Eastern Air Lines Flight 663

Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 was a scheduled domestic flight from Boston, Massachusetts to Atlanta, Georgia, on the February 8, 1965 after the first interim landing shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport near the Jones Beach State Park crashed in New York. Flight 663 had planned stops in New York City, Richmond, Charlotte, and Greenville. All 79 passengers and five crew members aboard the DC-7 of the Eastern Air Lines were killed in the accident.

The investigations of the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB ) found that flight maneuvers undertaken by the crew of Flight 663 to avoid an approaching Boeing 707 of Pan Am, this resulted that the pilot was disoriented and therefore forfeited the control of the aircraft.

History of the flight

The McDonnell Douglas DC- 7, which operated Flight 663, made its first flight in 1958 and had completed 18,500 flight hours by the date of the crash. She was flown by Captain Frederick R. Carson, 41. He was employed 19 years at Eastern Air Lines and had accumulated a flying experience of 12,607 flight hours. Co-pilot, the 41 -year-old Edward R. Dunn with 8550 flight hours, flew for the airline for nine years. The flight engineer was the 24 -year-old Douglas C. Mitchell. He had flown 141 hours as a pilot and as a flight engineer 407 hours. All three had passed the necessary flight tests for the DC -7B. The two flight attendants on board were Linda Lord and Judith Durkin.

The flight from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City was uneventful. Flight 663 began at Kennedy Airport at 18:20 EDT clock under instrument flight rules (IFR ) in the direction of Byrd Field (now the Richmond International Airport ) in Richmond, Virginia. The start was normal, with the air traffic controllers of the control tower were preparing the handover of Flight 663 at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center ( ARTCC ) on Long Iceland and reported to air traffic control indicated that Flight 663, a Dutch Seven Departure conducted. It was a departure procedure, which provided a series of curves over the Atlantic Ocean, to avoid flying over New York City. The New York ARTCC replied with the information that Flight 212 Pan American World Airways, an incoming Boeing 707, was in the same airspace in the descent to 4000 feet.

While were on the tower that Flight 663 was flying at a higher altitude as Flight 212 actually flew 663 but lower. The control tower radioed below to Pan Am 212 that in their airspace another aircraft at " 11 clock " - that is in line with a dial ahead slightly to the left - moving, six nautical miles southeast of the Pan Am, was in a climb of 3,000 feet. Pan Am 212 confirmed this. The air traffic control then radioed to Flight 663, a similar message, Flight 212 was to "2 Clock ", five miles away, but was actually below 663 Pan Am Flight 212 but above FL 663, the descent of 5000 feet. The captain Carson confirmed that he saw the other aircraft and that he began to turn in the departure route D7 and told off.

Flight 663 radioed at 18:25 clock "good night ". This radio message was the last transmission of the crashed aircraft.

Crash

The night of February 8 was dark because there were no visible stars or moonlight, and the horizon was not visible. As the two aircraft approaching similar positions whose pilots had no reference points to determine the actual distance or position. The flight 663 after the start -to-fly curve and the subsequent shift to the left of the Pan-Am machine to the specified price, the two pilots had led to the illusion that the two planes were on a direct collision course. The Boeing rolled to the right and initiated a descent, in order to avoid a collision. Eastern 663 began with an extreme right turn to her pass the other aircraft safely. The captain of Pan American Flight 212 later estimated that the two aircraft at a distance of 200 to 500 feet ( 60 to 150 meters) passed each other, the first officer appreciates the removal of only 200 to 300 feet ( 60 to 90 meters ).

Flight 663 could not be brought under control and plunged into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean where the plane exploded on impact after the unusual flight maneuvers. The Boeing 707 of Pan American reported the crash first. Air Canada Flight 627, which took off a few minutes before Flight 663, the reporting of an explosion at sea level was also continued.

Uh ... we turn now to ... um ... three six zero and ... uh ... they had a different goal in the area where we were just a minute ago?

After the explosion, the aircraft sank to the bottom of the 22 -meter-deep water. Several aircrews, including Pan Am Flight 212, Air Canada Flight 627 and Braniff Airlines Flight 5 gave over the radio on the news of an explosion at the air traffic control. The plane broke in half as it strikes the water and was destroyed.

All persons on board - the five crew members and 79 passengers who - were killed on impact with the water.

Consequences and investigation

Fifteen ships, eleven helicopters and numerous lifeguards went in the hope of being able to help survivors of the crash site. Two hours after the crash debris began at the site rise to the surface. Until dawn seven bodies have been recovered, and three more were discovered during the following three days.

The Navy sonar instruments made ​​available to facilitate the search for the wreck. More thirteen ships of the United States Coast Guard searched the shore of Long Iceland, volunteers gathered on a 65 km long stretch of coastline debris, which were washed ashore.

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB ) has investigated the accident. For the DC-7, there was no obligation for fitting with a flight data recorder that would automatically record all flight maneuvers the pilot. Therefore, the CAB was instructed in its investigations on witness statements and records of radio communications and assessed the causes based on experience. The CAB found that the evasive maneuver that has taken flight 663 the pilot to avoid the oncoming aircraft of Pan, has caused a loss of spatial orientation. This disorientation and extreme evasive action made ​​it impossible for the pilot to intercept the roles of the aircraft in the few seconds that were left before it hits the water surface. The CAB also noted that captain Carson neither time nor had sufficient information to fairly judge the position of Flight 663 to Pan Am 212 and that the pilot acted correctly under the given illusion of a collision course, as he has started evasive maneuvers. Initial news reports indicated that the near collision of flights has 663 and 212 caused the accident, but the FAA rejected this ground back to the fact that there has been no risk of collision in the air. The CAB made ​​no recommendations in its final report.

At the time of the crash of Flight 663 is the fifth heaviest airplane accident in the United States ( now in 25th place). The accident is still the third- worst accident involving a DC-7 (after Caledonian Airways Flight 153 and Northwest Orient Airlines flight ).

Documents

• Aircraft Accident
• Traffic accident in 1965
• Traffic (New York)