Accident | |
---|---|
Date | April 1966 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site | Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan 35°32′16″N139°48′23″E / 35.5377°N 139.8065°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8-43 |
Aircraft name | Empress of Edmonton |
Operator | Canadian Pacific Air Lines |
IATA flight No. | CP402 |
ICAO flight No. | CPC402 |
Call sign | EMPRESS 402 |
Registration | CF-CPK |
Flight origin | Kai Tak International Airport, Hong Kong |
Stopover | Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan |
Destination | Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia, Canada |
Occupants | 72 |
Passengers | 62 |
Crew | 10 |
Fatalities | 64 |
Injuries | 7 |
Survivors | 8 |
On March 4, 1966, Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 (CP402) struck the approach lights and a seawall during a night landing attempt in poor visibility at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Of the 62 passengers and 10 crew, only 8 passengers survived.
The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-43, registration CF-CPK, [1] c/n 45761/237, delivered to the airline on October 14, 1965. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Conway 508-12 turbofan engines and had flown 1,792 hours by the time of the accident. [2] [3]
The captain was 57-year-old Cecil N. McNeal, who had logged 26,564 flight hours, including 4,089 hours on the Douglas DC-8. The first officer was 58-year-old Charles F. K. Mews, who had 19 789 flight hours, with 3,071 of them on the Douglas DC-8. The flight engineer was 34-year-old William J. Robertson. who had 7,992 flight hours, 3,437 of which were on the Douglas DC-8. [4]
Flight 402 was a Hong Kong to Tokyo to Vancouver flight, which took off at 16:14 Japan Time from Kai Tak International Airport on the first leg of the journey. The flight was in a holding pattern for 38 minutes, waiting for visibility at the destination to improve from landing minima. The tower controller cleared the flight for an instrument approach when visibility improved to 2,400 ft (700 m), but the crew cancelled the approach when visibility dropped again. At 19:58 local time, the pilot asked Air Traffic control for a diversion to Songshan Airport, Taiwan and commenced a climb from 3000 ft. At 20:05 while enroute to Taipei climbing through 11500 ft the pilot was advised the visibility at the airport had increased above minimums to 0.5 mi (0.80 km) with a Runway visual range of 3,000 ft (900 m). The pilot then decided to make another approach. [5]
The ground-controlled approach was normal until 1 mi (1.6 km) when the aircraft was advised that it was 20 ft (6 m) too low and advised to level off momentarily. [3] Nevertheless the aircraft continued its approach 20 ft below and in parallel with the glide slope. After the aircraft passed the precision minimum the crew requested the intensity of the runway lights be reduced. Shortly thereafter the aircraft made a sharp descent, and at 2,800 ft (850 m) from the runway threshold, the aircraft's landing gear struck sequentially eleven of the approach lights. The pilot lost control of the aircraft after it hit the seawall at the runway threshold, [5] leaving a 0.5 mi (0.80 km) trail of burning wreckage on the airfield. 64 people, including all 10 crew members, were killed.
The Japanese government-appointed investigation team concluded in their report, issued two years later, that there was no fault in the airport's control tower. [6] They stated the cause was pilot error, while acknowledging that poor visibility could have caused an optical illusion that confused the pilot. The probable cause statement was that the "Pilot misjudged landing approach under unusually difficult weather conditions." [7]
This accident was one of five fatal aircraft disasters—four commercial and one military—in Japan in 1966. Less than 24 hours later, BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707, taxied past the still smoldering wreckage of the DC-8, then broke up in flight shortly after departure when it encountered extreme clear-air turbulence in the lee of Mount Fuji while flying the opposite direction towards Hong Kong, killing all 124 passengers (several of whom had survived the crash of flight 402 [8] ) and crew. [9] This brought the total death toll from both accidents to 188 in less than 24 hours. [10]
Less than a month before, All Nippon Airways Flight 60, a Boeing 727, crashed into Tokyo Bay while on approach to land at the same airport, killing all 133 aboard. In addition, two other incidents occurred, on August 26 and November 13. The combined effect of these five accidents shook public confidence in commercial aviation in Japan, and both Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways were forced to cut back some domestic service due to reduced demand. [11]
Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian as well as international routes until it was purchased by Pacific Western Airlines and absorbed into Canadian Airlines International.
