The list of incidents involving the Douglas DC-7 shows an overview of incidents resulting in the death or total loss of Douglas DC-7 aircraft .
Between the first flight in 1953 and the end of operations in 2010, a total of 74 DC-7s were destroyed or irreparably damaged. 726 people died in 28 of the total losses. Extracts:
On March 25, 1958, a Braniff Airlines DC-7C (N5904) crashed after taking off from Miami , Florida because an engine caught fire. The attempt to return to the airport failed. Of the 24 inmates, 9 died.
On May 18, 1958, the flight crew of a DC-7C of the Belgian Sabena (OO-SFA) reported an engine failure on the flight from Lisbon to Leopoldville . The pilots decided to land at Casablanca-Anfa Airport , Morocco . There, the crew initiated a go- around maneuver , during which the machine collided with a building and then fell into a hangar . Of the 65 inmates, 61 were killed.
On September 24, 1959, a DC-7C of Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) (F-BIAP) collided with treetops near Bordeaux airport on the flight to Bamako about 500 meters behind the end of the runway and crashed. The start took place at the power limit of the DC-7. There were 54 fatalities among the 65 inmates.
On February 26, 1960, an Alitalia DC-7C ( I-DUVO ) crashed on the way from Rome via Shannon to New York-Idlewild shortly after taking off from Shannon for unknown reasons. Of the 52 people on board, 34 died.
On 18 February 1961, a DC-7CF collided (N745PA) of the Pan Am landing at the airport Stuttgart with a pile of dirt in front of and next to the runway. The pilots of the cargo plane coming from Frankfurt continued the approach in thick fog with a visibility of 100 meters and a cloud height of 30 meters, even below the decision height of 200 feet, although the instrument landing system did not function reliably and four of five elements of the approach lighting were out of order . When it collided with the mound of earth, the landing gear and engine No. 3 (inside right) were torn off. Nevertheless, it was possible the pilot durchzustarten and at the Nuremberg airport a belly landing on a foam carpet perform. The three-man crew remained uninjured, but the aircraft was irreparably damaged.
On October 14, 1961, a Panair do Brasil (PP-PDL) DC-7C lost hydraulic fluid on the way from Manaus . During the emergency landing at Belem Airport , the machine got off the runway when using reverse thrust ; the landing gear collapsed when crossing a ditch. All occupants survived the total loss of the aircraft.
On November 1, 1961, a Panair do Brasil DC-7C (PP-PDO) was flown into an 84 meter high hill on its way from Sal Airport ( Cape Verde ). The aircraft, which first started in Lisbon , was on its final night approach to Recife Airport when it flew 2.7 kilometers from the runway into the area. Of the 88 inmates, 45 were killed.
On March 4, 1962, a Caledonian Airways (G-ARUD) DC-7C barely gained any altitude after taking off from Douala Airport ( Cameroon ). The machine brushed several trees two kilometers past the end of the runway, hit a swamp, and burned out. All 111 occupants were killed in the accident (10 crew members and 101 passengers). This was the most fatal accident in the history of the DC-7. The crash was probably caused by an elevator blocked due to a mechanical defect .
On November 30, 1962, a DC-7B touched the Eastern Air Lines (N815D) in the go-around in the fog on the New York-Idlewild with the two propellers left the floor in the airport area. The machine from Charlotte (North Carolina) had drifted to the left while going around and finally fell to the ground. The go-around procedure was not carried out correctly and quickly enough during the necessary rapid transition from visual flight back to instrument flight, so that the machine did not climb. Of the 51 inmates, 25 were killed.
On April 8, 1963, the nose landing gear of a Panair do Brasil (PP-PDM) DC-7C collapsed during a training flight at Rio de Janeiro-Galeão airport . The two inner engines (number 2 and 3) were torn off, damaged the fuel tanks and started a fire. The seven crew members survived the total loss of the aircraft.
Also on February 8, 1965, a Scandinavian Airlines DC-7C crashed while taking off for a flight to Copenhagen at Tenerife-Los Rodeos Airport . After taking off, the machine sank back onto the runway because the landing gear was retracted too early. The aircraft caught fire and was destroyed, but all 84 passengers and 7 crew members were able to leave the aircraft beforehand.
On June 5, 1967, the only two DC-7s operated by Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines (JY-ACP and JY-ACO) were attacked in connection with the shelling of West Jerusalem by Jordan during the Six Day War at Beirut airport and then Damascus airport Destroyed soil. People were not harmed.
On the night of December 28-29, 1968, Israeli commandos landed at Beirut airport and blew up 14 planes from various, mostly Lebanese, airlines in retaliation for a Palestinian attack on an Israeli plane on December 26, 1968 in Athens. These included two Douglas DC-7s (OD-AEI and OD-AEK) from Lebanese International Airways , which also lost the majority of its fleet with two Convair CV-990s and had to cease operations the following January.
On June 5, 1969, a DC-7B (SE-ERP) chartered by the Swedish Red Cross near Eket, Nigeria , was shot down by a Nigerian MiG-17 . The DC-7 was serving as part of famine relief during the Biafra War on the way to the Uli jungle slope to fly relief supplies there. The four-man crew was killed.
On October 2, 1970, a Douglas DC-7C Spantax (EC-ATQ) was irreparably damaged at Madrid-Barajas Airport . People were not harmed; other details are not known.
On September 14, 1979, a DC-7 of the Butler Aircraft Company (N4SW) was flown into Surveyor Mountain on the only 85 km long flight from Klamath Falls ( Oregon ) to Medford (Oregon) seven minutes after take-off . All 12 occupants (both pilots and the 10 passengers) were killed.
