![]() Forward section of the Vickers Viscount | |
Accident | |
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Date | May 20, 1958 |
Summary | Mid-air collision |
Site | 4 miles (3.5 nmi; 6.4 km) east-northeast of Brunswick, Maryland, U.S. 39°19′50″N77°32′39″W / 39.33056°N 77.54417°W |
Total fatalities | 12 |
Total injuries | 1 |
Total survivors | 1 |
First aircraft | |
![]() A Vickers Viscount similar to the one involved in the incident | |
Type | Vickers Viscount |
Operator | Capital Airlines |
Registration | N7410 |
Flight origin | Chicago (exact departure airport unknown) |
Stopover | Pittsburgh International Airport |
Destination | Martin State Airport |
Passengers | 7 |
Crew | 4 |
Survivors | 0 |
Second aircraft | |
![]() A T-33 Shooting Star similar to the one involved in the incident | |
Type | Lockheed T-33 |
Operator | USAF Maryland Air National Guard |
Registration | 53-5966 |
Crew | 2 |
Survivors | 1 |
On May 20, 1958 a Vickers Viscount airliner operating Capital Airlines Flight 300 was involved in a mid-air collision with a United States Air Force T-33 jet trainer on a proficiency flight in the skies above Brunswick, Maryland. All 11 people on board the Viscount and one of the two crew in the T-33 were killed in the accident.
Flight 300 was the second of four fatal crashes in under two years involving Capital Airlines Viscounts; the others were Flight 67 (April 1958), [1] Flight 75 (May 1959), and Flight 20 (January 1960).
An investigation of the accident concluded that the pilot in command of the T-33 failed to see and maintain a safe distance from other air traffic.
Capital Airlines Flight 300 was a regular scheduled flight from Chicago, Illinois to Baltimore, Maryland with an intermediate stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The flight from Chicago was uneventful and at 10:50 local time the airliner departed Pittsburgh bound for Baltimore. At 11:25 while cruising at 11,000 feet (3,400 m) Washington Air Traffic Control cleared Flight 300 to descend and maintain 7,000 feet (2,100 m). At 11:26 the Viscount crew reported descending through 10,000 feet (3,000 m) over Martinsburg and radar contact was made by ATC. 48 seconds later flight 300 reported leaving 9,000 feet (2,700 m) with clearance to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). This was the last radio transmission from the Viscount. [2]
The T-33 jet trainer launched from Martin State Airport at 11:07 for a VFR familiarization flight; its air speed was significantly higher as it approached the Viscount from the left and behind. The Viscount's indicated air speed was 235 knots (270 mph; 435 km/h), while the T-33's was 290 knots (330 mph; 540 km/h) with a closing rate of approximately 195 knots (224 mph; 361 km/h). While slowly climbing through 8,000 feet (2,400 m) at 85 percent engine power, the jet banked slightly to the right and impacted the left side of the airliner forward of the wing. The airliner pitched up, its air speed decreasing, then the nose dropped and the aircraft entered a steep spin to the right, slowing to a flat spin before it struck the ground. The T-33 pilot was thrown clear of the flaming jet and parachuted safely to the ground but was badly burned. The jet disintegrated after the collision and the passenger was fatally injured. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The four engine Viscount V.745 British medium-range turboprop airliner, serial number 108, first flew from Hampshire, England on 6 January, 1956. Powered by Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines turning four blade square tipped constant-speed propellers, it was delivered to Capital Airlines on 15 January, 1956 as fleet number 329. [2]
The pilot in command of Flight 300 was Captain Kendall Brady, age 38. He had a valid airman certificate and was rated to fly single/multi-engine land aircraft, as well as the Douglas DC-3, DC-4, and the Vickers Viscount. Hired by Capital Airlines on 11 June 1945, Brady's total flying hours were 12,719 with 1,432 of those in the Viscount. [2]
Paul Meyer, age 26, served as co-pilot and started flying for Capital Airlines on 25 May 1956. He was certified to operate single/multi-engine land aircraft and had an instrument rating. Meyer's total flight hours were 2,467, of which 1,596 were in the Viscount. [2]
The two-place Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star subsonic American jet trainer aircraft involved was manufacture serial number 580-9528 and registered 53-5966. It was maintained by the Maryland Air National Guard and equipped with an Allison J33-A-35 turbojet engine. [2]
The pilot and sole survivor of the accident was Captain Julius McCoy, age 34. He was rated as a military pilot 4 August 1944 and joined the Maryland Air National Guard in 1952. He had a total of 1,902 hours in single- and multi-engine and single-engine jet aircraft 210 were in the T-33. [2]
The other occupant of the aircraft was a member of the ground crew. [1]
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident and released a report on January 9, 1959. It determined that the collision happened during VFR conditions, and that both aircraft would have been in clear cloud free air nine-tenths of the time. The report noted that it is the overtaking aircraft's responsibility to see and avoid a collision. A contributing factor in the accident was that the small size of the T-33 made it difficult to pick up on radar.
