American Airlines Flight 383 (1965)
![]() An American Airlines Boeing 727-23, similar to the one involved. | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | November 8, 1965 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain[1] |
Site | Constance, Kentucky, United States 39°5′11″N 84°39′43″W / 39.08639°N 84.66194°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 727-23 |
Operator | American Airlines |
Registration | N1996 |
Flight origin | LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York, United States |
Destination | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Hebron, Kentucky, United States |
Occupants | 62 |
Passengers | 57 |
Crew | 5 |
Fatalities | 58 |
Injuries | 4 |
Survivors | 4 |
American Airlines Flight 383 was a nonstop flight from New York City to Cincinnati on November 8, 1965.[1]: 1 The aircraft was a Boeing 727, with 57 passengers, and 5 crew on board.[1]: 1 The aircraft crashed on final approach to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport located in Hebron, Kentucky, United States. Only three passengers and one flight attendant survived the crash.[1]: 5
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-100[a](registration number N1996), serial number 18901.[1]: 7 The Boeing 727 was delivered to American Airlines on June 29, 1965, and had operated a total of 938 hours at the time of the accident.[1]: 7
Events leading to the crash
The flight was delayed for 20 minutes in New York.
At 18:58 (6:58 PM), the approach controller transferred Flight 383 to the Cincinnati tower frequency.[1]: 2 At 18:59 (6:59 PM), Flight 383 received clearance from the tower controller to land on runway 18.[1]: 2
Crash
The aircraft flew into thick clouds and a thunderstorm after flying toward the airport from the northwest. It descended more rapidly than it should have, without either pilot in the cockpit noticing. The airport is situated at an elevation of 853 feet (260 m) and the aircraft had descended to the level of 553 ft (169 m) above the airport while it was still about 5 mi (8.0 km) northeast of the airport. It descended to just 3 ft (per altimeter) above the airport while it was about 3 nm north of the airport. Its correct altitude should have been just below 1,000 ft (300 m) at that time. It continued its descent into the Ohio River valley while crossing the river back to the southern shore. When it made its last turn to the southeast to line up with the runway, it flew into the wooded slopes of the valley 3 km north of the runway threshold in poor visibility, at an altitude of 225′ below the runway's elevation. It then exploded and was engulfed in flames.
Of the 62 people on board the aircraft, only four people (one flight attendant and three passengers) survived.[1]: 5, 7 One of the survivors was Israel Horowitz, an American record producer. Another was a deadheading American Airlines captain, Elmer Weekly, who later testified at the accident hearings.
Investigation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/American_Airlines_Flight_383_recorder_examination.jpg/260px-American_Airlines_Flight_383_recorder_examination.jpg)
The
It was later believed that the following factors might have contributed to the crash:[3]
- Lights from the houses in the Ohio River valley, located 400 feet (120 m) below the altitude of the airport, may have conveyed an illusion of runway lights.
- The flight crew may have been confused about their true altitude, due to misinterpretation of the aircraft's drum-type altimeter after descending through 0 feet (relative to the airport altitude), or they may have had their hands full controlling the plane in severe weather and simply failed to notice the readings on the altimeter.
- A late departure from New York and the deteriorating weather at Cincinnati may have put pressure on the flight crew.
- Despite the rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, the flight crew chose to make a visual approach to the runway.
Aftermath
The estate of Samuel Creasy, one of the passengers who died aboard Flight 383, sued American Airlines for wrongful death. American Airlines responded by filing a third-party complaint against the Federal Aviation Administration and the Weather Bureau, in an attempt to shift liability for the crash to meteorologists and air traffic controllers for failure to warn the pilots of inclement weather or revoke the visual approach clearance. American Airlines also alleged that the accident was due to a downdraft rather than pilot error. A jury found AA liable for the accident and awarded Creasy's family $175,000 plus funeral expenses, a decision that was upheld on appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.[4]
Two years after the crash of Flight 383, TWA Flight 128 crashed on the same hill while on approach to Cincinnati under poor visibility conditions.[5]
On December 13, 2017, Toni Ketchell, the surviving crew member, died.[6]
American Airlines still uses flight number 383, although it now operates from
See also
- 1961 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash
- American Airlines Flight 1420
- Aviation safety
- South African Airways Flight 228 (pilot error reading a drum-type altimeter on a Boeing 707)
- Alitalia Flight 404
- American Airlines Flight 383 (2016)
- American Airlines Flight 965
- Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701
- TWA Flight 128, a Convair 880 that crashed near Flight 383's site
Notes
- ^ The aircraft was a Boeing 727-100 model; Boeing assigns a unique code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft is built, hence "727-123" designates a 727-100 built for American Airlines (customer code 23).
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Aircraft Accident Report, American Airlines, Inc. Boeing 727, N1996, Near the Greater Cincinnati Airport, Constance, Kentucky, November 8, 1965" (PDF). Civil Aeronautics Board. October 7, 1966. Retrieved July 21, 2016. - See version at the National Transportation Library.
- ^ Daniel. "Last words – ATC conversations". Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- ISBN 1-875671-11-0.
- ^ American Airlines Inc. v. United States, 418 F.2d 180 (5th Cir. 1969) ("After an eighteen day trial, upon a jury verdict, judgment was entered against American in the sum of $175,000, plus funeral expenses. The District Judge found the United States not guilty of any negligence which contributed to the crash.").
- ^ Noble, Greg (November 16, 2015). "This week in Cincinnati history: 70 killed in worst plane crash at CVG". WCPO-TV. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- ^ "APFA Mourns the Passing of FA Toni Ketchell". Association of Professional Flight Attendants. 2017. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
- ^ "American Airlines (AA) #383 ✈ FlightAware". FlightAware. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Full Civil Aeronautics Board report (Archive)
- NTSB brief DCA66A0003
- Detail Description of the events and investigation of the crash from CASA Flight Safety Magazine (February 2006 issue)
- The last words of the flight crew
- NTSB brief on another American Airlines Flight 383 incident on June 16, 1993 (non-fatal)
- Photo of the accident aircraft