Continental Airlines Flight 290
| Continental Airlines Flight 290 | |
|---|---|
 An identical Vickers Viscount 812 from Continental Airlines |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Loss of controllability after icing in flight |
| place |
Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport , Missouri , United States
|
| date | January 29, 1963 |
| Fatalities | 8th |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Vickers 812 Viscount
|
| operator |
Continental Airlines
|
| Mark |
N242V
|
| Departure airport |
Midland Air Terminal , Texas , United States
|
| 1. Stopover |
Lubbock International Airport , Texas , United States
|
| 2. Stopover |
Wichita Falls Municipal Airport , Texas , United States
|
| 3. Stopover |
Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport , Oklahoma , United States
|
| 4. Stopover |
Will Rogers World Airport , Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , United States
|
| 5. Stopover |
Tulsa International Airport , Oklahoma , United States
|
| Destination airport |
Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport , Missouri , United States
|
| Passengers | 5 |
| crew | 3 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On January 29, 1963, a Vickers 812 Viscount crashed on Continental Airlines Flight 290 (flight number: CO290 ) while approaching Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport . All 8 people on board were killed in the accident. The crash was caused by icing.
machine
The accidental Vickers Viscount 812 with the serial number 356 was ordered by Continental Airlines in December 1955 along with 14 other machines of this type . After final assembly, the machine took off on its maiden flight from Brooklands Airfield , Weybridge , Surrey , England on May 6, 1956 , and was transferred to Wisley Airfield , Surrey, England for installation of the cabin equipment and further test flights . On May 23, 1958, the machine was delivered from Blackbushe Airport , Hampshire , England to Continental Airlines, where the Viscount 812 aircraft type bore the internal name Viscount II . The machine was equipped with an integrated passenger staircase in the front part of the cabin. It was certified with the aircraft registration N242V . Between December 1958 and March 1959, the aircraft was leased to Capital Airlines because it needed additional aircraft for its new connections to Florida. The four-engine medium-range aircraft was equipped with four turboprop engines of the type Rolls-Royce Dart 525 equipped and propellers of the type Rotol R / 179 / 4-20-4 / 33rd By the time of the accident, the Viscount had completed 12,860 operating hours.
Flight plan
The domestic scheduled flight CO290 was to run from the Midland Air Terminal in Texas to Kansas City, Missouri . Scheduled stops should be on the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport , the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport in Oklahoma , the Will Rogers World Airport , Oklahoma City and Tulsa International Airport take place.
Passengers
The last flight segment on this route had only five passengers that evening.
crew
A three-person crew was deployed on the flight. The cockpit crew consisted of a flight captain and a first officer. In addition, a flight attendant was on board.
The captain of the flight was Joseph W. Smith, aged 47. In addition to the Vickers Viscount 812, Smith had type ratings for the aircraft types Martin 2-0-2 , Martin 4-0-4 , Douglas DC-3 , Convair 240 , Convair 340 and Convair 440 . The master had a cumulative flight experience of 18,611 hours, of which 3409 hours were spent on the Vickers Viscount.
The 36-year-old first officer Sherl C. George had a type rating as master of the Douglas DC-3 and first officer of the Douglas DC-3 and the Vickers Viscount. He had 5761 hours of flight experience, 2,648 of which he had completed in the cockpit of the Vickers Viscount.
Course of the flight and course of the accident
The flight on the planned route from Midland via Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa took place without incident until the approach to Kansas City. The approach to the end point of the route took place late in the evening in the dark. The pilots had received clearance to land on runway 18 at Kansas City Airport. The approach was carried out under visual flight conditions. When the machine was over the runway, it did not touch down, but flew over it with the nose of the aircraft pointing upwards. Shortly before the southern end of the runway, the machine suddenly took a steep dive from a height of 90 feet (approx. 27.5 meters) and hit the ground about 680 feet (approx. 207 meters) behind the end of the runway, breaking apart and burned out. All eight occupants were killed in the accident.
Accident investigation
The accident was investigated by the Civil Aeronautics Board . It was found that there were icing conditions around Kansas City at the time of the accident. It was also found that the flaps were extended to the end position of 36 degrees at the time of the crash. The investigators came to the conclusion that the machine had lost its controllability due to icing. Accordingly, there was an undetected ice formation in the area of the tailplane in flight. The ice formation caused the angle of attack on the horizontal stabilizer to reach supercritical values. When the pilots extended the landing flaps to their final position on the final approach, the center of lift shifted backwards. There was a loss of control and a crash.
consequences
In the course of the investigation it was found that the Vickers Viscount was particularly susceptible to this form of icing. While the investigation was still in progress, the Nesøya aircraft accident occurred under comparable conditions. Another incident of this type occurred in 1977 on Linjeflyg flight 618 .
Web links
- Final report of the Civil Aeronautics Board
- Accident report Viscount 800 N242V , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 22, 2016.
- Operational history of the machine on vickersviscount.net
- Accident report in the B3A - Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives
- Accident record , National Transportation Safety Board
Individual evidence
- ^ Flight International, January 16, 1959 , accessed November 25