Crash of a Boeing 707-124 near Unionville: 45 killed
Date & Time:
May 22, 1962 at 2117 LT
Operator:
Registration:
N70775
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Chicago – Kansas City – Los Angeles
MSN:
17611
YOM:
1959
Flight number:
CO011
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
37
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
45
Captain / Total hours on type:
2600.00
Copilot / Total hours on type:
600
Aircraft flight hours:
11945
Circumstances:
On the night of May 22, 1962, a Continental Air Lines Boeing 707-124, N70775, operating as Flight 11 en route from O’Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois, to Kansas City, Missouri, was flying via Jet Route 26V at an altitude of 39,000 feet. A few minutes after Flight 11 had made a northerly deviation from course to circumnavigate a thunderstorm, in the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, the radar image of the aircraft disappeared from the scope of the Waverly, Iowa, Flight Following Service. At approximately 2117 an explosion occurred in the right rear lavatory resulting in separation of the tail section from the fuselage. The aircraft broke up and the main part of the fuselage struck the ground about 6 miles north-northwest of Unionville, Missouri. All 37 passengers and crew of 8 sustained fatal injuries. The aircraft was totally destroyed.
Probable cause:
The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the disintegrating force of a dynamite explosion which occurred in the right rear lavatory resulting in destruction of the aircraft.
Final Report:
