Date & Time:
Sep 23, 1962 at 2200 LT
Type of aircraft:
Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation
Operator:
Registration:
N6923C
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
McGuire – Gander – Francfort
MSN:
4827
YOM:
1958
Flight number:
FT923
Country:
World
Region:
World
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
68
Pax fatalities:
23
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
28
Captain / Total hours on type:
4300
Copilot / Total hours on type:
350
Aircraft flight hours:
15800
Circumstances:
he Super Constellation departed Gander at 17:09 GMT for a military (MATS) charter flight to Frankfurt. Three hours later, at FL210 a fire developed in the no. 3 engine, which was shut down and the propeller feathered. The no. 1 engine oversped 5 minutes later when the flight engineer closed the no. 1 engine firewall shut-off valve in error. The crew were not able to restart the engine, and wanted to divert to Shannon with METO power on the no. 4 engine and reduced power on engine no. 2. The no. 2 engine lost power and finally failed, forcing the crew to carry out a ditching. The left wing broke off, but the fuselage remained intact. The cabin filled with water fast and the aircraft sank nose first in about 10 minutes. The Swiss merchant ship christened 'Celerina' was the first to be on site and its crew was able to evacuate 48 wounded people while 28 others, among them five crew members, were killed. The aircraft sank and was lost.
Probable cause:
The failure of two of the aircraft's four engines, and improper action of the flight engineer which disabled a third engine thereby necessitating a ditching at sea.
Final Report:
N6923C.pdf5.1 MB
