Atlanta-William Berry Hartsfield

At 2045 the military flight, Dixie 06, contacted Birmingham approach and obtained clearance for a low approach followed by a full-stop landing on runway 05. At 2053, Dixie 06 reported a 4 mile final for a low approach to the local controller. At 2054:19, the local controller cleared ABX74, N19T, '...taxi position and hold five.' ABX74 was awaiting takeoff instructions on runway 05 when the collision occurred. Investigation revealed the local controller forgot ABX74. She became preoccupied with other traffic using runway 36. The local controller termed the traffic as busier than normal for a night operation. At the time of the accident, the tower was staffed with two air traffic controllers and an air traffic assistant. No supervisor or coordinator was available in the cab to detect controller overload and offer assistance. The pilot, sole on board, was killed. The military aircraft involved in the collision was a USAF Douglas RF-4C Phantom II registered 64-1032 with two pilots on board. They escaped uninjured.

The flight had not yet been scheduled when the pilot retired for the evening at 2230 to 2300 est. At 0230, he was awoken and notified to make a night cargo flight. The owner obtained a weather briefing and filed a flight plan, then briefed the pilot later. The pilot arrived at the airport at 0430. He preflighted the aircraft while the owner updated the weather briefing. The aircraft was cleared as filed with a clearance void time of 0500; the clearance was radioed to the pilot by unicom. During takeoff, at 0510, the aircraft was observed climbing northbound to aprx 800 feet agl in moderate snowfall with the landing light on. A short time later, the aircraft crashed approximately one mile northeast of the airport while in a steep nose down, right wing low attitude. No pre- impact part failure/malfunction was found. Reportedly, when the pilot 1st hired on, he exaggerated his flight experience; he had problems with instrument flying and was not scheduled for flights in marginal weather; and he was given extra help. At the time of the accident, snow was falling, mixed icing was forecast in clouds and there was a sigmet for moderate to severe turbulences below 8,000 feet. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The normal fuel load for the flight was 1,500 lbs, but with a forecast tail wind and an estimated flight time for only 1+10, the crew accepted the lower indicated (950 lb) fuel load. The flight was uneventful until an indication of 250 lbs per side, then the fuel 'seemed to dissipate faster.' With an indication of 150 lbs on downwind, the copilot recommended declaring an emergency. The captain's response was to ask ATC for the anticipated length of the downwind leg. He was told 20 miles. Priority handling was requested, but was only available for a declared emergency. The approach was continued with normal handling for approximately 10 minutes. At 1608:39, the crew declared an emergency, then reported the aircraft was out of fuel. It crash landed on rough terrain, short of runway 08. An exam revealed fuel sensors had been improperly installed (interchanged between the inboard and outboard tanks). Thus the gages indicated about 180 lbs more than the approximately 763 lbs that was actually aboard at takeoff. A special 500 hour inspection of the entire fuel system was made on 7/8/84 using the 'wet' method, but only the capacitance method checks each individual sensor. All 11 occupants were injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

The pilot reported that on the previous flight, the center fuel tank gauge was malfunctioning and indicated 800 lbs even when it was full with 1400 lbs. After landing at Charlotte, NC, it was still indicating 800 lbs. Before takeoff, the center tank was refilled. While en route about 40 miles west of Atlanta, GA, the pilot noted that the fuel gauge indicated 500 lbs and was dropping rapidly. A few minutes later, both engines flamed out. Vectors were obtained to fly to the nearest airport. During the descent, the engines were restarted. The pilot intercepted the ILS and remained high on the glide slope. The weather at the airport was reported as 100 feet overcast, visibility 1/4 mile with fog and rain. The aircraft broke out of the clouds approximately 2/3 of the way down the runway, then continued off the end of the runway and went thru ILS antenna array. An exam revealed the center fuel cap was missing, it was found in the grass near the parking ramp at Charlotte. The fuel cap was found to be worn and would not lock securely.

