Mohawk Airlines Flight 40

Mohawk Airlines Flight 40
	N1116J, the BAC 1-11 involved in the crash
Accident
Date	June 23, 1967
Summary	Mechanical failure, causing; • In-flight fire; • Structural failure; • Loss of control
Site	Blossburg, Pennsylvania; 41°40′57″N 77°3′5″W / 41.68250°N 77.05139°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	BAC 1-11 204AF
Aircraft name	Discover America
Operator	Mohawk Airlines
Registration	N1116J
Flight origin	Syracuse Hancock International Airport, Syracuse, NY
Stopover	Elmira Corning Regional Airport, Elmira, NY
Destination	Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington D.C.
Occupants	34
Passengers	30
Crew	4
Fatalities	34
Survivors	0

Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 was a scheduled passenger flight between Syracuse, New York and Washington, DC, with an intermediate stop in Elmira, New York. On June 23, 1967 it suffered a loss of control and crashed, killing all 30 passengers and four crew on board. It was the deadliest disaster in the airline's history. A valve in the auxiliary power unit had suffered a complete failure, spreading fire to the tailplane, causing a loss of pitch control.

Aircraft and crew[edit]

This particular BAC 1-11 was new, having had its first flight the previous year. Its airframe had accumulated 2,246 hours in total. It was equipped with two model 506-14 Spey engines manufactured by Rolls-Royce. Its registration number was N1116J with the aircraft name Discover America.^[1]

The captain was 43-year-old Charles E. Bullock, who had logged 13,875 flight hours, including 603 hours on the BAC 1-11. The first officer was 33-year-old Troy E. Rudesill, who had 4,814 flight hours, with 667 of them on the BAC 1-11.^[2]

History of flight[edit]

The aircraft, a BAC 1-11, took off from runway 24 at Elmira Corning Regional Airport at approximately 14:39 EDT.^[2] It was cleared to climb to 16,000 feet (4,900 m) five minutes later. Nine minutes after that, several eyewitnesses saw large pieces of the tailplane break away from the aircraft with flames and smoke coming out from the fuselage, as the flight proceeded south from Mansfield, Pennsylvania.^[2] The aircraft subsequently lost control and plunged into a heavily wooded area served only by dirt roads. No one on the ground was hurt, but there were no survivors aboard the plane. Thereafter, the air traffic controller at New York Center vectored a Piper Aztec over the area of Flight 40's target disappearance. The pilot of this plane reported observing the burning wreckage of an airplane, which was later identified as Flight 40.^[2]

The plane gouged a strip through the woods about 100 yards (300 ft; 91 m) wide and 500 yards (1,500 ft; 460 m) long. The tail section was thrown 400 yards (1,200 ft; 370 m) from the impact site of the crash. Some of the witnesses were workmen at a coal strip mine who immediately took a bulldozer and plowed two roads through to the site a mile and a half away.^[3]

Shortly after the incident, Robert E. Peach, president of Mohawk, demanded an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a telegram to J. Edgar Hoover, director of the F.B.I., Mr. Peach wrote: "Evidence has developed in the course of notification of next of kin of crash victims which leads to strong suggestion of sabotage. Mohawk Airlines formally demands that the F.B.I. investigate the possibility of sabotage." However, Mr. Peach did not make public the nature of the "evidence."^[4]

Investigation[edit]

The National Transportation Safety Board launched a full investigation. The findings of that investigation are as follows:

A non-return valve in the auxiliary power unit had suffered a complete failure. This allowed bleed air from the engine to flow through the system in the wrong direction. This air exited at the start of the system at sufficient temperatures to ignite components there. The fire quickly spread to the hydraulics in the aircraft, and moved along the hydraulic lines to the rear of the plane. There, it caused heavy damage to the tail, causing a loss of pitch control which sent the airplane diving into the ground.^[2]

Aftermath[edit]

In July 1967, the National Transportation Safety Board made three safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration, which issued Airworthiness Directive 68-01-01 to prevent heat damage or fire in the airframe plenum of the auxiliary power unit installation. ^[5] On 23 June 2017, a memorial was erected to honor the victims.^[6]

Notes[edit]

^ Accident Description at the Aviation Safety Network
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Mohawk Airlines, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1116J, Near Blossburg, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1967" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
^ Ross, Michelle (23 May 2017). "Mohawk Airlines Flight 40: 50th Anniversary of Crash". www.mytwintiers.com. Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.
^ "Jet crash kills 34 in Pennsylvania; President of Mohawk Line Suggests Plane Going to Capital Was Sabotaged; Crash in Pennsylvania Kills All 34 on Mohawk Jet". The New York Times. 24 June 1967. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^ "Amendment 39-5956; AD 68-01-01 R1, Airworthiness Directive; British Aerospace Model BAC 1-11 200 and 400 Series". rgl.faa.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. July 18, 1988. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^ Ross, Michelle (23 June 2017). "Mohawk Flight 40 memorial service, stone monument to be put in place". www.mytwintiers.com. Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

[1] Accident Description at the Aviation Safety Network

[erau-2] "Mohawk Airlines, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1116J, Near Blossburg, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1967" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

[3] Ross, Michelle (23 May 2017). "Mohawk Airlines Flight 40: 50th Anniversary of Crash". www.mytwintiers.com. Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.

[4] "Jet crash kills 34 in Pennsylvania; President of Mohawk Line Suggests Plane Going to Capital Was Sabotaged; Crash in Pennsylvania Kills All 34 on Mohawk Jet". The New York Times. 24 June 1967. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

[5] "Amendment 39-5956; AD 68-01-01 R1, Airworthiness Directive; British Aerospace Model BAC 1-11 200 and 400 Series". rgl.faa.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. July 18, 1988. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

[6] Ross, Michelle (23 June 2017). "Mohawk Flight 40 memorial service, stone monument to be put in place". www.mytwintiers.com. Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

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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.