9G-ACL

United States Army Air Forces - USAAF

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

The crew was performing a ferry flight from the US to India when flying off the Liberian coast, the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft due to a fuel exhaustion. The four engine aircraft came to rest off Greenville coast and was lost. All crew members were rescued.

Pan American World Airways - PAA

Lockheed L-049 Constellation

Pan American's Flight 151 departed Johannesburg at 0812, June 21, and after a routine flight and scheduled stop at Léopoldville, Belgian Congo, arrived at Accra, Gold Coast, at 2125. Following a mechanical delay which required the changing of several spark plugs and a set of magneto points, the flight was dispatched and cleared to Roberts Field, Monrovia, on an instrument flight plan at 16,500 feet with Dakar, French West Africa, and Accra as alternates Take-off from Accra was at 2352Z. The gross weight at departure was 89,255 pounds, including cargo, mail, 3,340 gallons of fuel, 31 passengers, and a crew of nine. The gross weight of the aircraft and distribution of the disposable load were within the allowable limits. The en route communication system of the flight sector between Accra and Roberts Field is high frequency radio-telephone utilizing ground stations at Accra and Roberts Field as primary guarding stations Normal communication with these two stations was maintained as Flight 151 progressed westward after departing Accra. The flight proceeded in a routine manner, climbing to 16,500 feet MSL in accordance with the flight plan. At 0057 a position report was given over Abidjan, 258 miles west of Accra, and arrival over Cape Palmas, Liberia, 265 miles farther to the west, was estimated as 0156. At 0156 Flight 151 reported over Cape Palmas at 16,500 feet MSL, on instruments, and estimated arrival at Roberts Field as 0246. (A plantation employee in the Cape Palmas area stated that he beard an airplane inland and very high at approximately 0220, that the moon was bright and the sky was clear at the time. Since no other aircraft was known to have been in the area, this is presumed to have been Flight 151). At 0220 Flight 151 requested clearance to descend. Roberts Field radio cleared the flight to descend to 3,000 feet and advised that at 0225 the Roberts Field tower would establish contact on VHF A clear two-way contact was made at 0225 on 118.1 mcs, at which time the tower gave the flight the local weather and altimeter set-ting, cleared it to descend IFR over Roberts Range Station, and indicated that Runway 05 was in use. At 0237 Flight 151 was again given local weather for Roberts Field cloud base estimated 1,000 feet, broken, light drizzle and haze, visibility 3 miles. At 0241 the local wind was given as W-WNW variable 7 miles per hour All of these messages were acknowledged. At 0255, nine minutes after its ETA at Roberts, Flight 151 was heard calling Roberts Field on VHF 118.1 mcs. The tower responded, repeating the call three times. There was no indication that the aircraft heard the tower, whereupon the tower switched to 3270 kcs and requested the flight to give its current position. There was no reply to this call. Immediately following failure of the aircraft to respond to Roberts tower on 3270 kcs, the Roberts Field high frequency radio-telephone facility established contact advising the flight that they were unable to read it on 118.1 mcs and that the flight should reply to the tower's call on 3270 kcs. This message was acknowledged at 0301. At 0305 the flight again contacted Roberts tower on 3270 kcs advising that the Dakar radio beacon was interfering with the Roberts Field radio beacon and that they would "be back in 15 minutes" Roberts tower advised Flight 151 that Dakar would be requested to turn off the beacon and this message was acknowledged (Because of incoming traffic to Dakar, the beacon there was not turned off until 0410) At 0315 Flight 151 again called Roberts tower on 3270 kcs and the latter transmitted the latest weather. The flight did not acknowledge this transmission on 3270 kcs but called Roberts tower on 118.1 mcs Roberts tower then replied on 118 1 mcs but received no acknowledgement. Thereafter, the tower repeatedly called Flight 151 on both 118.1 mcs and 3270 kcs, requesting the aircraft's position and broadcasting the weather However, the incomplete contact at 0315 was the last transmission received from the flight. The wreckage was found a day later near the village of Sanoyie, about 91 km northeast of Monrovia-Roberts Airport. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 40 occupants have been killed.

Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd

Vickers Viscount

Trans Australia Airlines - TAA

Vickers Viscount

The crew (pilots and engineers) were engaged in a local training flight at Mangalore Airport, Victoria. During the takeoff roll on runway 22, after it reached V1 speed, the instructor shut down the engine number four and feathered its propeller to simulate an engine failure. The pilot-in-command continued the takeoff procedure. Shortly after rotation, the aircraft turned to the right and reached the height of 100 feet when it stalled and crashed in flames in a field located less than one km west of the airfield. Five crew members were injured (three of them seriously) while three pilots were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. The takeoff from which the accident resulted was being attempted in the most critical three-engine configuration, i.e. with number 4 engine (starboard outer) inoperative. In this configuration, with flaps extended 20° and the three engines on full power, a minimum speed of 96 knots is necessary in order to ensure that, using both rudder and aileron, a constant heading can be maintained. When flying under these conditions at speeds below 96 knots it is not possible to keep the aircraft from turning. The takeoff safety speed for the conditions existing at the time of this accident is given in the flight manual for Viscount VH-TVA as 106 knots and it has been the practice of Trans- Australia Airlines to teach its pilots not to lift the aircraft off the ground at speeds below 110 knots in a three-engine takeoff. It has been calculated that with normal acceleration in a three-engine take-off the speed of the aircraft when it left the runway would have been 85 to 90 knots which was too low.

British European Airways - BEA

Vickers Viscount

The aircraft took off from London Airport at 0755LT on a training flight, which was part of a routine base check being carried out by a training captain on a line captain. Having completed the first part of the check the aircraft landed at Blackbushe. At approximately 0850LT a takeoff was commenced from this airport for another exercise. On reaching the takeoff safety speed the training captain simulated a starboard outer engine failure. At this point the aircraft was just leaving the ground and as it did so the starboard inner propeller was seen to be stopping and the aircraft began turning to the right with an increasing amount of bank. It rose to about 30 feet and then descended and hit the ground at a point 250 yards from the runway in a steeply banked, nose-down attitude. It cartwheeled, slid along the ground backwards for 200 yards and came to rest just inside the northwest boundary of the aerodrome. The aircraft sustained major impact damage and fire broke out which almost completely destroyed it. The five occupants escaped with only slight injuries.

Capital Airlines

Vickers Viscount

Capital Airlines flight 141 of February 20, 1956, originated at Willow Run Airport, Detroit, Michigan, and was a regularly scheduled flight to Chicago. The crew consisted of Captain Roger Harrison Taylor, First Officer George Richard Hanst and Stewardesses Jacqueline V. Sadowski and Gloria Galloway. Captain R. E. Gilliland, the fifth assigned crew member, was deadheading to Chicago and rode in the passenger cabin. Following a weather briefing, which included a review of en route and terminal weather forecasts, a VFR flight plan was filed. Departure from Detroit was at 0700. The gross takeoff weight of the air- craft was 54,701 pounds, which was below the specified limit; the load was distributed properly with respect to the center of gravity of the aircraft. The flight to the vicinity of Chicago was routine. Near Chicago Flight 141 reported to the Chicago tower that it was over the shoreline. The flight later reported passing Kedzie and was cleared to land on runway 31R. The flight was observed to make a right turn to final approach and appeared to descend in a normal manner until over the west side of Cicero Avenue (the eastern boundary of the airport) at an altitude of 25 to 50 feet above the ground. At this point the airplane appeared to decelerate and descend rapidly. The aircraft was further observed to strike the ground in a slightly nose-up attitude several hundred feet short of the threshold of threshold of the runway, and the top of the fuselage was seen to break open adjacent to the wing spar to fuselage attachment. As the aircraft proceeded down the runway the landing gear retracted and the aircraft then slid on its belly until it came to rest to the left of the runway, 1,626 feet beyond the point of initial impact. All occupants left the aircraft through emergency exits or the main cabin door. The fire department, having been called by tower personnel, arrived at the scene before all persons had evacuated the aircraft. However, there was no fire. The Chicago weather at 0720 was reported as: Sky clear, visibility 6 miles; smoke; wind north-northwest.