Delta Air Lines Flight 705

Last updated

Delta Air Lines Flight 705
Douglas DC-4, Delta Air Lines JP7774318.jpg
Accident
Date10 March 1948
Site Chicago, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas DC-4
Operator Delta Air Lines
Flight origin Chicago Municipal Airport, United States
Destination Miami International Airport, United States
Passengers9
Crew4
Fatalities12
Survivors1

Delta Air Lines Flight 705 (flight number: DL705, radio call sign: DELTA 705) was a regularly scheduled Delta Air Lines domestic flight from Chicago Municipal Airport, to Miami International Airport.

Contents

On 10 March 1948, a Douglas DC-4 crashed while taking off from Chicago Municipal Airport. The accident, occurring during the initial climb, killed 12 of the 13 people on board. The accident happened due to a loss of longitudinal controllability but the cause of the loss of control is unknown.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Douglas DC-4 with the serial number 18390, built during the Second World War as a military version C-54B-15-DO at the Douglas Aircraft Company factory in Santa Monica, California, with military aircraft registration number 43-17190. After its final assembly in 1944 she was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). After its military service ended, the aircraft was converted into a civilian DC-4 and registered for Delta Air Lines on 29 April 1946 with aircraft registration number NC37478. The aircraft was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney R-2000-2SD-13G Twin Wasp radial engines. At the time of the accident, the machine had flown for 6,509 hours. [1]

Crew

There were nine passengers and four crew members on board. The captain was the 36-year-old Grover L. Holloway who was with Delta Air Lines since 1939. He had 9,830 hours of flying hours, including 1,611 hours on a Douglas DC-4 aircraft. The first officer was the 26-year-old John S. Disosway who was with Delta Air Lines since 1946 after gaining extensive experience as a pilot in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). He had 2,976 hours of flying experience, including 1,366 hours on the Douglas DC-4. The cabin crew consisted of purser Marvin Glenn Hairston and stewardess Sue Lou Young. [2]

Accident

On 10 March 1940 the plane initially flew from Miami International Airport to Chicago Municipal Airport where it landed at 9:06 pm. For the return flight, the plane departed from the gate at 10:45 p.m. and took off from the right southbound runway was at 10:57 p.m. At the time of the takeoff it was snowing. [3] The takeoff appeared to be normal until an altitude of 150-200 feet was reached. The aircraft took on an increasingly steep pitch angle until it rose almost vertically. At an altitude of 500-800 feet, a stall occurred and the aircraft fell nose-first and over the right wing towards the ground. A partial recovery from the stall was made before the aircraft crashed to the ground and burst into flames. As a result of the accident, the aircraft caught fire. [4] After an hour the fire was still not extinguished and burned down. [5] [6] The four crew members and eight of the nine passengers died. Only 33-year-old Tripolina Partapillo Meo was seriously injured, but survived. She lost her son Alfred (born in 1939) in the accident. [7]

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the Civil Aeronautics Board. Over a year after the accident, on 13 June 1949 they published their report. The investigators were able to determine the cause of the accident being as a loss of longitudinal controllability of the aircraft. However, they were unable to determine the cause of the loss of control. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memphis International Airport</span> Airport serving Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and a "Superhub" of FedEx Express.

Memphis International Airport is a civil-military airport located seven miles (11 km) southeast of Downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is the primary international airport serving Memphis. It covers 3,900 acres (1,600 ha) and has four runways.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas DC-7</span> US airliner with 4 piston engines, 1953

The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner—the de Havilland Comet—entered service and only a few years before the jet-powered Douglas DC-8 first flew in 1958. Unlike other aircraft in Douglas's line of propeller-driven aircraft, no examples remain in service in the present day, as compared to the far more successful DC-3 and DC-6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Airlines Flight 255</span> 1987 plane crash of an MD-82 in Detroit, Michigan

On August 16, 1987 a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm EDT, resulting in the deaths of all six crew members and 148 of the 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl who sustained serious injuries. It was the second-deadliest aviation accident at the time in the United States. It is also the deadliest aviation accident to have a sole survivor, the deadliest plane crash in the history of the state of Michigan, and the worst crash in the history of Northwest Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continental Airlines Flight 1713</span> 1987 aviation accident

Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was a commercial airline flight that crashed while taking off in a snowstorm from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, on November 15, 1987. The Douglas DC-9 airliner, operated by Continental Airlines, was making a scheduled flight to Boise, Idaho. Twenty-five passengers and three crew members died in the crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDonnell Douglas DC-9</span> Jet airliner, produced 1965-1982

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell Aircraft to become McDonnell Douglas. Following the introduction of its first jetliner, the high-capacity DC-8, in 1959, Douglas was interested in producing an aircraft suited to smaller routes. As early as 1958, design studies were conducted; approval for the DC-9, a smaller all-new jetliner, came on April 8, 1963. The DC-9-10 first flew on February 25, 1965, and gained its type certificate on November 23, to enter service with Delta Air Lines on December 8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martinair Flight 495</span> 1992 aviation accident

Martinair Flight 495 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operated by Dutch airline Martinair, that crash-landed in severe weather conditions at Faro Airport, Portugal on 21 December 1992. The aircraft carried 13 crew members and 327 passengers, mainly holidaymakers from the Netherlands. 54 passengers and 2 crew members died. 106 of the other occupants were badly injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas DC-2</span> Two engined airliner

The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which became one of the most successful aircraft in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 Chicago–O'Hare runway collision</span> 1972 aviation accident

On December 20, 1972, North Central Airlines Flight 575 and Delta Air Lines Flight 954 collided on a runway at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Ten people died – all on the North Central aircraft – and 17 were injured in the accident. This was the second major airliner accident to happen in Chicago in December 1972; the other was United Airlines Flight 553, which crashed twelve days earlier on approach to Midway Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 9877</span> 1967 aviation accident

Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 was a crew training flight operated on a Douglas DC-8. On March 30, 1967, it lost control and crashed into a residential area during a simulated engine-out approach to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 318</span> 1953 aviation accident

The crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 318 was an accident involving a Douglas DC-3 of the American airline Delta Air Lines 13 miles (21 km) east of Marshall, Texas, United States on May 17, 1953, killing all but one of the 20 people on board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 Cairo TAI Douglas DC-6 crash</span> 1956 aviation accident

The Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux Douglas DC-6B scheduled flight from Saigon, Vietnam to Paris, France crashed on 20 February 1956 before its third stopover 25 km North-East of Cairo International Airport due to crew error and possible fatigue. 52 people on board were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linee Aeree Italiane Flight 451 (1956)</span> 1956 aviation accident

On 24 November 1956 the Linee Aeree Italiane Douglas DC-6B "I-LEAD" was an international scheduled passenger flight from Rome via Paris and Shannon to New York. Shortly after take off from Paris Orly Airport the airplane lost altitude and crashed into houses in the commune Paray-Vieille-Poste. 34 of the 36 people on board were killed, including Italian orchestral conductor Guido Cantelli.

On 5 February 1960, a Douglas DC-4 passenger aircraft of Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano on a domestic flight from Cochabamba to La Paz, Bolivia, crashed shortly after take-off. All 59 people on board were killed.

References

  1. 1 2 Crash of a Douglas DC-4 in Chicago: 12 killed, Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives
  2. 1 2 Accident investigation report, Civil Aeronautics Board, 13 June 1949
  3. "Skymaster in de V.S. neergestort | Dertien inzittenden gedood". Algemeen Handelsblad (in Dutch). 11 March 1948 via Delpher.
  4. "Vliegramp bij Chicago". Nieuwe Apeldoornsche courant (in Dutch). 11 March 1948 via Delpher.
  5. "Vliegramp bij Chicago". Tubantia (in Dutch). 11 March 1948 via Delpher.
  6. 12 are dead due to crash of a big plane, Mardera Tribune , LVI (10), 11 March 1948
  7. "Vliegramp bij Chicago | Dertien doden". Provinciale Drentsche en Asser courant (in Dutch). 12 March 1948 via Delpher.