Pan Am Flight 843

Pan Am Flight 843
	N761PA, the aircraft involved, photographed in July 1973
Accident
Date	June 28, 1965
Summary	Engine 4 uncontained failure, causing 1/3 of the wing to blow off.
Site	On climb-out from takeoff at San Francisco International Airport ; 37°37′5.57″N 122°22′20.33″W / 37.6182139°N 122.3723139°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-321B
Aircraft name	Clipper Friendship
Operator	Pan American World Airways
Registration	N761PA
Flight origin	San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California
Destination	Honolulu International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii
Occupants	153
Passengers	143
Crew	10
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	153

Pan Am Flight 843 was a scheduled domestic commercial flight from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. On Monday, June 28, 1965, Clipper Friendship,^[2] the Boeing 707-321B operating this route, experienced an uncontained engine failure shortly after take-off, but was successfully able to make an emergency landing at nearby Travis Air Force Base.^[3] The engine failure had been caused by faulty installation and maintenance procedures. The accident was filmed by a passenger.

Accident

Flight 843, carrying 143 passengers and 10 crew members, departed from San Francisco International Airport around 2:00 pm PST (18:00 UTC). After going through the pre-flight checklist, Captain Charles Kimes, 44, let his co-pilot, Fred Miller, 48, handle the take-off. As the aircraft climbed to an altitude around 800 feet (244 m), the number-4 (outer-right) engine exploded, rupturing the right outboard fuel tank and igniting the fuel inside. The explosion and resulting fire caused the last 25 feet (8 m) of the right wing, along with the damaged engine, to break off from the rest of the aircraft.^[3] Captain Kimes radioed the tower, "I don't know whether I can keep it in the air or not."^[4]

The pilots were able to extinguish the fire, after which they headed for Travis Air Force Base for an emergency landing. During this time, passenger William Richmond and his wife recorded footage of the burning wing with their camera. Finally, about 34 minutes after taking off, and with the landing gear lowered by emergency means,^[5] Flight 843 landed safely at Travis, with all 153 people on board surviving unharmed. The success of the landing under the circumstances was described as a "miracle" by the news press.^{[citation needed]}

Investigation

Three days before the accident on 25 June, the number-4 engine was overhauled and seemed to work perfectly for 39 flight hours. The cause of the explosion was revealed to be a catastrophic failure of the engine's third-stage turbine disc, resulting from a loss of operating clearance between the disc and the third-stage inner sealing ring. Improper positioning of the turbine rotor, use of the wrong type of tool, and worn parts included in the engine assembly process were blamed for that loss of clearance.^[3] The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) accident report states that the inspector on duty during the reinstallation of the turbine rotor "signed off on work he had not inspected".^[6]

Aftermath

The number-4 engine ripped through the roof of a cabinet shop in San Bruno. Slashing through a wooden beam, the jet engine then penetrated an 8-inch (20 cm) thick concrete wall, damaging equipment outside, and came to rest on a mound of soil. A large section of wing came down on Grand Avenue in South San Francisco, starting a grass fire. A 6-foot (1.8 m) section of the wing hit the ground in Holy Cross Cemetery and a charred chunk of the engine exhaust struck the rear of a housing area, also in South San Francisco. No injuries were reported.

While the passengers waited, Pan Am dispatched another 707 to Travis AFB to collect them and continue across the Pacific. This plane's nose gear collapsed on the runway, leaving the passengers dumbstruck. A third aircraft was sent, landing safely. Of the original 143 passengers, all but eight boarded the flight to Hawaii.^[7]

Aircraft history

N761PA, Boeing 707-321B, Clipper Friendship, C/N 18336, was delivered to Pan Am on June 13, 1962. The aircraft was rebuilt and returned to service after this accident. It was withdrawn from use in December 1976, and placed in storage at Miami, Florida. Pan Am sold this Boeing 707 on March 10, 1977, to Dolphin Aviation, Inc., which in turn sold it to Air Manila, registered RP-C7075, on May 1, 1977. After several more operators, this Boeing 707 was bought on May 7, 1986, by the Boeing Military Airplane Company, and used as a source of spares for the Boeing KC-135E program. The repaired aircraft made an appearance in the 1966 film Dimension 5 @ 6:02. Reportedly, portions of the airframe are still extant at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.^[8]

References

^ "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". logbookmag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ "Pan Am Clipper Names 1934-1991". panamair.org/aircraft/clippernames.htm. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c "accident record". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=384049 Archived 2022-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Reading Eagle. Published 2012-05-04
^ Safety Last, page 42. ISBN 0-595-18693-9
^ Safety Last, page 43. ISBN 0-595-18693-9
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-fNahas8Ro. KNBC television broadcast. 1965-06-28
^ "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". Logbook Magazine. 2015-02-10. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

External links

Accident report - Civil Aeronautics Board
News clip with video.
Life magazine article from July 9, 1965, Vol. 59, No. 2^[1]

^ "A Sight Few Have Seen and Lived to Tell About". article. Life magazine. 9 July 1965. pp. 20–27. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

[logbookmag-1] "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". logbookmag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[panamair-2] "Pan Am Clipper Names 1934-1991". panamair.org/aircraft/clippernames.htm. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[ASN-3] "accident record". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[4] ttp://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=384049 Archived 2022-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Reading Eagle. Published 2012-05-04

[5] Safety Last, page 42. ISBN 0-595-18693-9

[6] Safety Last, page 43. ISBN 0-595-18693-9

[7] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-fNahas8Ro. KNBC television broadcast. 1965-06-28

[8] "Pan American Airways - Fleet List and Airframe Histories - The Boeing Jet Fleet (707 and 720)". Logbook Magazine. 2015-02-10. Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

[Life_Mag:_A_Sight_Few_Have_Seen-9] "A Sight Few Have Seen and Lived to Tell About". article. Life magazine. 9 July 1965. pp. 20–27. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 Capital Airlines Flight 20 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 World Airways Flight 830 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 Cal Poly football team New York mid-air collision
1961	Goldsboro B-52 American Airlines Flight 1502 Yuba City B-52 United Air Lines Flight 859 Alaska Airlines Flight 779 TWA Flight 529 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 Continental Airlines Flight 11 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 United Air Lines Flight 297 Eastern Air Lines Flight 512
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 Camden PA-24 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 Pan Am Flight 214
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 Paradise Airlines Flight 901A Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 United Air Lines Flight 823 Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 Flying Tiger Line Flight 282
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 Pan Am Flight 843 Continental Airlines Flight 12 Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 United Air Lines Flight 389 American Airlines Flight 383 United Air Lines Flight 227 Carmel mid-air (Eastern 853, TWA 42)
1966	NASA T-38 American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D Braniff International Airways Flight 250 West Coast Airlines Flight 956
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 TWA Flight 553 West Coast Airlines Flight 720 Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 Lake Erie skydiving disaster TWA Flight 159 X-15 Flight 3-65-97 TWA Flight 128
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 Braniff International Airways Flight 352 Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 Northeast Airlines Flight 946 Japan Air Lines Flight 2 Pan Am Flight 281 Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 Pan Am Flight 799 North Central Airlines Flight 458 Ozark Air Lines Flight 982
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 United Air Lines Flight 266 Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 Prinair Flight 277 Delta Air Lines Flight 821 TWA Flight 5787 Newton Cessna 172 crash Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 Mohawk Airlines Flight 411
This list is incomplete.