At 5:54 in the morning, Pacific Standard Time, and eight hours into the anticipated 11 hour, 40 minute flight, a "Mayday" call from the pilot was heard reporting the aircraft's position, and that the plane had a serious fire in engine #2. He further said that "...we may have to put it in."

The United States Coast Guard conducted a five-day search for the missing DC-4, and the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kearsarge, its aircraft, and three other surface vessels searched a 100-mile wide corridor of ocean, but no traces of either the aircraft or its occupants were ever found.

Coast Guard Lt. Robert Finan said search vessels and planes had picked up the mysterious signals race shortly after the plane went down.

"Everyone we've got out there looking has heard the signals," said Finan. "But they're too weak for us to get bearings from. We think there's an excellent chance the signal is coming from the emergency type transmitter the plane had aboard."