New York

Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, a Boeing 727-225 operated as a scheduled passenger flight from New Orleans to New York-JFK. The flight departed New Orleans about 13:19. It proceeded on an IFR flight plan. Eastern 66 arrived in the New York City terminal area without reported difficulty, and, beginning at 15:35:11, Kennedy approach control provided radar vectors to sequence the flight with other traffic and to position it for an ILS approach to runway 22L at the Kennedy airport. The automatic terminal information service (ATIS) reported: "Kennedy weather, VFR, sky partially obscured, estimated ceiling 4,000 broken, 5 miles with haze... wind 210° at 10, altimeter 30.15, Expect vectors to an ILS runway 22L, landing runway 22L, departures are off 22R... " At 15:52:43, the controller transmitted, "All aircraft this frequency, we just went IFR with 2 miles very light rain showers and haze. The runway visual range is---not available, and Eastern 66 descend and maintain four thousand, Kennedy radar one three two four." Eastern 66 acknowledged the transmission. At 15:53:22, the flight contacted the Kennedy final vector controller, who continued to provide radar vectors around thunderstorms in the area, to sequence the flight with other traffic, and to position the flight on the localizer course. The flight crew then discussed the problems associated with carrying minimum fuel loads when confronted with delays in terminal areas. One of the crewmembers stated that he was going to check the weather at the alternate airport, which was LaGuardia Airport (LGA). Less than a minute later, one of the crewmembers remarked, "... one more hour and we'd come down whether we wanted to or not." At 15:59:19, the final vector controller transmitted a message to all aircraft on his frequency that "a severe wind shift" had been reported on the final approach and that he would report more information shortly. Eastern Air Lines Flight 902, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, had abandoned its approach to runway 22L earlier. At 15:59:40, Eastern 902 re-established radio communications with the Kennedy final vector controller, and the flight crew reported, "... we had... a pretty good shear pulling us to the right and... down and visibility was nil, nil out over the marker... correction... at 200 feet it was... nothing." The final vector controller responded, "Okay, the shear you say pulled you right and down?" Eastern 902 replied, "Yeah, we were on course and down to about 250 feet. The airspeed dropped to about 10 knots below the bug and our rate of descent was up to 1,500 feet a minute, so we put takeoff power on and we went around at a hundred feet." While Eastern 902 was making this report, the captain of Eastern 66, said, "You know this is asinine." An unidentified crewmember responded, "I wonder if they're covering for themselves." The final vector controller asked Eastern 66 if they had heard Eastern 902's report. Eastern 66 replied, "...affirmative." The controller then established the flight's position as being 5 miles from the outer marker (OM) and cleared the flight for an ILS approach to runway 22L. Eastern 66 acknowledged the clearance at 16:00:54, "Okay, we'll let you know about the conditions." One minute later, the first officer, who was flying the aircraft, called for completion of the final checklist. While the final checklist items were being completed, the captain stated that the radar was, "Up and off... standby." At 16:02:20, the captain said, "...I have the radar on standby in case I need it, I can get it off later." At 16:02:42, the final vector controller asked Eastern 902, "..would you classify that as severe wind shift, correction, shear?" The flight responded, "Affirmative." The first officer of Eastern 66 then said, "Gonna keep a pretty healthy margin on this one. An unidentified crewmember said, "I...would suggest that you do" the first officer responded, "In case he's right." At 16:02:58, Eastern 66 reported over the OM, and the final vector controller cleared the flight to contact the Kennedy tower. The first officer requested 30° of flaps and the aircraft continued to bracket the glideslope with the airspeed oscillating between 140 and 145 knots. At 1603:12, the flight established communications with Kennedy tower local controller and reported that they were, "outer marker, inbound." The Kennedy tower local controller cleared Eastern 66 to land. The captain acknowledged the clearance and asked, "Got any reports on braking action...?" The local controller did not respond until the query was repeated. The local controller replied, "No,none, approach end of runway is wet... but I'd say about the first half is wet--we've had no adverse reports." At 1603:57.7, the flight engineer called, "1000 feet" and at 1604:25, the sound of rain was recorded. The flight was nearly centered on the glideslope when the flight engineer called, "500 feet." The airspeed was oscillating between 140 and 148 knots and the sound of heavy rain could be heard as the aircraft descended below 500 feet. The windshield wipers were switched to high speed. At 16:04:40, the captain said, "Stay on the gauges." The first officer responded, "Oh, yes. I'm right with it." The flight engineer reported, "Three greens, 30 degrees, final checklist," and the captain responded, "Right." At 16:04:52, the captain said, "I have approach lights," and the first officer said, "Okay." The captain then again said, "Stay on the gauges," and the first officer replied, "I'm with it." N8845E then was passing through 400 feet, and its rate of descent increased from an average of about 675 fpm to 1,500 fpm. The aircraft rapidly began to deviate below the glideslope, and 4 seconds later, the airspeed decreased from 138 kts to 123 kts in 2.5 seconds. The Boeing 727 continued to deviate further below the glideslope, and at 16:05:06.2, when the aircraft was at 150 feet, the captain said, "runway in sight." Less than a second later, the first officer said, "I got it." The captain replied, "got it?" and a second later, at 16:05:10, an unintelligible exclamation was recorded, and the first officer commanded, "Takeoff thrust." The airplane contacted the top of the No. 7 approach light tower at an elevation of 27 feet above the mean low-water level and 2,400 feet from the threshold of runway 22L. The aircraft continued and struck towers 8 and 9. The aircraft’s left wing was damaged severely by impact with these towers--the outboard section was severed. The aircraft then rolled into a steep left bank, well in excess of 90°. It contacted the ground and the fuselage struck five other towers. The aircraft then continued to Rockaway Boulevard, where it came to rest. The approach light towers and large boulders along the latter portion of the path caused the fuselage to collapse and disintegrate. A fire had erupted after the left wing failed.

