New York-JFK

Flight PA103 departed London-Heathrow runway 27R for New York at 18:25. The aircraft levelled off at FL310, 31 minutes later. At 19:03 Shanwick Oceanic Control transmitted an oceanic clearance. At that time an explosion occurred in the aircraft's forward cargo hold at position 4L. The explosive forces produced a large hole in the fuselage structure and disrupted the main cabin floor. Major cracks continued to propagate from the large hole while containers and items of cargo ejected through the hole, striking the empennage, left- and right tail plane. The forward fuselage and flight deck area separated when the aircraft was in a nose down and left roll attitude, peeling away to the right at Station 800. The nose section then knocked the no. 3 engine off its pylon. The remaining aircraft disintegrated while it was descending nearly vertically from 19000 feet to 9000 feet. A section of cabin floor and baggage hold (from approx. Station 1241-1920) fell onto housing at Rosebank Terrace, Lockerbie. The main wing structure struck the ground with a high yaw angle at Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie causing a massive fire. The Semtex bomb which caused the explosion had probably been hidden in a radio cassette player and was transferred to PA103 from a Pan Am Boeing 727 flight, arriving from Frankfurt. After a three-year joint investigation by the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on April 5, 1999. On January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Fhimah was acquitted.

While en route at FL370, the pilots declared an emergency, reported a fire in the right engine and requested vectors to the nearest suitable airport. They were vectored toward the Lexington-Blue Grass Airport and circled to descend. Shortly after declaring an emergency, the pilots reported they secured the right engine and extinguished the fire light. As the aircraft was on final approach to land, the local controller (using binoculars) confirmed that both the gear and flaps were extended. However, as the aircraft continued onto a short final approach, an increase in its pitch attitude was noted. It then dropped below the level of the runway threshold and impacted in a pasture short of the runway. After initial impact, the aircraft went thru a stone fence, hit 2 utility poles, crossed a highway, came to rest at the perimeter fence and burned. An auto was damaged by debris; 2 occupants received minor injuries. An investigation revealed the aircraft impacted with the gear extended, but the flaps and flap handle were found in the up position. An examination of the right engine revealed its outer exhaust cone was cracked in the vicinity of a fire detection loop. No other preexisting mechanical problems were evident. Both pilots were killed and both passengers were seriously injured.

At 10:18 flight LO5055 took off from Warsaw runway 33 for a flight to New York-JFK. The aircraft headed for the GRU VOR, which it passed at FL265, climbing to FL310. Two minutes later (at 10:41) the n°2 engine Low Pressure turbine shaft broke loose, followed by the failure of the turbine disc. Debris punctured the aft fuselage, causing a fire in the cargo hold. The elevator control system was severed and the n°1 engine had to be shut down. The flight crew immediately started an emergency descent to 4,000 metres. After shutting down both n°1 and n°2 engine the crew mistakenly thought the fire was extinguished. They had decided to land at Modlin airport, but still unaware of the fire, changed to Warsaw-Okecie runway 33 because of better rescue equipment there. The flight started a left turn for runway 33 at 11:09 at an altitude of 1,450 metres and an airspeed of 480 km/h. The crew lost control during the turn and the Il-62 crashed into a forest, 6 km from the runway at an airspeed of 465 km/h and an 11° left bank and 12° nosedown. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 183 occupants were killed.

As the aircraft was climbing thru 19,000 feet at night, the #2 generator (gen) light came on. The flight crew noted there was no output from the #2 gen and it would not reset. They then checked the #1 gen voltage and noted it was 14 to 15 volts. The crew reduced the electrical load; however, about 5 minutes later, the batteries became discharged and there was a total loss of electrical power. Using a flashlight, the crew diverted to the Chester County Airport which had a 4,600 feet runway. The gear was extended with the emergency system. The elevator trim was inoperative, so both pilots applied back pressure on the yoke to overcome the nose down tendency. After landing about 1/4 of the way down the runway, the crew tried to use the thrust reversers, but the reversers were inoperative. Subsequently, the aircraft continued off the side and beyond the end of the runway, hit a wooden beam and a snowbank, then came to rest in a ditch. An investigation revealed a shaft failure of the #2 gen (starter/gen) and worn brushes in the #1 gen. With total electrical failure, the following were also inoperative: wing flaps, anti-skid, capt's airspeed indicator and altimeter, nose wheel steering, cockpit lighting.

At 1442 on January 13, 1984, Pilgrim Airline Flight 35, a scheduled 14 CFR Part 121 flight with 21 passengers and a crew of three took off from runway 04L at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York, en route to Ottawa, Canada. The weather was, in part, ceiling 2,700 feet overcast, visibility 7 miles; wind, 050° at I4 knots; and temperature 26°. As the captain raised the landing gear, the propeller on the left engine autofeathered. The captain initiated emergency procedures and told the first officer that he was retarding the power lever for the left engine. Concurrently, according to the cockpit voice recorder, the right engine experienced a power loss, and the airplane began to descend. The first officer, who was flying the airplane, maintained directional control, and the captain immediately put the landing gear lever down. however, the airplane struck the runway before the landing gear extended fully, and slid about 1,200 feet before stopping near the intersection of taxiway "G" and runway 04L. The captain and 13 passengers incurred minor injuries, and the flight attendant incurred a fracture of the spine. The airplane was damaged substantially; there was no postcrash fire.

Takeoff acceleration was normal, failure was not detected on engines, systems or structures. The crew registered a strong vibration at or close to V1. The captain felt how this vibration was highly increased as he began rotation, consequently rejecting the takeoff at a speed between VR and V2. Physical evidence shows how detachment of the tread of a tire of the nose gear, retreated, began before the aircraft had reached V1. The reject of takeoff began where there were another 1,295 meters (4,250 feet) of runway left. The aircraft crossed the runway end at a speed slightly over 110 knots, colliding with an ILS concrete building, breaking the metal fencing of the airport, crossing a highway, causing damage to three vehicles on the same, colliding then with farming construction. Engine number three detached after impact with the ILS building. Approximately three quarters of the right wing as well as the right horizontal stabilizer were detached as a result of the impact with the afore mentioned farming construction. The fuselage also ran over the construction with which the right wing collided. The aircraft stopped 450 meters (1,475 feet) away from the end of runway 14, and approximately 40 meters (130 feet) off to the left from the centerline. Neither the passenger department nor the cockpit showed damage that could impede survival when the aircraft stopped. Fuel was spilled off the right wing, from the time it collided with the farming construction, and the fire began in the rear of the fuselage. The fire destroyed the aircraft completely. There were 381 passengers and 13 crew members on board. 333 passengers and 10 crew survived, and as a result of the fire subsequent to the impact, 47 passengers and three assistant crew members died.