1960 – Dec 16, United 826 & TWA 266 holding pattern crash over Staten Island, NY — 134

— 134 AirDisaster.Com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 12161960.
— 134 CAB. AAR. United…and Trans World Airlines…Near Staten Island, NY, Dec 16, 1960.
— 134 History.com. This Day in History, Dec 16, 1960
— 134 Kimura. World Com. Aircraft Accidents, 3rd Ed. 1946-1991, Vol. 1, June 1994, p. 2-5.
— 134 NationMaster. 1960 NY Air Disaster.

Narrative Information

AirDisaster.Com: “The aircraft collided with a Trans World Airlines Connie while in a holding pattern. The United crew entered the holding pattern at more than twice the normal speed, exceeded their assigned airspace limitations, and hit the Connie. The aircraft was attempting an emergency landing when it crashed into the streets of Brooklyn.” (AirDisaster.Com. Accident Synopsis 12161960.)

CAB: “On December 16, 1960, at 1033 e.s.t., a collision between Trans World Airlines Model 1049A Constellation, N 6907C, and a United Air Lines DC-8, N 8013U, occurred near Miller Army Air Field, Staten Island, New York. Trans World Airlines Flight 266 originated at Dayton, Ohio. The destination was LaGuardia Airport, New York, with one en route stop at Columbus, Ohio United Air Lines Flight 826 was a non-stop service originating at O’Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois, with its destination New York International Airport, New York. Both aircraft were operating under Instrument Flight Rules.

“Following the collision the Constellation fell on Miller Army Field, and the DC-8 continued in a northeasterly direction, crashing into Sterling place near Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Both aircraft were totally destroyed. All 128 occupants of both aircraft and 6 persons on the ground in Brooklyn were fatally injured. There was considerable damage to property in the area of the ground impact of the DC-8….

“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was that United Flight 826 proceeded beyond its clearance limit and the confines of the airspace allocated to the flight by Air Traffic Control A contributing factor was the high rate of speed of the United DC-8 as it approached the Preston intersection, coupled with the change of clearance which reduced the enroute distance along VICTOR 123 by approximately 11 miles.” (CAB. United Air…and Trans World Airlines…Near Staten Island, NY, Dec 16, 1960.)

History.com: “It was a snowy morning in New York when a United DC-8 from Chicago [O’Hare] was heading for Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in southern Queens [84 people on board]. At the same time, a TWA Super Constellation from Dayton, Ohio [carrying 44], was heading to LaGuardia Airport in northern Queens. Due to the weather[heavy clouds], the United flight was put into a holding pattern. When the pilot miscalculated the location of the pattern, the plane came directly into the path of the TWA flight.

“….One hundred twenty-eight people in total were on the two planes. Eleven-year-old passenger Stephen Baltz described the scene: “It looked like a picture out of a fairy book. Then all of a sudden there was an explosion. The plane started to fall and people started to scream. I held on to my seat and then the plane crashed.” Baltz [the only collision survivor] initially survived the crash , but died from his injuries the following afternoon. All of the other people on the planes also died….

“The United flight, missing its right engine and part of a wing, came down in the middle of the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. It narrowly missed St. Augustine’s Academy and hit an apartment building and the Pillar of Fire Church. Dozens of other buildings caught fire in the resulting explosion. Mrs. Robert Nevin, who was sitting in a top floor apartment when the place crashed into her building, later said “The roof caved in and I saw the sky.”

“Six people on the ground died when the plane crashed, including Wallace Lewis, the 90-year-old caretaker of the church, and two men who were selling Christmas trees nearby. Christmas presents carried by the plane’s passengers were strewn all over the streets. Firefighting efforts went on for nearly 72 hours because of the multiple fires….

“The improbable mid-air collision is the only such accident to have occurred over a major city in U.S. history. (History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, December 16, 1960. “Two Airplanes Collide Over New York City”)

Kimura: “Cause, Remarks, Descrip. … Air traffic control failure.” (Kimura. World Commercial Aircraft Accidents, 3rd Edition 1946-1991, Volume 1, Jet and Turboprop Aircrafts. 1994, p. 2-5.)

NationMaster: “According to information from the United’s flight recorder (the first time a “black box” had been used to provide extensive details in a crash investigation) the United plane was 12 miles off course and in 81 seconds had dove 3,600 feet a minute and dropped its speed from more than 500 miles per hour to 363 miles per hour when it slammed into the right side of the TWA plane at between 5,250 and 5,175 feet….The United plane was supposed to have been circling a point called “Preston” off the New Jersey coast, was supposed to have been at 5,000 feet (and not diving down from 8,700 feet) and not traveling more than 240 miles per hour. United was to say the ground beacon was not working” (NationMaster, 1960 NY Air Disaster).

Sources

AirDisaster.Com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 12161960. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=12161960&reg=N8013U&airline=United+Airlines

Civil Aeronautics Board. Aircraft Accident Report. United Air Lines, Inc., DC-8, N 8013U, and Trans World Airlines, Inc., Constellation 1049A, N 6907C, Near Staten Island, New York, December 16, 1960. Washington, DC: CAB (File No. 1-0083), June 18, 1962, 32 pages. At: http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C121660.pdf

History.com. This Day in Disaster History, Disaster, December 16, 1960. “Two Airplanes Collide Over New York City.” Accessed 12/4/2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=12/16&categoryId=disaster

Kimura, Chris Y. World Commercial Aircraft Accidents, 3rd Edition 1946-1991, Volume 1, Jet and Turboprop Aircrafts. Livermore, CA: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, June 1994, 336 pages. Accessed at: https://e-reports-ext.llnl.gov/pdf/224783.pdf

NationMaster.com. Encyclopedia. “1960 New York Air Disaster.” Accessed 12/15/2008 at: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/1960-New-York-air-disaster