avia.wikisort.org - Event

On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport.[1] 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, the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time, remains the deadliest accident in the history of United Airlines as of 2022.

1960 New York mid-air collision
United Airlines Flight 826 · Trans World Airlines Flight 266

Accident
Date	December 16, 1960 (1960-12-16)
Summary	Mid-air collision
Site	About a mile west of Miller Field 40°34′07″N 74°07′19″W
Total fatalities	134
Total injuries	0
Total survivors	0
First aircraft
The tail assembly of N8013U, the Douglas DC-8-11 involved in the collision
Type	Douglas DC-8-11
Name	Mainliner Will Rogers
Operator	United Airlines
IATA flight No.	UA826
ICAO flight No.	UAL826
Call sign	UNITED 826
Registration	N8013U
Flight origin	Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD), IL
Destination	Idlewild Airport (IDL/KIDL)(Now John F. Kennedy International Airport), New York City
Occupants	84
Passengers	77
Crew	7
Fatalities	84 (83 initially)
Injuries	0 (1 initially)
Survivors	0 (1 initially)
Second aircraft
N6907C, the Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation involved.
Type	Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation
Name	Star of Sicily
Operator	Trans World Airlines
IATA flight No.	TW266
ICAO flight No.	TWA266
Call sign	TWA 266
Registration	N6907C
Flight origin	Dayton International Airport (DAY/KDAY), Dayton, Ohio
Stopover	Port Columbus International Airport (CMH/KCMH), Ohio
Destination	LaGuardia Airport KLGA New York
Occupants	44
Passengers	39
Crew	5
Fatalities	44
Survivors	0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	6

The accident became known as the Park Slope plane crash or the Miller Field crash[2] after the two crash sites. The accident was also the first hull loss and first fatal accident involving a Douglas DC-8.[3][4]

Aircraft and crews

United Airlines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registration N8013U,[5] was a DC-8-11 carrying 77 passengers and seven crewmembers from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in Queens. The crew consisted of captain Robert Sawyer (age 46), first officer Robert Fiebing (40), flight engineer Richard Pruitt (30) and four stewardesses. Captain Sawyer was a highly experienced pilot, having accumulated 19,100 flight hours, of which 344 were in the DC-8. First officer Fiebing had accumulated 8,400 flight hours, of which 416 were in the DC-8. Flight engineer Pruitt had accumulated 8,500 flight hours, of which 379 were in the DC-8.[1]

Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registration N6907C,[6] was a Super Constellation carrying 39 passengers and five crew members from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The crew consisted of captain David Wollam (age 39), first officer Dean Bowen (32), flight engineer LeRoy "Lee" Rosenthal (30) and two stewardesses. Captain Wollam had accumulated 14,583 flight hours, 267 of which were in the Constellation. First officer Bowen had accumulated 6,411 flight hours, of which 268 were on the Constellation. Flight engineer Rosenthal had accumulated 3,561 flight hours, of which 204 were in the Constellation.[1][7] Star of Sicily's sister ship N6902C, Star of the Seine, was destroyed in another mid-air collision with a United Airlines flight in 1956.^{[citation needed]} [8]^{[citation needed]}

Background

At 10:21 a.m. Eastern Time, United 826 advised ARINC radio that one of its VOR receivers was inoperative, and the message was relayed to United Airlines maintenance. However, air-traffic control (ATC) was not informed that the aircraft had only one operational receiver, which presented difficulty for the pilots of flight 826 to identify the Preston intersection, beyond which it had not received clearance.

At 10:25 a.m., ATC issued a revised clearance for the flight to shorten its route to the Preston holding point (near Laurence Harbor, New Jersey) by 12 miles (19 km). That clearance included holding instructions (a standard "racetrack" holding pattern) for Flight 826 when it arrived at the Preston intersection. Flight 826 was expected to reduce its speed before reaching Preston to a standard holding speed of 210 knots (240 mph; 390 km/h) or lower. However, the aircraft was estimated to be traveling at 301 knots (346 mph; 557 km/h) when it collided with the TWA plane, several miles beyond the Preston clearance limit.

During the investigation, United Airlines claimed that the Colts Neck VOR was unreliable.[9] Preston was the point where airway V123—the 050-radial off the Robbinsville VOR—crossed the Solberg 120-degree radial and the Colts Neck 346-degree radial. However, the Civil Aeronautics Board's final report found no problem with the Colts Neck VOR.

