Northeast Airlines Flight 823
Douglas DC-6A | |
Operator | Northeast Airlines |
---|---|
Registration | N34954 |
Flight origin | LaGuardia Airport |
Destination | Miami International Airport |
Passengers | 95 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 20 |
Injuries | 78 |
Survivors | 81 |
Northeast Airlines Flight 823 was a scheduled flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Miami International Airport, Florida, which crashed shortly after takeoff on February 1, 1957. The aircraft operating the service was a Douglas DC-6 four-engined propeller airliner, registration N34954,[1] which entered service in 1955.
Accident sequence
While originally scheduled to depart at 2:45 pm, delays due to snowfall pushed departure back to 6:01 pm. At takeoff, with a nearly full complement of 95 passengers and 6 crewmembers (3
After what was described as a normal takeoff roll, the aircraft lifted off. Upon establishing a positive
Recovery
Shortly after the crash, Rikers Island department personnel and prison trusties (inmates whose good behavior had earned the guards' trust)[2] alike ran to the crash in order to help survivors. As a result of their actions, of the 57 inmates who assisted with the rescue effort, 30 were released and 16 received a reduction of six months by the N.Y.C. Parole Board. Governor W. Averell Harriman also granted commutation of sentence to 11 men serving definite sentences: two received a six months reduction; one workhouse and eight penitentiary definites became eligible for immediate release.[3]
Investigation
An investigation by the
In popular culture
The flight was the featured story in a book on aviation written by Alvin Moscow, Tiger on a Leash. Told from the hindsight of 1961, it discussed many aspects of passenger flight of the time.[5]
See also
References
- ^ "FAA Registry (N34954)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ Calandra, Lion (29 January 2017). "60 years later, a plane crash and a jail prove 'a blessing' for one survivor". Fox News. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ McCarthy, Tom. "1957 Rikers air crash". Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation.
- ^ Kirkus Review: Tiger on a Leash