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Pan Am Flight 843

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1965 aviation incident
Pan Am Flight 843
68231386138N761PA, the aircraft involved, photographed in July 1973
Accidentally
DateJune 28, 1965 (1965-06-28)
SummaryUncontained engine failure leading to partial structural failure
SiteOn climb-out from takeoff at San Francisco International Airport
37°37′5.57″N 122°22′20.33″W / 37.6182139°N 122.3723139°W / 37.6182139; -122.3723139
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707-321B
Aircraft nameClipper Friendship
OperatorPan American World Airways
RegistrationN761PA
Flight originSan Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California
DestinationHonolulu International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii
Occupants153
Passengers143
Crew10
Fatalities0
Survivors153

Pan Am Flight 843 was a scheduled domestic commercial flight from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. On Monday, June 28, 1965, Clipper Friendship, the Boeing 707-321B operating this route, experienced an uncontained engine failure shortly after take-off, but was successfully able to make an emergency landing at nearby Travis Air Force Base. The engine failure had been caused by faulty installation and maintenance procedures. The accident was filmed by a passenger.

Accident

Flight 843, carrying 143 passengers and 10 crew members, departed from San Francisco International Airport around 2:00 pm PST (18:00 UTC). After going through the pre-flight checklist, Captain Charles Kimes, 44, let his co-pilot, Fred Miller, 48, handle the take-off. As the aircraft climbed to an altitude around 800 feet (244 m), the number-4 (outer-right) engine exploded, rupturing the right outboard fuel tank and igniting the fuel inside. The explosion and resulting fire caused the last 25 feet (8 m) of the right wing, along with the damaged engine, to break off from the rest of the aircraft. Captain Kimes radioed the tower, "I don't know whether I can keep it in the air or not."

The pilots were able to extinguish the fire, after which they headed for Travis Air Force Base for an emergency landing. During this time, passenger William Richmond and his wife recorded footage of the burning wing with their camera. Finally, about 34 minutes after taking off, and with the landing gear lowered by emergency means, Flight 843 landed safely at Travis, with all 153 people on board surviving unharmed. The success of the landing under the circumstances was described as a "miracle" by the news press.

Investigation

Three days before the accident on 25 June, the number-4 engine was overhauled and seemed to work perfectly for 39 flight hours. The cause of the explosion was revealed to be a catastrophic failure of the engine's third-stage turbine disc, resulting from a loss of operating clearance between the disc and the third-stage inner sealing ring. Improper positioning of the turbine rotor, use of the wrong type of tool, and worn parts included in the engine assembly process were blamed for that loss of clearance. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) accident report states that the inspector on duty during the reinstallation of the turbine rotor "signed off on work he had not inspected".

Starboard wing damage

Aftermath

The number-4 engine ripped through the roof of a cabinet shop in San Bruno. Slashing through a wooden beam, the jet engine then penetrated an 8-inch (20 cm) thick concrete wall, damaging equipment outside, and came to rest on a mound of soil. A large section of wing came down on Grand Avenue in South San Francisco, starting a grass fire. A 6-foot (1.8 m) section of the wing hit the ground in Holy Cross Cemetery and a charred chunk of the engine exhaust struck the rear of a housing area, also in South San Francisco. No injuries were reported.

While the passengers waited, Pan Am dispatched another 707 to Travis AFB to collect them and continue across the Pacific. This plane's nose gear collapsed on the runway, leaving the passengers dumbstruck. A third aircraft was sent, landing safely. Of the original 143 passengers, all but eight boarded the flight to Hawaii.

Aircraft history

N761PA, Boeing 707-321B, Clipper Friendship, C/N 18336, was delivered to Pan Am on June 13, 1962. The aircraft was rebuilt and returned to service after this accident. It was withdrawn from use in December 1976, and placed in storage at Miami, Florida. Pan Am sold this Boeing 707 on March 10, 1977, to Dolphin Aviation, Inc., which in turn sold it to Air Manila, registered RP-C7075, on May 1, 1977. After several more operators, this Boeing 707 was bought on May 7, 1986, by the Boeing Military Airplane Company, and used as a source of spares for the Boeing KC-135E program. The repaired aircraft made an appearance in the 1966 film Dimension 5 @ 6:02. Reportedly, portions of the airframe are still extant at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.

References

  1. "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". logbookmag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  2. "Pan Am Clipper Names 1934-1991". panamair.org/aircraft/clippernames.htm. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Accident record". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  4. http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=384049 Archived 2022-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Reading Eagle. Published 2012-05-04
  5. Safety Last, page 42. ISBN 0-595-18693-9
  6. Safety Last, page 43. ISBN 0-595-18693-9
  7. "Pan Am Flight 843". YouTube KNBC television broadcast. June 28, 1965. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  8. "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". Logbook Magazine. 2015-02-10. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

Further reading

  • Hiscock, Melvyn (2015). "The Miracle of Flight 843". The Aviation Historian (13): 91–99. ISSN 2051-1930.
  • Power-Waters, Brian (1972). Safety Last. Dial Press.

External links

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    Aviation accidents and incidents in 1965 (1965)
    Jan 4 Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20Jan 16 USAF KC-135 Wichita crashFeb 6 LAN-Chile Flight 107Feb 8 Eastern Air Lines Flight 663Mar 7 Aeroflot Flight 542Mar 8 Aeroflot Flight 513Apr 14 British United Airways Flight 1030XMay 5 Iberia Flight 401May 20 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705Jun 28 Pan Am Flight 843Jul 1 Continental Airlines Flight 12Jul 6 Little Baldon Hastings crashJul 8 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21Jul 10 Skyways Coach-Air Avro 748Jul 20 Cambrian Airways Liverpool crashJul 23 Allegheny Airlines Flight 604Aug 16 United Air Lines Flight 389Aug 24 Hong Kong US Marines KC-130F CrashSep 17 Pan Am Flight 292Sep 19 Gujarat Beechcraft incidentOct 20 Philippine Air Lines Flight 741Oct 27 British European Airways Vickers Vanguard crashNov 2 Argentine Air Force C-54 disappearanceNov 8 American Airlines Flight 383Nov 11 United Air Lines Flight 227Nov 11 Aeroflot Flight 99Dec 4 Carmel mid-air collisionDec 5 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
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    Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
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    This list is incomplete.
    An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory.
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    [[Category:June 1965 events in the United Statesbfd

    1. "A Sight Few Have Seen and Lived to Tell About". article. Life magazine. 9 July 1965. pp. 20–27. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
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