Aeronaves de México flight 401

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aeronaves de México flight 401
Aeronaves de Mexico Douglas DC-8-51 Groves.jpg

A similar DC-8 from the Aeronaves de México
Accident summary
Accident type Agreement from the runway after forced take-off
place New York Idlewild Airport , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
date January 19, 1961
Fatalities 4th
Survivors 102
Injured on the ground 1
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Douglas DC-8-21
operator Mexico 1934Mexico Aeronaves de México
Mark Mexico 1934Mexico XA-XAX
Departure airport New York Idlewild Airport , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Destination airport Mexico City Airport , Mexico
Mexico 1934Mexico 
Passengers 97
crew 9
Lists of aviation accidents

On January 19, 1961, a Douglas DC-8-21 of the Aeronaves de México crashed at New York-Idlewild Airport on Aeronaves de México flight 401 (flight number: AM401 ) . Four crew members were killed in the accident. The accident was caused by a crew member forced to abort the takeoff.

plane

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-8-21, which was almost 6 months old at the time of the accident. The machine was assembled at the Douglas factory in Long Beach, California, its maiden flight took place on July 29, 1960. The aircraft had the factory number 45432, it was the 105th Douglas DC-8 from ongoing production. The DC-8 was delivered new to Eastern Air Lines on October 28, 1960 with the aircraft registration number N8611 . From November 1, 1960, the machine was leased to the Aeronaves de México , where it received the aircraft registration XA-XAX and the name 20 de Noviembre . The four-engine long-range - narrow-body aircraft was equipped with four engines of the type -3 JT4A Pratt & Whitney facilities. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed 529 operating hours.

Inmates

97 passengers had started the flight that day, and nine crew members flew with it.

Cockpit crew

There was a crew of four in the cockpit:

  • The 46-year-old flight captain Ricardo Gonzalez Orduna was a Mexican citizen and was certified as a flight captain for the Douglas DC-8 model with the Douglas Aircraft Company in Miami , Florida on November 30, 1960 . He also had type ratings for the aircraft types Boeing 247 , Douglas C-39 , Douglas DC-3 , Douglas DC-4 , Lockheed L-049 Constellation and Bristol Britannia . His accumulated flight experience was 15,210 hours and 34 minutes, of which he had completed 94 hours in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8. His total operating experience with this type on night flights was 46 hours and 47 minutes. As pilot-in-command , Orduna sat in the left pilot's seat of the machine.
  • The 32-year-old first officer Antonio Ruiz Bravo was a Mexican citizen and was admitted to the positions of first and second officer in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8 with the Douglas Aircraft Company in Miami, Florida on November 27, 1960. He was also certified as a flight captain on board the Douglas DC-3. His total flying experience was 8,260 hours and 56 minutes. Of these he had completed 125 hours and 37 minutes in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8 and again 54 hours and 6 minutes on night flights.
  • Xavier Alvarez Bacha, 32, was a Mexican citizen and was admitted to the positions of first and second officer in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8 with the Douglas Aircraft Company in Miami, Florida on November 26, 1960. He was also certified as a flight captain on board the Douglas DC-3. His total flying experience was 8143 hours and 5 minutes. Of these he had completed 123 hours and 34 minutes in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8 and again 53 hours and 48 minutes on night flights.

Cabin crew

The five-person cabin crew consisted of the purser Gloria Sanchez Herrejon, the flight attendant Alberto Reyes Campos and the flight attendants Margarita Badillo, Laura Martin de Jorge and Maria Autoniata Ponce de Leon.

Passengers

Flight plan

The plane was at 15:15 from Mexico City arrived. The Aeronaves de México flight 401 should then run as a non-stop flight from New York-Idlewild Airport back to Mexico City Airport. The scheduled departure should be at 6:30 p.m.

the accident

Due to the wintry conditions and the snowfall in the New York area, the crew and around 40 passengers were delayed. The flight was delayed for an hour and a half. After landing in the afternoon, snow had accumulated on the wings of the aircraft due to the weather, so that these and the pitot tubes were de-iced with an ethylene glycol solution.

The crew received clearance to take off from runway 07R. The first 6,200 feet of the take-off run were normal. The tower controller then lost sight of the machine due to the heavy snowstorm . At this point in time, the machine was still 3800 feet from the end of the runway and, according to later statements by the controller, had neither taken off nor rotated . Another air traffic controller followed the movements of the machine on the ground radar . A moment later, the controllers saw an orange flash of light flash over the northeast end of the airport. At this point in time, the controller could not say whether the aircraft had lifted off the runway.

Attempts to contact the crew of the DC-8 by radio using the departure frequency were unsuccessful. Finally the emergency was declared.

Inspector Poe later stated that the departure checklist had been routinely gone through. The take-off run was normal until the first officer proclaimed a speed of 100 knots (approx. 185 km / h). When the decision-making speed of 130 knots (approx. 241 km / h) was reached, the first officer called V1 and shortly afterwards the take-off speed VR. The machine then rotated quickly and quite abruptly. Poe stated that he could not observe that the displayed speed had exceeded 130 knots, rather the speed had dropped to around 110 knots (approx. 204 km / h) shortly afterwards. Poe was of the opinion that the machine could not rotate under these conditions and that the remaining runway length would not be sufficient to carry out a successful start. He saw his only possibility in an aborted take-off and in an attempt to bring the machine to a standstill on the runway. He then opened his seat belt, got up and briefly pushed the thrust levers forward, thereby increasing the thrust of all four engines. Then he pushed the thrust lever backwards again. Captain Gonzales then immediately activated the thrust reverser and the landing gear brakes. Poe then extended the spoilers and sat back on the jump seat without buckling up again. The investigation found that Poe's actions had taken about three seconds to complete. The machine then rolled on over the runway and finally over the end of it, broke through two perimeter fences and finally rolled outside the airport on Rockaway Boulevard before colliding with a car, the only occupant of which was injured.

After the machine broke through the airport fence, some parts were sheared off and the DC-8 caught fire. It came to a stop 830 feet past the end of the runway. Despite the adverse weather conditions, the emergency vehicles from the airport fire department and the New York Fire Department arrived only six minutes after the incident and extinguished the fire shortly afterwards. The evacuation of the occupants was completed within five minutes, with most of the occupants already leaving the machine in half that time. Many of the injured were taken to the hospital in private cars.

Victim

The three Mexican crew members and a flight attendant were killed in the accident. Captain Poe was the only survivor from the cockpit.

Accident investigation

The accident investigators determined the cause of the accident to be a forced abortion by test captain Poe, who was not in any of the pilot's seats. Poe had therefore reduced the thrust of all four engines during take-off without prior notice, causing the machine, which had already been rotating , to go down again and roll over the end of the runway. Poe initiated the aborted take-off because he erroneously assumed that the speed at which the machine was rotating was well below the calculated speed VR. The investigators could not rule out the possibility that the pitot tube heating had not been activated despite the cold temperatures and that there could have been a connection with the sudden abortion of the start.

meaning

The machine was severely damaged in the incident and had to be written off as a total loss. It was the world's second fatal incident as well as the second total loss of a Douglas DC-8, which, like the first ( airplane collision in New York City ), occurred in New York.

swell

Coordinates: 40 ° 38 ′ 58.6 "  N , 73 ° 45 ′ 14.5"  W.