TWA Flight 159

TWA Flight 159
	A TWA Boeing 707-131; sister ship to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	November 6, 1967
Summary	Takeoff abort with landing overshoot
Site	Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Hebron, Kentucky ; 39°03′N84°40′W / 39.050°N 84.667°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-131
Operator	Trans World Airlines (TWA)
Registration	N742TW
Flight origin	John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York
Stopover	Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Erlanger, Kentucky
Destination	Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California
Occupants	36
Passengers	29
Crew	7
Fatalities	1
Injuries	10
Survivors	35

Last updated September 19, 2024

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.

The NTSB concluded that the crash occurred due to the TWA flight crew's inability to successfully abort takeoff due to the speed of the aircraft, and that a runway overrun was unavoidable at the 707's speed. The disabled DC-9, a Delta Air Lines flight which had reported that it had cleared the runway when in fact it had not, was a contributing factor in the crash. The NTSB recommended that the FAA establish and publicize standards of safe clearance from runway edges for both aircraft and ground vehicles which also take into account the exhaust fumes of jet engines. The board also recommended a reevaluation of training manuals and aircraft procedures in regard to abort procedures.

Aircraft and flight crew

The aircraft was a Boeing 707 which had accumulated 26,319 airframe hours since its first flight in 1959.^[1] It was piloted by Captain Volney D. Matheny, 45, who had 18,753 hours of pilot time. The copilot was First Officer Ronald G. Reichardt, 26, with 1,629 total piloting hours, and the flight engineer was Robert D. Barron, 39, who had accumulated 11,182 hours as a flight engineer.

Flight history and crash

Flight 159 was a New York City – Los Angeles flight with an intermediate stop at Greater Cincinnati Airport. The flight operated from New York to Cincinnati without incident.

At 18:38 Eastern Standard Time, Flight 159 was approaching Cincinnati's runway 27L for takeoff, and was instructed by the tower controller to "taxi into position and hold" on the runway.^[2]^: 3 As Flight 159 approached Runway 27L, another flight, Delta Air Lines Flight 379 (DAL 379), a DC-9 (N3317L), was coming in to land on the same runway.^[2]^: 3 After landing, DAL 379 received permission to turn 180° to reach an intersection they had passed, but the DC-9 was unable to complete the turn and ran off the paved runway.^[2]^: 3 While most of the aircraft was stuck in the mud well away from the runway, the tail was only approximately 7 feet (2.1 m) from the edge of the runway.^[1]^[2]^: 3–4 The rearmost exterior light on DAL 379 was 45 feet (14 m) from the edge of the runway, which might have caused DAL 379 to appear at a distance to be farther from the runway than it actually was.^[2]^: 19

At 18:39, while DAL 379 was in the process of clearing the runway, Flight 159 was cleared for takeoff.^[2]^: 4 Before Flight 159 began moving, the tower controller observed that DAL 379 had stopped moving, and called DAL 379 to confirm they were clear of the runway.^[2]^: 4 The captain of the Delta DC-9 replied, "Yeah, we're in the dirt though."^[2]^: 4 The tower controller then advised TWA 159 that DAL 379 was clear of the runway, and that Flight 159 was cleared for takeoff.^[2]^: 4 With the first officer operating the controls, Flight 159 then began its takeoff roll down runway 27L.^[2]^: 4

Neither pilot aboard Flight 159 initially saw how close DAL 379 was to the runway. As Flight 159 sped down the runway, the captain observed that the DC-9 was "off the runway" by only "five, six, seven feet or something of that nature."^[2]^: 5 As the Boeing 707 passed the Delta plane, the pilots heard a loud bang which coincided with a movement of the flight controls and a yawing motion of the aircraft.^[2]^: 5 Thinking he had hit the DC-9, Flight 159's first officer attempted to abort the takeoff, and both pilots attempted to use their aircraft's thrust reversers, brakes, and spoilers to stop the aircraft.^[2]^: 5–6