The crew was completing a night cargo flight from San Jose, California, to Atlanta with intermediate stop in Wilmington, Ohio. On approach, the airplane became unstable and rolled left and right. Despite the situation, the crew decided to continue the approach to runway 26 when the airplane landed hard. Upon touchdown, the left main gear collapsed. The airplane rolled for about 4,526 feet then veered off runway to the left and came to rest 250 feet further in a grassy area. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Following an uneventful flight from Atlanta, the crew started the approach to Chattanooga Airport in poor weather conditions with limited visibility due to heavy rain falls. On short final, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when the airplane struck approach light located 1,600 feet short of runway 20 threshold. The airplane then struck the ground, lost its left wing and skidded for another 1,200 feet before coming to rest 250 feet to the left of the runway centerline. All 79 occupants evacuated safely and only seven passengers were slightly injured.

The pilot departed Gary, Indiana, with known deficiencies in equipment and encountered technical problems with instruments en route to Atlanta. On approach to Atlanta-William Berry Hartsfield Airport by night and poor weather conditions (low ceiling, fog and rain falls), he descended below the MDA when the airplane struck trees and crashed in College Park, about a mile short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed and all five occupants were killed.

The flight, scheduled from Mexico City to New York City, with several intermediate stops, had just departed New Orleans at 0200. Three minutes later the captain acknowledged a request to change radio frequencies, but no further communications were received from the flight At 0205-40 the radar target associated with Flight 304 had disappeared from the scopes of both the radar controllers who were observing the flight. Moderate to severe turbulence existed in the area at the time of the accident. At 0159 46 the local controller in the tower observed Flight 304 commence the takeoff. The lift-off appeared normal, and at approximately 0201 he advised the flight to contact Departure Control, which was acknowledged. He estimated that the flight was two or three miles north of the airport when the lights disappeared into the overcast Voice communication and radar contact were established immediately between the flight and the departure controller who advised them to" . . turn right heading 030, be a vector north of J-37 (the planned route of flight)" While the flight continued on this vector, the departure controller contacted the New Orleans Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) The radar target was identified five miles north of the New Orleans VORTAC, and a radar handoff was effected at 0202 38. Flight 304 was instructed to "contact New Orleans Center radar, frequency 123.6 now." At 0203 15 the crew replied, "OK". This was the last transmission from the flight. At 0205 40, when no transmissions had been received from the flight, the center controller contacted the departure controller to verify that proper instructions had been given. During this conversation both controllers confirmed that the radar target associated with the flight had disappeared from both scopes, and emergency procedures were initiated shortly thereafter. The last position noted by the controllers was approximately eight miles from the New Orleans VORTAC on the 030-degree radial. The aircraft crashed at 14.5 miles on the 034-degree radial, in Lake Pontchartrain. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 58 occupants have been killed.

On October 4, 1960, at 1740 e.d.t., an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed Electra, N 5533, crashed into Winthrop Bay immediately following takeoff from runway 9 at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts. Ten of the 72 persons aboard survived the crash. The aircraft was totally destroyed. A few seconds after becoming airborne, the aircraft struck a flock of starlings. A number of these birds were ingested In engines Nos. 1, 2, and 4. Engine No. 1 was shut down and its propeller was feathered. Nos. 2 and 4 experienced a substantial momentary loss of power. This abrupt and intermittent loss and recovery of power resulted in the aircraft yawing to the left and decelerating to the stall speed. As speed decayed during the continued yaw and skidding left turn, the stall speed was reached; the left wing dropped, the nose pitched up, and the aircraft rolled left into a spin and fell almost vertically into the water. An altitude of less than 150 feet precluded recovery. The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the unique and critical sequence of the loss and recovery of engine power following bird ingestion, resulting in loss of airspeed and control during takeoff.

The flight was scheduled for training for two pilots who were to “check out” in the CV-880. A pilot-trainee occupied the left seat and a qualified instructor-pilot occupied the right. Immediately after liftoff the aircraft assumed an extremely nose-high attitude and banked steeply to the left. It then rolled to a vertical right bank, the nose fell through, and the aircraft struck the ground and burned. Four crew members, the only occupants, received fatal injuries.