Burlington - Manchester - Boston

On July 31, 1973 at 11:08 AM, Burlington - Manchester - Boston experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-9, operated by Delta Airlines, with the event recorded near Boston-Logan Massachusetts.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

89 people were known to be on board, 88 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 98.9%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 6, passengers on board: 83, passenger fatalities: 82, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. As Delta Flight 723 was descending, the approach clearance was given by the controller after a delay, because the controller was preoccupied with a potential conflict between two other aircraft. This caused the flight to be poorly positioned for approach. The aircraft passed the Outer Marker at a speed of 385 km/h (80 km/h too fast) and was 60 m above the glide slope. The flight director was inadvertently used in the 'go-around-mode', which led to abnormal instrument indications. This caused some confusion. The first officer, who was flying the approach became preoccupied with the problem. The DC-9 continued to descend and struck a seawall 3000 feet short of and 150 feet to the right of runway 04R, crashed and caught fire. RVR at the time was 500 m with 60 m overcast. Two passengers survived, one died a day later while the second passed away on December 11, 1973.

Aircraft reference details include registration N975NE, MSN 47075/166, year of manufacture 1967.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 42.3700°, -71.0196°.