Flight NW6231 departed New York-JFK at 19:14 for a ferry flight to Buffalo and was cleared by departure control to climb to FL140. At 19:21 the flight was cleared to climb to FL310. The aircraft began to climb 2,500 fpm at an airspeed of 305 knots. As the aircraft climbed through FL160, both the airspeed and the rate of climb began to increase. Reaching FL230, the airspeed had reached 405 knots and the rate of climb had exceeded 6,500 fpm. The overspeed warning horn sounded a little later, followed 10 seconds later by a stick shaker stall warning. The aircraft then leveled at 24800 feet with a speed of 420 knots until it turned rapidly to the right, 13 seconds later. The airplane started to descend out of control, reaching a vertical acceleration of +5g until it struck the ground in a slightly nose down and right wing-down attitude. The aircraft had descended from 24000 feet to 1090 feet in 83 seconds.

While taking off from a snow covered runway, the airplane became unstable and directional control was lost. The pilot reduced the power on the right engine to compensate but this was insufficient. The airplane overran and came to rest in a snow covered area. All four passengers were injured and the pilot was seriously wounded. The aircraft was written off.

The crew departed Buffalo Airport on a cargo flight to Pittsburgh. Few minutes after takeoff, the right engine caught fire and the crew declared an emergency. The fire spread to the engine nacelle and the right wing that detached. Out of control, the airplane dove into the ground and crashed in flames in an open field located in Hamburg, about 15,5 miles south of Buffalo Airport. The aircraft was destroyed and both occupants were killed.

The crew started the approach to Saranac Lake-Adirondack Airport by night and encountered poor visibility due to fog and snow showers. Unable to locate the runway, the captain decided to abandon the approach and initiated a go-around. Few minutes later, a second attempt to land was also abandoned for similar reasons. During a third attempt, the airplane passed below the MDA and once at an altitude of 2,140 feet, it struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located about 2 miles short of runway threshold. The aircraft was destroyed and all three crew members were killed.

Shortly after takeoff from Buffalo Airport, while in initial climb, the left engine lost power. The aircraft banked left, lost height then crashed onto several houses located in the residential area of Cheektowaga, about two miles south of the airport. The airplane was destroyed and all three occupants were killed as well as three people on the ground.

While in a low level rout one of the engines on the left side of the aircraft malfunctioned and became uncontrollable and was shut down. Hours later on final approach to Griffiss, in a driving rainstorm at night, the copilot, following the checklist turned on the starter switches for all the engines including the one that had been shut down. The shutdown engine that was now wind milling somewhere in the descent reignited and started to increase to max power. The pilots were unaware of this. As the aircraft flared out over the runway with the engine heading toward max power and the landing gear barely touching the ground the aircraft was unable to slow down to engage the brakes. The drag shut was released but failed to deploy. Unable to stop the pilot elected to go-around and increased power…but then made the decision there was not enough runways remaining and cut back the power and announced to the crew that they were going of off the end of the runway. The impact resulted in the aircraft breaking in half just behind the crew compartment and skidding down the embankment with the outboard run-away engine still running as the gear, and AGM 28 Missiles were sheared off. The Boeing reprehensive stated that most likely the only reason the aircraft did not explode on impact was due to the mud caused by the heavy rain. All crew members survived.
Source: ASN

Just after takeoff from Skaneateles Airfield runway 10, while in initial climb, the right engine lost power. The pilot lost control of the airplane that crashed into Lake Skaneateles. The pilot and two passengers were killed while three other occupants were injured. The aircraft was lost.

On final approach to Albany by night and marginal weather conditions, the crew encountered technical problems with the left engine propeller cruise lock system. The propeller could not be feathered and the airplane lost height and eventually crashed onto two houses located 3,8 miles short of runway 01 threshold. Two crew members and 14 passengers as well as one people on the ground were killed. The aircraft and two houses were destroyed.

Shortly after takeoff from Rochester-Greater Rochester Airport, while climbing by night, the pilot made a low level turn immediately after liftoff. Control was lost and the airplane crashed. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.