1960 New York mid-air collision
United Airlines Flight 826 was a flight that collided with TWA Flight 266 on December 16, 1960. No one survived. It was the deadliest at the time. The accident became known as the Park Slope plane crash or the Miller Field crash, named after the two crash sites.[1] The accident was also the first hull loss and the first fatal accident involving a Douglas DC-8.[2][3]
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 16, 1960 |
| Summary | Mid-air collision |
| Place | About a mile west of Miller Field 40°34′07″N 74°07′19″W / 40.56861°N 74.12194°WCoordinates: 40°34′07″N 74°07′19″W / 40.56861°N 74.12194°W |
| Total injuries (non-fatal) | 0 |
| Total fatalities | 134 |
| Total survivors | 0 |
| First aircraft | |
 The tail assembly of N8013U, the Douglas DC-8-11 involved in the collision | |
| Type | Douglas DC-8-11 |
| Name | Mainliner Will Rogers |
| Airline/user | United Airlines |
| Registration | N8013U |
| Flew from | Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD), IL |
| Flying to | Idlewild Airport (IDL/KIDL)(Now John F. Kennedy International Airport), New York City |
| Passengers | 77 |
| Crew | 7 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 0 (1 initially) |
| Fatalities | 84 (83 initially) |
| Survivors | 0 (1 initially) |
| Second aircraft | |
| Type | Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation |
| Name | Star of Sicily |
| Airline/user | Trans World Airlines |
| Registration | N6907C |
| Flew from | Dayton International Airport (DAY/KDAY), Dayton, Ohio |
| Stopover | Port Columbus International Airport (CMH/KCMH), Ohio |
| Flying to | LaGuardia Airport KLGA New York |
| Passengers | 39 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 44 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Aircrafts and crews
United Airlines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registration N8013U, was a DC-8-11 carrying 77 passengers and seven crew members. It was travelling from O'Hare International Airport to Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in Queens. The crew consisted of captain Robert Sawyer (age 46), first officer Robert Fiebing (40), flight engineer Richard Pruitt (30) and four stewardesses.[4]
Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registration N6907C, was a Super Constellation carrying 39 passengers and five crew members. It was travelling from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The crew consisted of captain David Wollam (age 39), first officer Dean Bowen (32), flight engineer LeRoy Rosenthal (30) and two stewardesses.[4][5]
Initial survivor
There was a initial survivor in the accident, Stephen Baltz, an 11-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois. He was travelling alone on Flight 826 to spend Christmas with his relatives. He was thrown from the plane into the snowbank, where the snow helped to put out the fire on his clothes. Although he was alive and conscious, he was severely burned and had breathed in burning fuel. Baltz died of pneumonia the next day.[6]
Legacy
The total number of fatalities of the accident would not be surpassed until a Lockheed C-130B Hercules was shot down in May 1968, killing 155 people.[7] In terms of commercial aviation, the death toll would not be surpassed until Viasa Flight 742 on March 1969. The aircraft crashed on takeoff and killed all 84 people on board, as well as 71 people on the ground.[8]
In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the accident, a memorial to the 134 victims of the two crashes was revealed in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The cemetery is the site of the common grave containing the remains of those whom could not be identified.[9][10]
The collision is covered in "Collision Course," the fifth episode of the first season of The Weather Channel documentary series Why Planes Crash.[11]
1960 New York Mid-air Collision Media
Flight paths of the two aircraft
The crash site of the United Airlines DC-8, United 826, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The crash site of the TWA Super Constellation, TWA 266, in Miller Field, Staten Island.
References
- ↑ Park Slope Plane Crash. December 16, 2010. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/park-slope-plane-crash/. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
- ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-8-11 N8013U New York, NY". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation N6907C Miller Army Air Station, NY". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "UNITED AIR LINES, INC, DC-8, N8013U, AND TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC., CONSTELLATION 1049A, N6907C, NEAR STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1960" (PDF). archive.org. Civil Aeronautics Board. 18 June 1962. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
- ↑ (in en-US) 1960 plane collision over NYC spurred improvements. March 27, 2015. https://www.foxnews.com/us/1960-plane-collision-over-nyc-spurred-improvements. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
- ↑ Perlmutter, Emanuel (18 December 1960). Boy Who Survived Crash Dies; 'Stevie Tried Hard,' Father Says. p. 49.
- ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed C-130B Hercules 60-0297 Kham Duc". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 YV-C-AVD Maracaibo". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ↑ "New York - New Monument Marks 1960 Brooklyn Air Crash". Vos Iz Neias. 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ↑ staff/jen-carlson (2010-12-16). "Memorial Is Unveiled For 1960s Park Slope Plane Crash". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ↑ Sommers, Caroline (27 April 2013). Why Planes Crash (Collision Course ed.). The Weather Channel: NBC Peacock Productions. Archived from the original (TV Documentary) on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
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