![]() A DC-3 similar to the accident aircraft | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 3 July 1963 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site | Near Mount Ngatamahinerua, Kaimai Ranges, New Zealand |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3C (C-47B-15-DK) |
Aircraft name | Hastings |
Operator | National Airways Corporation |
Registration | ZK-AYZ |
Flight origin | Auckland Whenuapai Airport |
Destination | Tauranga Airport |
Passengers | 20 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 23 |
Survivors | 0 |
New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 (NZ441) was a scheduled flight of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation from Whenuapai, Auckland to Tauranga. On 3 July 1963 at approximately 9:09 am NZST, the flight, a Douglas DC-3 Skyliner, flew into a vertical rock face in the Kaimai Ranges near Mount Ngatamahinerua, at an altitude of 2460 feet (750 m). [1] Twenty-three people were on board. Twenty-two were killed instantly; there is evidence that one person survived the impact but died shortly afterward. Three extra passengers were supposed to be on the flight, but changed their plans at the last minute. [2]
According to Civil Aviation Authority investigators, a downdraft carried the aircraft below the level of the crests of the range, where under the very poor weather conditions prevailing at the time, the aircraft encountered an area of extreme turbulence from which it was impossible for the crew to recover altitude. On the day of the crash, another plane was caught in strong downdrafts in the Kaimai Ranges but managed to recover.
Furthermore, the crew was probably unaware of the true position of the aircraft and initiated a premature descent. However, it must be appreciated that the crew decided to descend only to the level officially designated as the minimum safe altitude in the area of the descent.
Following this accident, the Civil Aviation Authority made the decision to classify the Kaimai Ranges as mountainous terrain, which raised the minimum safe altitude for the area by 1000 feet (305 m).
Due to the remoteness of the crash, the wreckage was not recovered but secured on site by the New Zealand Army in 1964. This is similar to New Zealand's other major air disaster, Air New Zealand Flight 901, which remains on the slopes of Mount Erebus in Antarctica where it crashed.
In June 2023, however, the engine and one rear tyre were recovered. [3] In July 2023, the recovered wreckage was included in a display at Classic Flyers Museum near Tauranga Airport, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the crash. [3]
The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977. This flight left Auckland Airport in the morning and was supposed to spend a few hours flying over the Antarctic continent, before returning to Auckland in the evening via Christchurch.
New Zealand National Airways Corporation, popularly known as NAC, established by the New Zealand National Airways Act, 1945, was the national domestic airline of New Zealand until 1978 when it amalgamated with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand. The airline was headquartered in Wellington.
Kam Air Flight 904 was a scheduled passenger domestic flight from Herat Airfield in Herat to Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul. On 3 February 2005 the aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain killing all 97 passengers and 8 crew on board.
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.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268 was an Airbus A300, registration AP-BCP, which crashed while approaching Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport on 28 September 1992. All 167 people on board were killed. Flight 268 is the worst crash of Pakistan International Airlines, and the worst ever to occur in Nepal.
BOAC Flight 911 was a round-the-world flight operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) that crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan on 5 March 1966, with the loss of all 113 passengers and 11 crew members. The Boeing 707 jetliner involved disintegrated mid-air shortly after departing from Tokyo, as a result of severe clear-air turbulence.
The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred in the western United States on June 30, 1956, when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The first plane fell into the canyon while the other slammed into a rock face. All 128 on board both airplanes perished, making it the first commercial airline incident to exceed one hundred fatalities. The airplanes had departed Los Angeles International Airport minutes apart from each other and headed for Chicago and Kansas City, respectively. The collision took place in uncontrolled airspace, where it was the pilots' responsibility to maintain separation. This highlighted the antiquated state of air traffic control, which became the focus of major aviation reforms.
XL Airways Germany Flight 888T (GXL888T) was an acceptance flight for an Airbus A320 on 27 November 2008. The aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km off Canet-en-Roussillon on the French coast, close to the Spanish border, killing all seven people on board. The subsequent investigation attributed the accident to incorrect maintenance procedures that allowed water to enter and freeze in the angle-of-attack sensors during flight, rendering them inoperative, combined with the crew's attempt to perform a test at a dangerously low altitude.