The aircraft overran the end of the runway, went over the edge of a hill, and became airborne for 67 feet (20 m).^[2]^: 9 It then struck the ground again, shearing off the main landing gear and displacing the nosewheel rearward.^[2]^: 9 The Boeing 707 slid down an embankment and came to rest 421 feet (128 m) from the end of the runway.^[2]^: 9^[3] The fuselage ruptured, and the structure of one wing failed during the crash.^[1]^[2]^: 9–10 The right side wing of the plane caught fire as it left the runway.^[3] All 29 passengers and 7 crew members escaped the aircraft, with two passengers requiring hospitalization.^[3] One of the hospitalized passengers died as a result of injuries four days after the accident.^[2]^: 10 The 707 was damaged beyond repair and regarded as a complete write off after the fire damaged the right wing and broken fuselage.^[1]

Aftermath

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the accident. Although the tail of the Delta DC-9 was several feet from the runway, the NTSB determined that DAL 379's engines were still operating at idle when Flight 159 attempted to take off, and DAL 379's idling jet engines were directing hot jet exhaust over the runway.^[2]^: 16 The NTSB determined that neither Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations nor the Terminal Air Traffic Control Procedures Manual defined the phrase "clear of the runway," and found that the pilots of each plane and the air traffic controller each had their own slightly different definition of the term.^[2]^: 16–17 The NTSB concluded that DAL 379 was not actually "clear of the runway" because its jet exhaust continued to pose a hazard to aircraft attempting to use runway 27L.^[2]^: 16

The jet blast from DAL 379 caused a compressor stall in Flight 159's number four engine.^[2]^: 20 The compressor stall caused a loud noise heard by the pilots, and the jet blast caused a movement of the Boeing 707's flight controls during the takeoff.^[2]^: 20 The 707 did not make contact with the DC-9, but the noise and movement convinced the first officer that a collision had occurred.^[2]^: 20 The NTSB concluded that the first officer's decision to abort was reasonable under the circumstances.^[2]^: 24

TWA company manuals indicated that aborting a takeoff at high speeds is dangerous, and should only be attempted if an actual engine failure occurs before V₁ speed.^[2]^: 21 "V₁" speed is the maximum speed at which the takeoff can be safely aborted; after V₁ speed is exceeded, the plane must take off to avoid overrunning the runway. The captain of Flight 159 failed to announce that Flight 159 had achieved V₁ speed, and the first officer believed the plane was at or near V₁ (rather than having substantially exceeded V₁) when he aborted the takeoff.^[2]^: 20 On a Boeing 707, the V₁ speed is 132 knots (244 km/h; 152 mph); Flight 159 achieved a peak speed of 145 knots (269 km/h; 167 mph).^[1]^[2]^: 19–20 However, the NTSB determined that V₁ was not relevant to this incident because it is only intended to advise pilots on whether they can abort after engine failure, and the first officer believed that his aircraft had been physically damaged and might not be capable of flight.^[2]^: 25 As a result, the NTSB determined the first officer's decision to abort to be reasonable, but criticized the pilots for failing to execute the abort rapidly.^[2]^: 25–26 One NTSB board member, Francis H. McAdams, wrote in a separate minority report that he would have concluded that an abort was both reasonable and necessary under the circumstances, despite the fact that the aircraft had exceeded V₁ and was certain to overrun the runway.^[2]^{: (Dissent p. 1)}

The majority opinion presented by the NTSB accident report determined that the cause of the accident was the TWA flight crew's inability to successfully abort takeoff procedures due to an excess of speed.^[2]^: 27 The NTSB recommended revisions and expansions to airline abort procedures and new FAA regulations defining runway clearance and procedures, taking into account jet engine exhaust.^[2]^: 27 In his minority report, Mr. McAdams said that he would have found the probable cause of the accident to be the Delta crew's failure to adequately advise the tower of the proximity to the runway, and the tower's failure to request additional and precise information prior to clearing TWA 159 for takeoff.^[2]^{: (Dissent p. 1–2)}

The family of the deceased passenger received a $105,000 settlement from Delta Air Lines in civil court. TWA also sued Delta for the loss of the Boeing 707 aircraft, and reached a settlement of $2,216,000.^[4]

The passenger who died was married to the brother-in-law of Rabbi Edgar Magnin.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved on 2009-12-8.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Aircraft Accident Report. Trans World Airlines, Inc. B707, N742TW, The Greater Cincinnati Airport, Erlanger, Kentucky. November 6, 1967 (PDF). Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board. 1968. Retrieved 2009-12-08. (Available through Embry-Riddle University Library Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine .)
1 2 3 "Investigators Probe Plane Wreckage". Ellensburg Daily Record. Ellensburg, WA. AP. November 7, 1967. p. 8. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
↑ United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Court. George W. ROSENTHAL, Executor, Estate of Marion R. Rosenthal, Plaintiff, v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., Defendant-Appellee, v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., Defendant-Appellate Archived 2010-05-14 at the Wayback Machine . Docket #72-2211. Argued June 5, 1973. Decided January 17, 1974. 490 F.2d 1036

External links

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[asn-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved on 2009-12-8.

