Lockheed L-188 Electra - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

Of the total of 170 Electras built, as of June 2011 58 have been written off because of crashes and other accidents.

• February 3, 1959: American Airlines Flight 320 en route from Chicago to New York City crashed on approach, killing 65 of 73 on board.
• September 29, 1959: A Braniff Electra (Braniff Flight 542) crashed in Buffalo, Texas en route to Dallas, Texas from Houston, Texas. All Twenty-nine passengers and five crew members died in the crash. The Civil Aeronautics Board blamed the crash on the "whirl-mode" prop theory and in-flight separation of a wing from the aircraft.
• March 17, 1960: An Electra operated as Northwest Orient Flight 710, en route from Chicago to Miami, Florida, broke apart in flight over Perry County, Indiana, in the second "whirl-mode" crash. All 63 people on board were killed (57 passengers and six crew members).
• October 4, 1960: Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 crashed on takeoff from Boston, Massachusetts's Logan International Airport, killing 62 of 72 on board. The crash was eventually determined to be the result of bird ingestion in three engines rather than structural failure.
• June 12, 1961: KLM Flight 823 crashed short of the runway at Cairo killing 20 out of the 36 on board.
• September 17, 1961: Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashed on takeoff from Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, killing all 37 on board. The crash was eventually determined to be the result of mechanical failure in the aileron primary control system due to an improper replacement of the aileron boost assembly.
• April 22, 1966: An American Flyers Airline L-188 crashed into a hill on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport, killing all 5 crew and 78 of the 93 passengers on board.
• February 16, 1967: Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 708 crashed while attempting to land at Manado-Sam Ratulangi Airport. 22 of 92 passengers and crew on board were killed. The crash was eventually determined to be the result of an awkward landing technique resulting in an excessive rate of sink on touchdown. Marginal weather at the time of landing was a contributing factor.
• May 3, 1968: Braniff Flight 352, which was en route from Houston to Dallas, disintegrated over Dawson, Texas. All 80 passengers and five crew members were killed. This was the worst air disaster in Texas at the time. The Probable Cause found by the National Transportation Safety Board was excessive loads put upon the aircraft structure while attempting to recover from an unusual attitude resulting from loss of control in thunderstorm turbulence; the operation in the turbulence resulted from a decision to penetrate an area of known severe weather.
• August 9, 1970: LANSA Flight 502 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 99 of the 100 people on board, plus two people on the ground.
• December 24, 1971: LANSA Flight 508, which was en route from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, entered an area of strong turbulence and lightning and disintegrated in mid air due to structural failure following a lightning strike and fire. Of the 92 people on board, 91 were killed. One passenger, Juliane Koepcke, survived the crash.
• June 4, 1976: An Air Manila 188A (RP-C1061) crashed just after takeoff from the Guam Naval Air Station, killing the 45 occupants and one person on the ground.
• On November 18, 1979, Transamerica Airlines L-188 (N859U), operating a flight for the US military (Logair 3N18) from Hill Air Force Base, crashed near Salt Lake City airport, Utah. While climbing between 12,000 and 13,000 ft, all electrical power was lost; the crew requesting an immediate descent. The aircraft attained a high airspeed and a high rate of descent and the aircraft disintegrated in flight killing all three crew members. The NTSB investigation stated the probable cause was a progressive failure of the aircraft electrical system leading to the disabling or erratic performance of flight critical flight instruments and lighting. As a result the crew became disoriented and lost control of the aircraft. The crew's efforts to regain control of the aircraft imposed loads which exceeded the design limits and caused it to break up in flight.
• On 8 June 1983, Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8's propeller separated from the aircraft and tore a hole in the fuselage over the Pacific Ocean causing an explosive decompression and loss of control. The pilots managed to land the aircraft safely at Anchorage, Alaska and all 15 passengers and crew survived. Since the propeller fell into the sea the cause of the separation is undetermined.
• May 30, 1984: Zantop International Airlines Flight 931, a Lockheed L-188AF Electra (N5523) flying regularly scheduled cargo service from Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) to Detroit-Willow Run Airport (YIP), crashed at Chalkhill, Pennsylvania killing all three crew members and the sole, non-revenue, passenger. While cruising at FL220, at approximately 01:44AM, the aircraft entered an unusual attitude shortly after a course change. During efforts to recover the aircraft the pilots imposed loads on the airframe in excess of the aircraft's design limits and the aircraft subsequently broke apart at altitude. NTSB reported that in-flight problems with the aircraft's gyros likely provided conflicting attitude data to the flight crew at the time of the upset and this, combined with a lack of visual cues, were contributing causes of the accident.
• January 21, 1985: Chartered Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashed after takeoff from Reno-Cannon International Airport en-route to Minneapolis, Minnesota with 71 people on board.
• December 18, 1995: An overloaded 188C of Trans Service Airlift crashed near Cahungula, Angola with the loss of 141 of the 144 occupants.