National Airlines Flight 470

Last updated

National Airlines Flight 470
DC-6NationalMay52 (4479496227).jpg
National DC-6 similar to the one involved
Accident
DateFebruary 14, 1953 (1953-02-14)
SummaryTurbulence, in-flight breakup
Site Gulf of Mexico, off Fort Morgan, Alabama
30°10′25″N87°57′10″W / 30.17361°N 87.95278°W / 30.17361; -87.95278
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas DC-6
Operator National Airlines
Registration N90893
Flight origin Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida
Stopover Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida
Destination Moisant Field, New Orleans, Louisiana
Occupants46
Passengers41
Crew5
Fatalities46
Survivors0

National Airlines Flight 470 was a regularly scheduled flight between Tampa and New Orleans that crashed on February 14, 1953 after encountering severe turbulence. The crash marked the deadliest accident in the history of National Airlines, killing 46 (5 crew and 41 passengers), among them the widow of the cartoonist Billy DeBeck: Mary Bergman.

Contents

Events

The Douglas DC-6, registered N90893, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 20 mi (32 km) off Mobile Point en route to New Orleans. [1] The USCGC Blackthorn assisted in search and recovery operations. [2] [3] [4] [5] National Airlines did not maintain its own meteorology department, as was standard among airlines at the time, and its pilots were not informed of the strength of the storm into which they were flying. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation accidents and incidents</span> Aviation occurrence involving serious injury, death, or destruction of aircraft

An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, and in which (a) a person is fatally or seriously injured, (b) the aircraft sustains significant damage or structural failure, or (c) the aircraft goes missing or becomes completely inaccessible. Annex 13 defines an aviation incident as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport</span> Louisiana airport

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is an international airport under Class B airspace in Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is owned by the city of New Orleans and is 11 miles (18 km) west of downtown New Orleans. A small portion of Runway 11/29 is in unincorporated St. Charles Parish. Armstrong International is the primary commercial airport for the New Orleans metropolitan area and southeast Louisiana.

<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.

Texas International Airlines Inc. was an airline in the United States, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines. It was headquartered near William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1949:

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1953:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Airlines (United States)</span> Defunct air carrier

Capital Airlines was an 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 New York mid-air collision</span> 1960 aviation disaster in New York City

On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. The Constellation crashed on Miller Field in Staten Island and the DC-8 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground. The accident was the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time, and remains the deadliest accident in the history of United Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeronica</span> Defunct Nicaraguan airline

Aerolíneas Nicaragüenses S.A., operating as Aeronica, was an airline based in Nicaragua. Headquartered in the capital Managua, it operated scheduled passenger flights within Central America, as well as to Mexico City and the United States from its hub at the city's Augusto C. Sandino International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Air Lines Flight 409</span> 1955 aviation accident

United Air Lines Flight 409 was a scheduled flight which originated in New York City, New York. The final flight destination was San Francisco, California, with stops in Chicago, Denver and Salt Lake City. The aircraft operating the service, a Douglas DC-4 propliner, registration N30062, crashed into Medicine Bow Peak, near Laramie, Wyoming, on October 6, 1955, killing all 66 people on board. The victims included five female members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and military personnel. At the time, this was the deadliest airline crash in the history of American commercial aviation. Another 66 lives had been lost earlier that year in the March 22 crash in Hawaii of a United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster military transport aircraft, and 66 had also died in the mid-air collision of two United States Air Force C-119G Flying Boxcars over West Germany on August 11, placing the three crashes in a three-way tie as the deadliest aviation incidents in 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Airlines Flight 967</span> 1959 aviation accident

National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 16, 1959. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident.

National Airlines was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 to 1980, when it merged with Pan Am. For most of its existence the company was headquartered at Miami International Airport, Florida. At its height, National Airlines had a network of "Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast" flights, linking Florida and Gulf Coast destinations such as New Orleans and Houston with cities along the East Coast as far north as Boston as well as with large cities on the West Coast including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. From 1970 to 1978, National, Braniff International Airways, Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines (TWA) were the only U.S. airlines permitted to operate scheduled passenger flights to Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Air Lines Flight 304</span> 1964 aviation accident

Eastern Air Lines Flight 304, a Douglas DC-8 flying from New Orleans International Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport, crashed on February 25, 1964. All 51 passengers and 7 crew were killed. Among the dead were American singer and actor Kenneth Spencer and Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, a women's and human rights activist and member of the French delegation to the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 2</span> 1944 crash in Mississippi River with no survivors

American Airlines Flight 2 was a Douglas DC-3 that crashed into the Mississippi River on February 10, 1944. All twenty-four passengers and crew were killed. The ultimate cause of the crash remains a mystery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216</span> 1999 aviation accident

Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that overran the runway at La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, on 21 December 1999. 36 passengers and five crew members on board were killed as well as seven people on the ground.

References

  1. "15 Bodies Found After DC6 Plunges Into Gulf Waters". AP. February 16, 1953.
  2. "Civil Aeronautics Board Investigation of Aircraft Accident: NATIONAL AIRLINES: IN GULF OF MEXICO: 1953-02-14". rosap.ntl.bts.gov. Archived from the original on April 24, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  3. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-6 N90893 Mobile Point, AL, USA [Gulf of Mexico]". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  4. "Plane With 45 Aboard Lost". AP. February 14, 1953.
  5. "Lightning May Have Caused DC6 Crash". Big Spring, TX. The Big Spring Daily Herald. February 15, 1953.
  6. "Stiles v. National Airlines". LEAGLE. Retrieved September 22, 2014.