Flying Tiger Line Flight 923

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Flying Tiger Line Flight 9232
Lockheed N1049H Flying Tiger (13023275915) .jpg

An identical Lockheed Super Constellation from the company
Accident summary
Accident type Ditching
place Atlantic Ocean 560 miles west of Shannon, Ireland
date September 23, 1962
Fatalities 28
Survivors 48
Aircraft
Aircraft type Lockheed Super Constellation 1049H-82
operator Flying Tiger Line
Mark N6923C
Surname FT923
Departure airport McGuire Airforce Base, New Jersey
Stopover Gander , Newfoundland
Destination airport Frankfurt
Passengers 68
crew 8th
Lists of aviation accidents

When Flying Tiger Line Flight 923 on September 23, 1962, the four-engine had to Lockheed Super Constellation 1049H-82 ( air vehicle registration N6923C ) of the American Flying Tiger Line (FT923 Flight) 560 in a stormy sea miles off the Irish coast ditch . Of the 76 people on board, 48 survived the accident.

course

The international, unscheduled passenger flight from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Frankfurt mainly transported American military personnel on behalf of the US Air Force . About three hours after departure from Gander , where the crew was changed during a stopover and the aircraft was refueled, the instruments in the cockpit warned of a fire on engine number 3. At the same time, one of the stewardesses reported to the captain about a fire on this engine she had been watching from the passenger cabin. Engine number 3, the inner one on the right wing, was then switched off. A few minutes later, the speed of engine number 1, on the outside of the left wing, increased uncontrollably from 2600 to 3300 min −1 . This engine was also switched off and the flight engineer was unable to put it back into operation. The captain therefore changed course in the direction of the Irish coast to Shannon and instructed the stewardesses to explain the procedures for a possible ditching to the passengers . At this point in time, both the crew and passengers assumed that the coast could be reached without any problems with the two remaining engines, despite the bad weather. About an hour later, however, there were technical difficulties in engine number 2 and the aircraft had to make an emergency landing. The left wing of the machine tore off and the aircraft sank into the Atlantic within a few minutes . In the water, which was below 10 ° C, 51 people only reached one of the four life rafts that were part of the aircraft's equipment. The remaining islands were not found by the survivors because of the extreme swell and darkness.

Salvage

After six hours, the crew of the Swiss ocean freighter MS Celerina discovered the life raft, which was actually only designed for a total of 25 people. The freighter was on its way from Canada to Antwerp and was requested to drive to the site of the accident just a few minutes after ditching. American and British military aircraft supported the search. The recovery of the casualties took around an hour due to the high waves. Of the 51 people on the life raft, 48 survived. Two people died on the island, another shortly after being rescued on the freighter.

A total of 28 people (23 passengers and five crew members) lost their lives in the accident, 18 of them remained missing.

Most of the 68 passengers were American paratroopers on their way to their unit in Germany, but there were also a few women and a mother with two children on board.

Investigations

Drawing of the aircraft involved in the accident with its four engines

The reason for the malfunction of engine number 1 was later stated in the investigation report that after the fire in engine number 3, the flight engineer had accidentally switched off the supply of fuel as well as lubricating and hydraulic oil for the up to then correctly functioning engine number 1. A minute or two without oil caused major damage to this engine, which is why it could not be restarted. Together with the two failed engines, three of the four engines no longer worked. It has also been reported that a number of in- flight and ditching safety routines were not properly performed. The final report also found that the life raft lighting system had been inadequate and that life jackets should be fitted with automatic lights in the future.

The Lockheed Super Constellation and its competitor, the Douglas DC-7 , were the last four-engine piston -engined airliners for long-haul flights before the beginning of the jet age in the late 1950s. They were with turbo compound engines of the type Wright 988TC18 equipped to achieve the required engine power of more than 3,000 hp. These engines kept failing, which earned them the nickname “best three-engine in the world”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ accident report L-1049H N6923C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 26 August 2017th
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Peter W. Frey: Unglücksflug Flying Tiger 923. Dramatic aid in the middle of the Atlantic. In: NZZ . September 27, 2012, accessed June 9, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Alan S. Boyd: The Flying Tiger Line Inc., Lockheed L1049H, N 6923C, Ditching in the North Atlantic September 23, 1962. (PDF) In: Aircraft Accident Report. Civil Aeronautics Board, September 13, 1963, accessed June 9, 2014 (CAB final report).
  4. ↑ a b c d Georg Stökli: MS Celerina saves 48 survivors of an airplane disaster . (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: Strom und See. 1962, pp. 288-293 , accessed November 28, 2012 .

Coordinates: 54 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  N , 24 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  W.