1973 — Feb 7, US Navy Corsair II jet crash into apartment building, fire, Alameda, CA– 11

— 11 NFPA Fire Journal. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1973,” Vol. 68, No. 3, May 1974, p. 70.
— 11 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1970s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “This apartment house fire in Alameda, California, started when a plane crashed into the building. Of the 30 persons in the building, 20 escaped or were rescued, eight died of burns, and one died of mechanical injuries. The cause of death of the other victim was not determined (The pilot is believed to have died before impact.)” (p. 70)

“Aircraft crash, Alameda, California. On February 7 a Navy A7-E Corsair II jet crashed into the Tahoe Apartments about 8 pm. Eleven people died in the crash and resulting fire – nine apartment residents, a visitor, and the aircraft pilot. Of those victims two died of impact injuries, eight as result of the fire, and one of unknown causes.” (p. 76) (NFPA Fire Journal. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1973,” Vol. 68, No. 3, May 1974, p. 70.)

Notable California Aviation Disasters:
“Date / Time: Wednesday, February 7, 1973 / 8:13 p.m.
“Operator / Flight No.: United States Navy / Military
“Location: Alameda, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: Two U.S. Navy A-7 Corsair II jet interceptors were on a routine training flight to Sacramento from the Lemoore Naval Air Station located near Fresno. As the two planes flew at 28,000 feet over the East San Francisco Bay area, one of the jets, piloted by Lieutenant Robert Lee Ward, 28, inexplicably broke from the formation.

“Moments later, the pilot of the second Corsair, flight leader Lt. John Pianetta, noticed that Ward’s jet was no longer flying alongside his own aircraft and radioed Oakland Air Traffic Control that he had ‘lost his wing man.’ Pianetta was given permission to turn back to look for Ward’s Corsair and as he banked his aircraft to try to locate the missing jet, he witnessed a fiery explosion erupt far below, amidst the twinkling lights of the city of Alameda.

“Lt. Ward’s jet, traveling at more than 400 mph, had plunged out of the nighttime sky at a steep angle and slammed into the four-story Tahoe Apartments building at 1814 Central Avenue in the center of the city. The impact, explosion and ensuing firestorm destroyed the apartment house and spread to three adjacent apartment buildings as survivors ran into the streets, leapt from windows or slid down bedsheets to escape the inferno.

“Over the next several days, investigators sifting through the smoldering rubble determined that 11 people, including Lieutenant Ward, the jet’s pilot, had been killed in the disaster. Twenty-six other people were treated at nearby hospitals and eventually released.

“A Navy board of inquiry, formed at the nearby Alameda Naval Air Station to investigate the crash, heard testimony from a number of witnesses, including two civilian metallurgists. One, Charles F. Choa, told the Navy board that he had found evidence of a cockpit fire involving the pilot’s oxygen hose, and that the in-flight blaze was ‘very near’ Ward’s oxygen mask.

“The second metallurgist, Mario Lara, told the panel that while performing lab tests, he had managed to create a similar blaze with a glowing cigarette. Lara testified that while a lighted match took too long to produce the type of blaze present in the Corsair’s cockpit, the burning cigarette touched off the oxygen hose ‘immediately.’ Asked whether he could determine the cause of the fire, Lara said ‘any flame or spark’ — although he did not specifically blame it on a lit cigarette.

“Within a year of the crash, in 1974, more than $700,000 worth of legal claims had been filed in connection with the disaster, including a $500,000 damage action filed in Alameda County Superior Court by the owner of the demolished 36-unit Tahoe Apartments. Mrs. Margaret Motta, owner of the building, said in her suit against Ling-Temco-Vought, designers of the A-7 Corsair II, that a defect in the jet’s oxygen-hose construction caused a fire to be conducted directly ‘to the face of the pilot.’”

“Fatalities: 11 — the pilot of the A-7 Corsair II jet, and 10 residents on the ground.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1970s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.)

Sources

National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1973,” Fire Journal. Vol. 68, No. 3, May 1974, pp. 69-71 & 76.

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1970s.” Oct 23, 2008 update. Accessed 10/18/2009 at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash70s.html