Eastern Air Lines Flight 304
| Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Identical Douglas DC-8-21 of Eastern Air Lines, John F. Kennedy International Airport, 1970 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Collision with ground / water: uncontrolled |
| place | Lake Pontchartrain , Louisiana |
| date | February 25, 1964 |
| Fatalities | 58 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8-21 |
| operator | Eastern Air Lines |
| Mark | N8607 |
| Surname | Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 |
| Passengers | 51 |
| crew | 7th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
In the early morning hours of February 25, 1964, a Douglas DC-8 on Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 crashed into Lake Pontchartrain about 30 kilometers northeast of New Orleans . All 58 occupants were killed in the accident.
course
The Douglas DC-8-21 of Eastern Air Lines ( air vehicle registration number N8607 , serial number 45428/61, and startup date May 22, 1960) was on February 24, 1964 at 22:12 in Mexico City landed. From there she took off in the late evening hours for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City . Stopovers were planned in New Orleans, Atlanta and Washington. The plane landed on February 25 at 00:51 a.m. local time in New Orleans. At 01:59 a.m. she took off for her onward flight to Atlanta. A few minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported routinely. At 02:05 the machine disappeared from the radar . No more contact could be established. The whereabouts of the machine could not initially be clarified. At dawn, search teams finally discovered oil stains on Lake Pontchartrain. During the day, numerous small wreckage and pieces of luggage were found floating on the water.
causes
It was already known in Mexico City that there had been problems with a trim tab . This should be checked after the flight ends in New York. The flight plan therefore provided for a lower cruising speed. In the New Orleans area at the time of the accident there was good visibility with at most light rain and occasional moderate gusts of wind. However, machines that had previously started had reported strong turbulence up to altitudes of 9000 feet (approx. 2745 meters). It is believed that the machine ran and after the start because of incorrect trim in a gust of wind in an uncontrolled flight attitude in a steep descent plunged into the lagoon. It was totally destroyed in the process. The 47-year-old pilot with over 19,000 flight hours and his crew were considered experienced.
examination
A 14-member commission from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident on site. During the investigation, it turned out to be problematic that the machine was so badly destroyed that there were no longer any larger coherent parts of the wreckage. Part of the wreckage had to be excavated from the silt and the basic sediment of the lagoon, which is only three to four meters deep. The flight recorder could be recovered, but the relevant parts of the tape were missing, so that no data from the accident was available. In total, only around 60 percent by weight of the crashed machine could be recovered. However, all four engines were found. These, along with parts of the structure, were close to one another. Not a single part of the wreckage examined showed traces of a fire, explosion or breakup in the air. It can therefore be assumed that the machine was still intact when it hit the surface of the water. The damage to the engines indicated an impact at a relatively steep angle (more than 20 degrees). There were no indications of a failure of the engines or the fuel supply.
Due to the severe destruction of the wreck, the CAB carried out extensive evaluations of data from a flight simulator and an identical comparison machine. It was known that the DC-8 tended to have unstable flight behavior in the longitudinal direction and unexpected reactions to control impulses when trimmed, as it may have been due to the defective trimming device on the accident machine. The investigation commission calculated on the basis of the take-off and the accident location that the accident machine could have reached a maximum altitude of 7000 feet (approx. 2135 meters) at a speed of 310 knots (574 km / h) and less at a lower speed . Investigations and calculations by the CAB had shown that if a DC-8 descends at an altitude of less than 5000 feet (about 1525 meters) in a descent angle of 30 degrees or more, it can hardly be intercepted and ground contact is almost inevitable is. At the time of the accident, the thrust reverser was activated on the engines . This could have been a maneuver by the pilots in order to raise the aircraft in a steep descent close to the ground in an emergency.
The probable cause of the accident was that the machine descended too steeply in turbulence near the ground, which in addition to the problematic trim could also have been due to a difficult-to-read instrument. The pilots were no longer able to steer the aircraft into a normal flight position.
Prominent victims
- Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux , French suffragette
- Kenneth Spencer , American-German singer and actor
Web links
- Aircraft Accident Data and Report Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 (N8607) on February 25, 1964 near New Orleans, Louisiana on the Aviation Safety Network , accessed November 2, 2018.
- Accident record , National Transportation Safety Board
- Aircraft Accident Report SA-379, File No. 1-0006 from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Internet Archive , accessed November 13, 2018
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Aircraft accident data and report DC-8-20 N8607 in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 7, 2018.
- ↑ a b c Aircraft Accident Report SA-379, File No. 1-0006 from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Internet Archive , accessed November 13, 2018
- ^ FAA Registry , Federal Aviation Administration (English), accessed November 2, 2018.
- ↑ 58 ON JET KILLED IN CRASH IN LAKE AT NEW ORLEANS. In: The New York Times . February 26, 1964, accessed November 1, 2018 .