Iberia Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid to Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. On 19 February 1985, a Boeing 727-200 operating the flight crashed into a ravine after one of its wings sliced a television antenna on the summit of Mount Oiz in Biscay during an approach to Bilbao Airport. All 141 passengers and 7 crew on board died. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in both the Basque Country and Iberia history.
On August 3, 1975, Royal Jordanian chartered a Boeing 707 passenger flight from Le Bourget Airport in Paris to Inezgane Airport in Agadir which crashed into a mountain on approach to Agadir Inezgane Airport, Morocco. All 188 passengers and crew on board were killed. It is the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Boeing 707, as well as the deadliest in Morocco.
Martinair Flight 138 was a charter flight of Martinair from Surabaya to Jeddah with stopover in Colombo. On 4 December 1974, the Douglas DC-8 operating the flight crashed into a mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 passengers, all of whom were Indonesian Hajj pilgrims, and nine crew members. The crash remains the deadliest in Sri Lankan aviation history and the third-deadliest involving a DC-8, after Arrow Air Flight 1285R and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120. At the time of the crash, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident in history, after the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 which occurred earlier that same year.
Thai Airways International Flight 601 was a Sud Aviation Caravelle that crashed into the sea on landing at the former Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, in a typhoon on Friday, 30 June 1967.
On 4 April 2011, Georgian Airways Flight 834, a Bombardier CRJ100 passenger jet of Georgian Airways operating a domestic flight from Kisangani to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) crashed while attempting to land at Kinshasa Airport. The aircraft, which was chartered by the United Nations, was trying to land during a thunderstorm. Of the 33 people on board, only one person survived. The incident remains as the United Nations' deadliest aviation disaster. It is also the third-deadliest air disaster involving the CRJ100/200, behind Comair Flight 5191 and China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210.
Olympic Airways Flight 954 was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft that crashed into a mountain near Keratea, Greece, on December 8, 1969. All 85 passengers and 5 crew on board died in the crash.
Bhoja Air Flight 213 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by Pakistani airline Bhoja Air from Karachi to Islamabad. On 20 April 2012, the Boeing 737-236A aircraft serving the route crashed in bad weather during its final approach to land. All 121 passengers and 6 crew members aboard were killed. With 127 deaths, it remains as the second deadliest air disaster in Pakistan.
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601 (MNA5601/MZ5601) was a domestic scheduled passenger flight, that departed Achmad Yani International Airport, Semarang, Indonesia bound for Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung, Indonesia. On 18 October 1992, the two-year-old CASA/IPTN CN-235-10 was on approach to Bandung when it crashed into Mount Puntang, near Mount Papandayan, West Java, Indonesia at 1:30 pm in bad weather. The aircraft exploded on impact killing all twenty seven passengers and four crew on board.
Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 410 was a scheduled flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Norfolk, Virginia, with intermediate stops in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. On June 13, 1947, the aircraft serving the flight, a Douglas DC-4, crashed into Lookout Rock in the West Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, while en route to Washington. All 50 passengers and crew on board were killed in what was at the time the second-worst airplane accident in the history of U.S. domestic air travel.
TransAsia Airways Flight 222 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TransAsia Airways from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Magong, Penghu Island. On 23 July 2014, the ATR 72-500 twin turboprop operating the route crashed into buildings during approach to land in bad weather at Magong Airport. Among the 58 people on board, only 10 survived.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 was a scheduled Iranian domestic passenger flight from Iranian capital Tehran Mehrabad International Airport to Yasuj in southwest Iran. On 18 February 2018, during its approach to Yasuj, the aircraft serving the flight, an ATR 72-212 operated by Iran Aseman Airlines, crashed into Mount Dena in the Zagros Mountains near Noqol village in Semirom county, Isfahan Province. All 66 people on board, including 60 passengers and 6 crew members, were killed.