List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Commercial Aircraft - 1956

1956

• February 18 – The 1956 Scottish Airlines Malta air disaster: a Scottish Airlines Avro York crashes near Żurrieq, Malta due to pilot error, killing all 50 on board.
• April 1 – TWA Flight 400, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes on takeoff at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, killing 22 of the 36 on board; 14 survive.
• April 2 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, ditches into Puget Sound after takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after the cowl flaps are incorrectly set for takeoff; four passengers and a flight attendant die, probably of hypothermia, while waiting for rescue; 33 survive.
• June 20 – Linea Aeropostal Flight 253, a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey. All 74 passengers and crew on board are killed.
• June 24 – In the 1956 BOAC Argonaut accident, a Canadair C-4 Argonaut, G-ALHE,crashes shortly after taking off from Kano Airport, Nigeria into a thunderstorm, killing 32 of the 38 passengers and 3 of the seven crew.
• June 30 – The 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision between United Airlines Flight 718, a DC-7 and TWA Flight 2, a Lockheed Constellation, over the Grand Canyon, kills all 128 aboard both planes; operating under Visual Flight Rules, the planes fail to see each other; the Federal Aviation Administration is created in the aftermath; the FAA establishes new rules for passenger carriers, among them the requirement to operate under Instrument Flight Rules, even in good weather.
• July 9 – 1956 Trans-Canada Air Lines accident: Flight 304, a Vickers Viscount, sheds a propeller blade over Flat Rock, Michigan; the blade penetrates the passenger cabin, killing one of 35 aboard; this is the first known case of a turboprop shedding a blade in passenger service.
• October 16 – Pan Am Flight 6, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, is forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean between Hawai'i and San Francisco; all 31 on board are rescued by a nearby United States Coast Guard ship.
• November 7 – In the Hummelfjell Accident, a Braathens SAFE de Havilland Heron with 12 on board crashes into Hummelfjell mountain near Tolga, Norway, killing the pilot and a passenger.
• November 27 – Linea Aeropostal Flight 253, a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, crashes while on approach to Caracas International Airport, killing all 25 on board.
• December 9 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 62 people on board; the wreckage is located several months later. Aboard were four members of the Canadian Football League Saskatchewan Roughriders, and former Iowa Hawkeye Outland Trophy winner Cal Jones.