1960 New York mid-air collision

Aircraft and crews

United Air Lines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registered as was a DC-8-11 carrying 77 passengers and 7 crew members from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Idlewild 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.

Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registered as was a Super Constellation carrying 39 passengers and 5 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, Margaret Gernat and Patricia Post. 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. Star of Sicily sister ship N6902C, Star of the Seine, was destroyed in another mid-air collision with a United Air Lines flight in 1956.

Background

At 10:21 a.m. EST, United 826 advised ARINC radio that one of its VOR receivers was inoperative, and the message was relayed to United Air Lines 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 mi. 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 kn or lower. However, the aircraft was estimated to be traveling at 301 kn when it collided with the TWA plane, several miles beyond the PRESTON clearance limit.

During the investigation, United Air Lines claimed that the Colts Neck VOR beacon was unreliable. 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

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According to the DC-8's flight data recorder, the aircraft was 12 mi off course, and for 81 seconds it descended at 3600 ft/min while slowing from more than 400 kn to 301 kn 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 (), 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.

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 , 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.

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.

Investigation

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

The report notes "various steps to improve and strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of its Air Traffic Control System" based on the crash investigation. Listed steps include better reporting of malfunctioning communications/navigation equipment, retrofitting airplanes with distance measuring equipment, improved handoff techniques for air traffic control, and additional speed rules when approaching a destination airport.

Victims

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. Baltz died of pneumonia the next day.

Other notable victims included chemist Jonas Kamlet, who was on Flight 826. Mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, known for being the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, was also booked onto Flight 826 but arrived too late to board.

Legacy

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 who could not be identified.

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

References

References

1. (18 June 1962). "United Airlines Inc., DC-8, N8013U, and Trans World Airlines, Inc., Constellation 1049A, N6907C, Near Staten Island, New York, December 16, 1960". Civil Aeronautics Board.
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3. (16 December 2010). "Park Slope Plane Crash". [[The New York Times]].
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5. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation N6907C Miller Army Air Station, NY". Flight Safety Foundation.
6. Swopes, Bryan. "TWA Flight 266".
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8. "Ready for Takeoff - Turn Your Aviation Passion into a Career: RFT 519: United Airlines Flight 286/Trans World Airlines Flight 266 Apple Podcasts'te".
9. Witkin, Richard. (10 January 1961). "High Speed Laid to Jet in Crash. Inquiry Told Craft Overshot Circle Area at 500 M.P.H". [[The New York Times]].
10. Bigart, Homer. (1960-12-17). "DISASTER IN FOG; DC-8 Plunges Into Park Slope Street, Missing School DISASTER WORST IN U.S. AIR ANNALS Jet From Chicago Plunges in Park Slope as 2d Plane Falls in New Dorp". The New York Times.
11. (1960-12-22). "Excerpts From Tapes of Conversations at Time of Air Crash". The New York Times.
12. Perlmutter, Emanuel. (18 December 1960). "Boy Who Survived Crash Dies; 'Stevie Tried Hard,' Father Says". [[The New York Times]].
13. (1964-05-22). "Widow of Air Victim to Receive $645,000". [[The New York Times]].
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17. (27 April 2013). "Why Planes Crash". NBC Peacock Productions.