Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 was an American military charter operated on 3 June 1963 by a Northwest Orient Airlines Douglas DC-7C registered N290 which crashed into the sea off the coast of Alaska. All 101 crew and passengers on board were killed.[1] It was the airline's deadliest disaster until the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 24 years later.

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293
N290 the Douglas DC-7 involved, photographed at Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport in September 1959
Occurrence
Date3 June 1963
SummaryUnknown
SiteClarence Strait, WSW of Annette Island, Alaska
54.2138°N 133.857°W / 54.2138; -133.857
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-7C
OperatorNorthwest Orient Airlines
RegistrationN290
Flight originMcChord Air Force Base, Washington, United States
DestinationElmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, United States
Occupants101
Passengers95
Crew6
Fatalities101
Survivors0

Accident

Flight 293 was chartered by the Military Air Transport Service of the United States Air Force to carry 95 servicemen and their families from McChord Air Force Base in Washington state to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska.[1] The DC-7 departed McChord at 07:52 Pacific Standard Time.[1] The last radio contact with the plane was at 10:06, when the crew requested a change of flight level.[1] When nothing more had been heard for more than an hour, a search for the aircraft was begun at 11:16.[1] It was not until 19:22 that floating debris was seen 182.5 miles (293.7 km) WSW of Annette Island, Alaska.

Approximately 1,500 pounds of wreckage was recovered, including life vests still encased in their plastic containers and extremely deformed seat frames.[2] None of the bodies of the crew or passengers were ever recovered.[2]

Investigation

With the wreckage under 8,000 feet of water, the Accident Review Board concluded that "Because of lack of evidence, the Board is unable to determine the probable cause of the accident."[3][4]

References

Notes
  1. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  2. "United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit - Irene Cox v Northwest Airlines, Inc". openjurist.org. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  3. Aircraft Accident Report
  4. "Cause Unknown: What brought down these five airplanes?", by Lester A. Reingold, Air & Space magazine (September 2010)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.