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is 7 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, California, United States. The airfield covers 948 acres (384 ha) of land and has three runways.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1997.
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel. The airline was bought by Federal Express in 1989.
Austin Airways was a passenger airline and freight carrier based in Timmins, Ontario, and one of the oldest in Canada.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Eastern Air Lines from Charlotte Municipal Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Idlewild Airport in New York City. On November 30, 1962, while attempting to abort an attempted landing at its destination, the Douglas DC-7B operating the flight crashed after it failed to gain altitude and struck the ground. 25 of the 51 occupants of the plane died in the accident. Emergency crews responded, but rescuers were delayed by the thick fog and the soft terrain. An investigation launched after the crash found that the probable cause of the accident was that the pilots had made critical mistakes during the go-around that prevented the aircraft from gaining altitude.
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.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 60 was a Boeing 727-81 aircraft making a domestic commercial flight in Japan from Sapporo Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda International Airport. On February 4, 1966, all 133 people on board died when the plane mysteriously crashed into Tokyo Bay about 10.4 km from Haneda in clear weather conditions while on a night approach. The accident was the worst involving a single aircraft in Japan and also the deadliest accident in the country until All Nippon Airways Flight 58 crashed 5 years later, killing 162 people.
On 11 February 1978, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashed at Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport, near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, killing 43 of the 49 people on board.
British United Airways Flight 1030X crashed on 14 April 1965 on Jersey in the Channel Islands. Poor visibility and low cloud cover resulted in an aborted landing attempt, leading to a second attempt which ended with the Douglas C-47B hitting the outermost pole of the approach lighting system before crashing into a field and catching fire. The crash killed all 23 passengers and three of the crew on board; a flight attendant was the only survivor of the accident.
Japan Air Lines Flight 715 was an airplane that crashed in Malaysia on 27 September 1977. It was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, registration JA8051, on a flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, to Singapore International Airport in Singapore, with stopovers at Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Malaysia. Ten crew and 69 passengers were on board. It was the second-deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Malaysia at the time.
Alaska Airlines Flight 779 was a contract cargo flight operated on 21 July 1961 by an Alaska Airlines Douglas DC-6A that crashed short of the runway at Shemya Air Force Base with the loss of all six crew members on board.
Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 was a scheduled commercial flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, with a scheduled intermediate stopover at Greater Peoria Regional Airport in Peoria, Illinois. On March 27, 1968, the Douglas DC-9-15 jetliner operating the flight, carrying 44 passengers and five crew, collided in mid-air with a single-engined Cessna 150F while both aircraft were on approach to the same runway at Lambert Field. The DC-9 landed safely with no injuries to any of its 49 occupants, while both pilots in the two-person Cessna died in the collision and subsequent ground impact.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 324 was a military charter flight from Haneda Airport to McChord Air Force Base. On the morning of January 19, 1952, the flight crashed into Hecate Strait in British Columbia, Canada, while making an emergency landing at Sandspit Airport. All three crew members and 33 of the 40 passengers were killed, making the flight the third-deadliest aviation accident in Canada at the time.
Tokyo cleared Flight 402 for another GCA approach to runway 33R. At 1 mile from touchdown the aircraft was 20 feet below the GCA glide path and was instructed to level off momentarily.
A Japanese government-appointed team investigating the cause of the crash of a Canadian Pacific Airline DC-8 jetliner at Tokyo International Airport two years ago sent a final report to the Canadian government concluding that there was no fault at the airport's control tower.
An official Japanese report said Sunday the crash of a Canadian Pacific Airline DC-8 jetliner at Tokyo International Airport two years ago today was believed to have happened because the pilot misjudged his landing approach in foggy weather.
Ironically, the doomed 707 had just taxied out for its takeoff past the wreckage of Canadian Pacific's Hong Kong-to-Tokyo flight.
Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways announced today a reduction in their flights between Tokyo and Osaka following three air crashes in the last six weeks.