandspit, and Port Hardy.

After a short time on the ground, engine power was re-applied at the midpoint of the runway and the plane took off again.

The radio operator in Sandspit heard shouting and concluded the plane had crashed into Hecate Straight off the end of the runway.

It is thought that no one died in the initial crash, and that all who perished drowned or froze to death in the cold temperatures.

One of the survivors was First Lieutenant Donald E. Baker, a United States Air Force navigator.

[2] Lt. Baker advised that near Sitka, the pilots noted a rapid loss of oil pressure in engine No.

At the time of the engine failure, Annette Island Airport was closer and equipped with better facilities, but was unavailable due to poor weather conditions.

[2] Northwest Airlines noted many instances when a DC-4's nose gear failed to fully retract.

In accordance with company operating procedures, the captain elected to land at the first available airport, rather than continue to destination on three engines.

During the attempted climbout, the aircraft settled into the water, bounced, and came to rest 26 degrees to the left and approximately 4,500 feet from the end of the runway.

While all or nearly all of the passengers evacuated the aircraft with no known serious injuries, drownings and exposure accounted for 36 fatalities due to near freezing air and water temperature.

"[2] The Civil Aeronautics Board determined that "the probable cause of this accident was a nose gear retraction difficulty in connection with an icing condition or a power loss, which made the aircraft incapable of maintaining flight.