[ntsb-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Aircraft Accident Report. Trans World Airlines, Inc. B707, N742TW, The Greater Cincinnati Airport, Erlanger, Kentucky. November 6, 1967 (PDF). Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board. 1968. Retrieved 2009-12-08. (Available through Embry-Riddle University Library Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine .)

[news-3] 1 2 3 "Investigators Probe Plane Wreckage". Ellensburg Daily Record. Ellensburg, WA. AP. November 7, 1967. p. 8. Retrieved 2009-12-08.

[4] United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Court. George W. ROSENTHAL, Executor, Estate of Marion R. Rosenthal, Plaintiff, v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., Defendant-Appellee, v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., Defendant-Appellate Archived 2010-05-14 at the Wayback Machine . Docket #72-2211. Argued June 5, 1973. Decided January 17, 1974. 490 F.2d 1036

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 (January 6 1960) Capital Airlines Flight 20 (January 18 1960) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 (March 1960) Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 (July 1960) World Airways Flight 830 (September 1960)* Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 (October 4 1960) Cal Poly football team (October 29 1960) New York mid-air collision (December 1960)
1961	Goldsboro B-52 crash (January 24 1961) American Airlines Flight 1502 (January 28 1961) Yuba City B-52 crash (March 1961) United Air Lines Flight 859 (July 11 1961) Alaska Airlines Flight 779 (July 21 1961) TWA Flight 529 (September 1 1961) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 (September 17 1961) Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 (November 8 1961) Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash (November 14 1961)
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 (March 1962) Continental Airlines Flight 11 (May 1962) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 (July 1962) United Air Lines Flight 297 (November 23 1962) Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 (November 30 1962)
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 (January 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 (February 1963) Camden PA-24 (March 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 (June 1963) Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 (July 1963) Pan Am Flight 214 (December 1963)
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 crash (January 1964) Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 (February 1964) Paradise Airlines Flight 901A (March 1964) Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 (May 1964) United Air Lines Flight 823 (July 1964) Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 (November 1964) Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 (December 1964)
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita (January 1965) Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 (February 1965) Pan Am Flight 843 (June 1965) Continental Airlines Flight 12 (July 1 1965) Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 (July 23 1965) United Air Lines Flight 389 (August 1965) American Airlines Flight 383 (November 8 1965) United Air Lines Flight 227 (November 11 1965) Carmel mid-air collision (December 1965)
1966	NASA T-38 crash (February 1966) American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D (April 1966) Braniff International Airways Flight 250 (August 1966) West Coast Airlines Flight 956 (October 1966)
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 (March 5 1967) TWA Flight 553 (March 9 1967) West Coast Airlines Flight 720 (March 10 1967) Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 (March 30 1967) Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 (June 1967) Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 (July 1967) Lake Erie skydiving disaster (August 1967) TWA Flight 159 (November 6 1967) X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (November 15 1967) TWA Flight 128 (November 20 1967)
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 (March 1968) Braniff International Airways Flight 352 (May 3 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 (May 22 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 (August 1968) Northeast Airlines Flight 946 (October 1968) Japan Air Lines Flight 2 (November 22 1968) Pan Am Flight 281 (November 24 1968) Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 (December 2 1968) Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 (December 24 1968) Pan Am Flight 799 (December 26 1968) Ozark Air Lines Flight 982 (December 27 1968) North Central Airlines Flight 458 (December 27 1968)
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 (January 6 1969) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 (January 13 1969) United Air Lines Flight 266 (January 18 1969) Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 (February 1969) Prinair Flight 277 (March 5 1969)* Delta Air Lines Flight 821 (March 25 1969) TWA Flight 5787 (July 1969) Newton Cessna 172 crash (August 1969) Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 (September 1969) Mohawk Airlines Flight 411 (November 1969)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory.