Lockheed's design, the L-188, was a low wing, four turboprop powered aircraft. An L-188 Electra similar to that involved in the accident. 62 people tragically lost their lives, with only 10 people surviving. var pageCommentID = 'logan-electra-bird-strike-1960'. This event still stands as the worst accident in airline history caused by a bird-strike. Seats were removed from the sea with dead people still strapped into them, and were lined up on the beach near the accident The snow covered airstrip is still visible. result, two of the four engines lost power, and a third flamed-out. At 5:40 p.m., on October 4, 1960, Eastern Airlines Flight 375 was departing Boston’s Logan International Airport on runway 9 with 67 passengers and a crew of 5 aboard. Following takeoff, Houston Departure Control handed responsibility of the aircraft over to San Antonio. A Lockheed L-188PF Electra passenger plane, registered CF-PAB, was damaged beyond repair in an accident 3 km S of Rea Point Airfield, NT (YOX), Canada. The final accident report for Flight 542 was issued on April 28, 1961. Some of the good results of the Electra crash were minimum ingestion standards for propeller driven and later jet aircraft, and the start of comprehensive and standardized The aircraft involved in this accident was a four-engine Lockheed Electra L-188, registration N5533. American Airlines was the launch customer. Why this wing failure occurred, I don't know.". At 23:09, as the aircraft was on course to the Trinidad Intersection, the left wing and number one (left outboard) engine separated from the aircraft. After hitting the water, Worst Bird Strike, 1960. Some survivors were sent to the old Winthrop Hospital, and others in critical condition were transported to Boston. Those who were not killed during the initial break-up of the aircraft were either ejected from the fuselage or trapped within it as it fell. There were 30 passengers and four crew members on board. The flight reached its assigned altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) at 22:58. In June 1955 American awarded Lockheed an order for 35 such aircraft. In the six months following the accident further progress towards identifying the cause of the flutter was unsuccessful and the case remained unsolved. Home > Disasters. Final communication with the aircraft occurred at 23:07. The plane was eleven days old, having come off Lockheed's California manufacturing line on September 18, 1959, and had only 132 hours of flight time. NASA employees testing a scale model of the Electra during the early 1960s. Lockheed redesigned the engine nacelles, tilting the engines upwards three degrees. A makeshift morgue was set up at the Winthrop Police Station. survivors, which was reminiscent of the scene in the film Titanic when one of the life boats returns to look for people still alive among the many bodies floating in the water. The Electra Model 10 was an all-metal, twin-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear, designed as a small, medium-range airliner. The wreckage was also re-assembled in a hanger to organize materials for testing and determine if structural failure was part of the The airplane operated on a flight from Edmonton International Airport, AB (YEG) to Rea Point Airfield, NT (YOX). Six seconds after take off, a flock of up to 20,000 starlings suddenly flew into the path of the aircraft, and hundreds of the birds were ingested into the engines. The Chicago, IL to Miami, FL Lockheed Electra carrying 57 passengers and a crew of six plunged into the earth killing all on board. People from the shore waded through thigh-deep mud, and tried to swim out and determine if bodies floating in the water were alive or not. The Electra crashed and sank into the vast Pacific Ocean. Renewal of interest in finding the cause for the Braniff Flight 542 crash occurred after Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710, another Electra model aircraft of the same kind as Flight 542, disintegrated in-flight and crashed near Tell City, Indiana, on March 17, 1960. After landing at Trelew-Almirante Zar Airport runway 06, the aircraft collided with a truck that was parked at the side of the runway. Most orders came from airlines in the United States, Australia and Netherlands. A Lockheed L-188C Electra passenger plane, registered N121US, was destroyed in an accident 9 km NE of Cannelton, IN, United States of America. Thirty-two fatal, two survivors. The accident scene was horrific. The Lockheed L-188 Electra was a medium range airliner powered by four Allison 501-D13 turboprop engines. The seats were wide and buoyant, and had detached from the aircraft's floor on impact. In the standard configuration it carried a crew of 2 and up … Lockheed Electra Crash - Rea Point (Google Maps). We have definite evidence of a wing failure. There were also 15 Marine Recruits headed for Parris Island, SC on the plane. The plane rolled over to the left from an altitude of about 300 feet, and crashed almost vertically into the shallow water just north of the runway. Soon after the crash, no part of the fuselage was visible above the surface of the water, as the impact had broke the plane up and embedded the pieces into the mud of the shallow flats. This aircraft, another Electra, had disintegrated in mid-air after losing its wings in a similar fashion to the Braniff aircraft. airport wildlife management plans (in America, dumping trash at sea at that time had contributed to the increase in sea bird population for instance).