This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2024) |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | November 20, 1967 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error [1] |
Site | Constance, Kentucky 39°5′3.73″N84°40′11.99″W / 39.0843694°N 84.6699972°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Convair 880 |
Operator | Trans World Airlines |
Registration | N821TW |
Flight origin | Los Angeles International Airport |
1st stopover | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport |
2nd stopover | Pittsburgh International Airport |
Destination | Logan International Airport |
Occupants | 82 |
Passengers | 75 |
Crew | 7 |
Fatalities | 70 |
Injuries | 12 |
Survivors | 12 |
TWA Flight 128 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines passenger flight from Los Angeles to Boston, with intermediate stops in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. On November 20, 1967, Flight 128 crashed on final approach to Greater Cincinnati Airport; 70 of the 82 people aboard the Convair 880 were killed in the crash. [1] : 1
On November 20, 1967, TWA Flight 128 was operated using a Convair 880 narrow-body jet airliner (registration number N821TW). [1] : 1 The Convair was manufactured in December 1960 and placed in service by TWA in January 1961. It had accumulated a total of 18,850 hours of operating time prior to the accident flight. While various maintenance writeups had occurred and been cleared in accordance with existing maintenance procedures, in no case were both the captain's and first officer's altimeters reported malfunctioning at the same time. [1] : (Appendix B)
The flight's captain, 45-year-old Charles L. Cochran, had accumulated 12,895 hours of flight time, including 1,390 hours in the Convair 880. The first officer, 33-year-old Robert P. Moyers, had approximately 2,647 hours of flight time, including 447 in the Convair 880. The flight engineer, 29-year-old Jerry L. Roades, had 3,479 hours of piloting experience, none of which were in the Convair 880, but had 288 hours of experience as a flight engineer in the 880. The flight also had four flight attendants on board. [1] : (Appendix A)
Flight 128 departed Los Angeles at 17:37 Eastern Standard Time [lower-alpha 1] and operated to Cincinnati without incident. [1] : 2–4 The flight was initially scheduled to make an Instrument Landing System approach to Greater Cincinnati Airport's runway 18 (now runway 18C). The outer marker beacon for runway 18 was operational, but the middle marker beacon, glide slope, and runway approach lights were inoperative. [1] : 9 Under these conditions, proper procedure would be to maintain the minimum approach altitude of 1,290 feet (390 m) above mean sea level until the pilots made visual contact with the runway. [1] : 9–10
At 20:56, Flight 128 reported passing the outer marker, and was cleared to land. [1] : 2 The flight crew then initiated their descent and began performing their final landing checklist. [1] : 2 While on final approach, the aircraft descended to an elevation of 875 feet (267 m), where it first struck trees in a spot 9,357 feet (2,852 m) short of runway 18 and 429 feet (131 m) right of the runway's extended centerline. [1] : 2 The first impact was described by a survivor as like a hard landing; this was followed by a series of hard bumps and the airplane's final impact. [1] : 2 The aircraft's final position was in a wooded area 6,878 feet (2,096 m) short of the runway, where it disintegrated and was enveloped in flames. [1] : 2
Of the 82 people on board the aircraft, 60 were killed immediately, and another 10 died in the days following the crash. [1] : 16 Twelve people (two crew members and 10 passengers) survived with injuries. [1] : 3 One of the surviving passengers reported that the plane broke apart in front of him, he stepped out and ran from the wreckage shortly before it exploded. [2]
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident. [1] : 1 NTSB investigators determined the likely cause of the accident to be crew error, in attempting a visual no-glide-slope approach at night during deteriorating weather conditions, without an adequate altimeter cross-reference. [1] : 38
The governor of Ohio, Jim Rhodes, requested runway 18 be closed. After the runway reopened, high intensity lights were installed on the hillside along with glide-slope equipment beacons on recommendation of the National Transportation Safety Board. [3]
The Convair 880 is a retired American narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When it was first introduced, some in aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph (990 km/h), it was the fastest jet transport in the world. Only 65 Convair 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market after considering the 880 project a failure. The Convair 990 Coronado was a stretched and faster variant of the 880.
United Airlines Flight 585 was a scheduled passenger flight on March 3, 1991, from Denver to Colorado Springs, Colorado, carrying 20 passengers and 5 crew members on board. The plane experienced a rudder hardover while on final approach to runway 35 at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, causing the plane to roll over and enter an uncontrolled dive. All 25 people on board the Boeing 737 were killed on impact.
United Airlines Flight 227 (N7030U), a scheduled passenger flight from LaGuardia Airport New York City to San Francisco International Airport, California, crashed short of the runway while attempting a scheduled landing at Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah, on Thursday, November 11, 1965.
American Airlines Flight 383 was a nonstop flight from New York City to Cincinnati on November 8, 1965. The aircraft was a Boeing 727, with 57 passengers, and 5 crew on board. The aircraft crashed on final approach to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport located in Hebron, Kentucky, United States. Only three passengers and one flight attendant survived the accident.
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.
Mohawk Airlines Flight 411, a Fairchild FH-227B twin-engine turboprop, registered N7811M, was a scheduled domestic passenger service operated by Mohawk Airlines, between Albany and Glens Falls, New York. On November 19, 1969, it crashed into Pilot Knob Mountain, killing all 14 passengers and crew on board.
National Airlines Flight 193, registration N4744, Donna, was a Boeing 727-235 en route from Miami, Florida to Pensacola on May 8, 1978. It was scheduled with stops at Melbourne, Florida; Tampa; New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama. The accident occurred at night in low visibility from fog. During the descent into Pensacola Regional Airport it impacted Escambia Bay, sinking in 12 feet (3.7 m) of water.
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 was a scheduled flight from Logan International Airport to Bangor International Airport in the United States on August 25, 1985. On final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport, the Bar Harbor Airlines Beechcraft Model 99 crashed short of the runway, killing all six passengers and two crew on board. Among the passengers was Samantha Smith, a 13-year-old American schoolgirl who had become famous as a goodwill ambassador to the Soviet Union and had been cast on the television show Lime Street.
Japan Air Lines Flight 2 was a scheduled passenger flight on November 22, 1968. The plane was a new Douglas DC-8-62 named Shiga (志賀), flying from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Due to heavy fog and other factors, Captain Kohei Asoh mistakenly ditched the plane near Coyote Point in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay, two and a half miles short of the runway. All 107 people on board survived the accident without any injuries.
Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 was a passenger flight that crashed during landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands, on 25 February 2009, resulting in the deaths of nine passengers and crew, including all three pilots.
Alitalia Flight 404 (AZ404/AZA404) was an international passenger flight scheduled to fly from Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, to Zürich Airport in Zürich, Switzerland, which crashed on 14 November 1990. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, operated by Alitalia, crashed into the woodlands of Weiach as it approached Zurich Airport, killing all 46 occupants on board.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight between Washington, D.C. and Newport News, Virginia, United States, with three stop-overs, two in Connecticut and a third in Pennsylvania. On June 7, 1971, the Allegheny Airlines Convair CV-580 operating the flight crashed on approach to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport, New Haven County, Connecticut.
On December 27, 1968, North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashed into a hangar while attempting a night landing in poor weather at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Of the 41 passengers and four crew members, only 17 passengers and one crew member survived. One person was killed and six were injured on the ground.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 was a regularly scheduled flight that crashed while attempting to land at Bradford Regional Airport in Bradford, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1968. Of the 47 occupants on board, 20 were killed.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 was a Convair CV-580, that crashed while attempting to land at Bradford Regional Airport in Bradford, Pennsylvania on January 6, 1969. Eleven of the 28 occupants on board were killed.
Southwest Airlines Flight 345 was a scheduled flight from Nashville International Airport, Tennessee to New York City's LaGuardia Airport. On July 22, 2013, the Boeing 737 operating the route suffered a front landing-gear collapse while landing at LaGuardia Airport, injuring 9 people on board. The aircraft, which was worth an estimated $15.5 million at the time, was written off and scrapped as a result of the accident.
Delta Air Lines Flight 723 was a flight operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jetliner, operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Burlington, Vermont, to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, with an intermediate stop in Manchester, New Hampshire. On July 31, 1973, at 11:08 a.m., while on an instrument landing system (ILS) instrument approach into Logan in low clouds and fog, the aircraft descended below the glidepath, struck a seawall, and crashed. All 89 of the occupants aboard were killed, including an initial survivor who died more than 4 months after the crash.
Iberia Flight 933 was an international flight from Madrid Barajas International Airport bound for its destination, Boston-Logan International Airport in Boston that suffered a crash landing on December 17, 1973. As the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the flight was approaching the airport, it collided with the approach lighting system (ALS) 500 feet (152 m) short of the runway threshold. The impact broke off the right main landing gear. The aircraft became airborne for about 1,200 feet (370 m), then landed on runway 33 Left, veered to the right off the runway and came to rest. All 168 on board survived, but the plane was written off. This accident was the first hull loss of the DC-10.