The prevailing conditions were light rain and fog, which had been preceded by snowfall.

Collision and ground impacts

According to the DC-8's flight data recorder, the aircraft was 12 miles (19 km) off course, and for 81 seconds it descended at 3,600 feet per minute (18 m/s) while slowing from more than 400 knots (460 mph; 740 km/h) to 301 knots (346 mph; 557 km/h) at the time of the collision.

One of the DC-8's starboard engines struck the Constellation just ahead of its wings, tearing apart a portion of the fuselage. The Constellation entered a dive, with debris continuing to fall as it disintegrated during its spiral to the ground.

The initial impact tore the DC-8's engine from its pylon. Having lost one engine and a large part of the right wing, the DC-8 remained airborne for another 90 seconds.

The DC-8 crashed into the Park Slope section of Brooklyn at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place (40°40′38″N 73°58′25″W), scattering wreckage and setting fire to ten brownstone apartment buildings, the Pillar of Fire Church, the McCaddin Funeral Home, a Chinese laundry and a delicatessen. Six people on the ground were killed.[10][1]

The crash left the remains of the DC-8 pointing southeast toward a large open field at Prospect Park, blocks from its crash site. An occupant in one of the affected apartment buildings said that his family survived because they were in the only room of their apartment that was not destroyed. The crash left a trench covering most of the length of the middle of Sterling Place. Witnesses thought that a bomb had detonated or that a building's boiler had exploded.

The TWA plane crashed onto the northwest corner of Miller Field at 40.57°N 74.103°W / 40.57; -74.103 (1960 New York mid-air collision Constellation crash site), with some sections of the aircraft landing in New York Harbor. At least one passenger fell into a tree before the wreckage hit the ground.[9][1]

There was no radio contact with traffic controllers from either plane after the collision, although LaGuardia had begun tracking an incoming, fast-moving, unidentified plane from Preston toward the LaGuardia "Flatbush" outer marker.[11]

Investigation

The likely cause of the accident was identified in a report by the US Civil Aeronautics Board:

United Flight 826 proceeded beyond its clearance limit and the confines of the airspace allocated to the flight by Air Traffic Control. A contributing factor was the high speed of the United DC-8 as it approached the Preston intersection, coupled with the change of clearance which reduced the en-route distance along Victor 123 by approximately 11 miles (9.6 nmi; 18 km).[1]

Initial survivor

The only person to initially survive the crash was Stephen Baltz, an 11-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois. He was traveling unaccompanied on Flight 826 to spend Christmas in Yonkers with relatives. He was thrown from the plane into a snowbank, where his burning clothing was extinguished. Although alive and conscious, he was severely burned and had inhaled burning fuel.[10] Baltz died of pneumonia the next day.[12]

Legacy

The total of 134 victims would not be surpassed until a Lockheed C-130B Hercules was shot down in May 1968, killing 155 people.[13] In terms of commercial aviation, the death toll would not be surpassed until the March 1969 crash of Viasa Flight 742, which crashed on takeoff and killed all 84 people on board the aircraft, as well as 71 people on the ground.[14]

In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the accident, a memorial to the 134 victims of the two crashes was unveiled in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The cemetery is the site of the common grave containing the remains of those whom could not be identified.[15][16]

The collision is covered in "Collision Course," the fifth episode of the first season of The Weather Channel documentary series Why Planes Crash.[17]

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• Jonas Kamlet, a chemist who died in the crash
• 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision, another mid-air collision, also involving United Airlines and Trans World Airlines aircraft