The board attributed no blame to the Viscount crew and stated in conclusion that "The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the T-33 pilot to exercise a proper and adequate vigilance to see and avoid other traffic." [2] [nb 1]
The Vickers Vanguard was a short/medium-range turboprop airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1961.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974. 1974 had been deemed as “the single worst year in airline history” although this has since been surpassed.
Capital Airlines was a United States trunk carrier, a scheduled airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capital's headquarters were located at Washington National Airport across the Potomac river from Washington, D.C., where crew training and aircraft overhauls were also accomplished. In the 1950s Capital was the fifth largest United States domestic carrier by passenger count after the Big Four air carriers.
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American Airlines Flight 625, a Boeing 727-100, crashed at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on April 27, 1976, while on a domestic scheduled passenger flight originating at T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island and ending at Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, with an intermediate stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport. 37 out of the 88 passengers on board died in the accident.
Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 553 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 jet airliner, registration N1063T, operated by Trans World Airlines on March 9, 1967 between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dayton, Ohio. While descending toward Dayton about 29 miles from the airport, the flight collided in midair with a Beechcraft Baron, a small, general-aviation airplane, near Urbana, Ohio. All 25 aboard the DC-9 and the sole occupant of the Beechcraft were killed.
United Air Lines Flight 297 was a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport to Atlanta that crashed 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Baltimore on November 23, 1962, killing all 17 people on board. An investigation concluded that the aircraft, a Vickers Viscount 745D turboprop airliner, had struck at least two whistling swans, which caused severe damage to the plane, resulting in a loss of control.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 was a regularly scheduled Allegheny Airlines flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Baltimore, Maryland, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. On September 9, 1969, the aircraft serving the flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 light aircraft near Fairland, Indiana. The DC-9 was carrying 78 passengers and 4 crew members, and the Piper was leased to a student pilot on a solo cross-country flight. All 83 occupants of both aircraft were killed in the accident and both aircraft were destroyed.
Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 159 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from New York City to Los Angeles, California, with a stopover in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Kentucky, that crashed after an aborted takeoff from Cincinnati on November 6, 1967. The Boeing 707 attempted to abort takeoff when the copilot became concerned that the aircraft had collided with a disabled DC-9 on the runway. The aircraft overran the runway, struck an embankment and caught fire. One passenger died as a result of the accident.
ADC Airlines Flight 053 (ADK053) was a scheduled passenger flight operated by ADC Airlines from Nigeria's capital of Abuja to Sokoto. On 29 October 2006, the Boeing 737-2B7 crashed onto a corn field shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, killing 96 out of 105 people on board.
British United Air Ferries (BUAF) was a wholly private, British independent car and passenger ferry airline based in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. It specialised in cross-Channel ferry flights carrying cars and their owners between its numerous bases in Southern England, the Channel Islands and Continental Europe. All-passenger and all-cargo flights were operated as well. Following several identity and ownership changes, it went out of business in 2001.
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 was a regularly scheduled flight operated by American domestic airline Hughes Airwest from Los Angeles, California to Seattle, Washington, with several intermediate stops. On Sunday, June 6, 1971, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 serving as Flight 706 departed Los Angeles just after 6 p.m. en route to Seattle as a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II of the United States Marine Corps was approaching Marine Corps Air Station El Toro near Irvine at the end of a flight from Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada. The two aircraft collided in midair over the San Gabriel Mountains near Duarte, killing all 49 aboard the DC-9 and the F-4 pilot; the F-4 radar intercept officer ejected and survived.
Capital Airlines Flight 75 was a domestic scheduled Capital Airlines passenger flight between LaGuardia Airport and Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. A Vickers Viscount flying the route crashed near Chase, Maryland, on May 12, 1959, with the loss of all on board. The crash was the third of four involving a Capital Airlines Vickers Viscount in less than two years; the other three were Capital Airlines Flight 67, Capital Airlines Flight 300, and Capital Airlines Flight 20.
United Air Lines Flight 736 was a scheduled transcontinental passenger service flown daily by United Airlines between Los Angeles and New York City. On April 21, 1958, the airliner assigned to the flight, a Douglas DC-7 with 47 on board, was flying over Clark County, Nevada in clear weather when it was involved in a daytime mid-air collision with a United States Air Force fighter jet crewed by two pilots. Both aircraft fell out of control from 21,000 feet (6,400 m) and crashed into unpopulated desert terrain southwest of Las Vegas, leaving no survivors. The loss of Flight 736, one of a series of 1950s mid-air collisions involving passenger aircraft in American skies, helped usher-in widespread improvements in air traffic control within the United States, and led to a sweeping reorganization of federal government aviation authorities.
On the evening of 30 November 1961, Ansett-ANA Flight 325, a service from Sydney to Canberra, Australia, operated by a Vickers Viscount 720, broke up in mid-air and crashed shortly after takeoff, when it encountered a severe thunderstorm. All 15 people on board were killed.
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On April 8, 1954 Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 9, a Canadair C-4 North Star four-engine commercial propliner on a domestic regular scheduled flight, collided in mid air with a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Harvard Mark II single engine military trainer on a cross-country navigation exercise over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.