References

External links

• Pillar of Fire: Recalling the Day the Sky Fell, December 16, 1960 by Nathaniel Altman, from the Park Slope Reader
• U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report
• Accident description TWA Super Constellation L-1049 N6907C
• Accident description United Airlines DC-8-11 N8013U
• Pre-crash photo of N6907C
• Death in the Air, Time, 26 December 1960.
• Newsreel film footage of crash
• Nelson, Libby. "The Boy Who Survived a 1960 Midair Crash" (Archive). The New York Times. 30 June 2009.
• "127 die as 2 airliners collide over the city; jet sets Brooklyn fire, killing 5 others; the second plane crashes on Staten Island" (Archive). The New York Times. Vol CX. No. 37,583. Saturday 17 December 1960.
• Park Slope Plane Crash, City Room (The New York Times local news blog), Sunday, December 12–Thursday, December 16, 2010 – A series of articles about the aviation disaster.
• CNN photo gallery of the crash
• Deadly Brooklyn Plane Crash, 1960 – slideshow by Life magazine
• Pillar of Fire – Interview with Dorothy M. Fletcher by Nathaniel Altman
• Fate or fluke? Air crash sole survivors by Barry Neild for CNN
• Jamieson, Wendell (24 March 2002). "The Day the Boy Fell From the Sky". The New York Times.
• "Park Slope Plane Crash". The New York Times. 12–16 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
• "1960 New York City plane crash: A look back". – slideshow by New York Daily News

На других языках

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[de] Flugzeugkollision von New York City

Bei der Flugzeugkollision von New York City am Freitag, dem 16. Dezember 1960, kollidierte über Staten Island (New York City) eine Lockheed Super Constellation der TWA, (Flugnummer TW266) mit einer Douglas DC-8 der United Air Lines (Flugnummer UA826). Teile der TWA-Constellation fielen auf das Militärgelände Miller Army Airfield bei New Dorp (Staten Island); die in Brand geratene DC-8 stürzte in den rund 19 km entfernten Stadtteil Park Slope (Brooklyn).

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- [en] 1960 New York mid-air collision

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[fr] Collision aérienne à New York en 1960

Une collision aérienne à New York s'est produite le 16 décembre 1960 lorsqu'un DC-8 de la compagnie United Airlines a percuté un Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation de la TWA. Le DC-8 provenant de Chicago allait atterrir à l'aéroport international de New York - John-F.-Kennedy alors que le Super Constellation était en phase d'approche de l'aéroport de LaGuardia. Les 128 personnes présentes dans les deux appareils ainsi que six personnes au sol ont été tuées. C'est à l'époque l'accident aérien le plus meurtrier dans le monde.

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[it] Collisione aerea di New York del 1960

Venerdì 16 dicembre 1960, un Douglas DC-8 di United Airlines, diretto all'aeroporto Internazionale John F. Kennedy di New York, si scontrò a mezz'aria con un Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation in fase di avvicinamento all'aeroporto LaGuardia di New York.[1][2] Il Super Constellation si schiantò a Miller Field, Staten Island, e il DC-8 a Park Slope, Brooklyn; la collisione provocò la morte di tutte le 128 persone sui due aerei e di sei persone a terra. Al momento dello scontro, fu il peggior disastro aereo mai avvenuto nella storia dell'aviazione. Il bilancio delle vittime fu superato solo otto anni dopo dall'abbattimento del C-130 Hercules dell'USAF del 1968.[3] In termini di aviazione commerciale, il bilancio delle vittime venne superato solo dall'incidente del volo Viasa 742 nel 1969, che si schiantò poco dopo il decollo provocando la morte di tutte le 84 persone a bordo dell'aeromobile e di 71 a terra.[4] La collisione divenne nota come l'incidente aereo di Park Slope o l'incidente aereo di Miller Field[5], rispettivamente i siti di caduta di ciascun aereo. L'incidente fu anche la prima perdita e il primo incidente mortale che coinvolse un Douglas DC-8.

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[ru] Столкновение над Нью-Йорком

Столкновение над Нью-Йорком — крупная авиационная катастрофа, произошедшая утром в пятницу 16 декабря 1960 года в Нью-Йорке. Авиалайнеры Douglas DC-8-11 авиакомпании United Air Lines (UAL) (рейс UAL 826 Чикаго—Нью-Йорк) и Lockheed L-1049-54 Super Constellation авиакомпании Trans World Airlines (TWA) (рейс TWA 266 Дейтон—Колумбус—Нью-Йорк) во время захода на посадку в Нью-Йорке (каждый в свой аэропорт) столкнулись на пересекающихся курсах и рухнули на расположенный под ними город. В катастрофе погибли 134 человека — все находившиеся на обоих самолётах 128 человек (84 на DC-8 (77 пассажиров и 7 членов экипажа) и 44 на L-1049 (39 пассажиров и 5 членов экипажа)) и 6 человек на земле. На момент событий по масштабам это была крупнейшая авиакатастрофа в мире.

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