Eastern Air Lines Flight 512
| Industry | Airline |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | United States |
Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 was a regularly scheduled domestic route operated by Eastern Air Lines, flying from Charlotte Municipal Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina to Idlewild Airport in New York City. On November 30, 1962, during an aborted landing attempt at its destination, the Douglas DC-7B crashed after failing to gain sufficient altitude, resulting in 25 fatalities among the 51 passengers and crew on board. Emergency responders encountered significant delays caused by dense fog and unstable terrain. Subsequent investigations attributed the accident to pilot error during the go-around maneuver.
Accident
Flight 512 took off from Charlotte Municipal Airport at 7:41 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, bound for Idlewild Airport. The flight crew was informed that the airport’s precision approach radar system was non-operational. Weather forecasts had anticipated clear or partly cloudy conditions; however, ground fog began forming at Idlewild during the flight. At 8:57 p.m., pilots received notification of an indefinite delay due to fog and were placed in a holding pattern until 9:33 p.m., when clearance was given to approach runway 4R.
Reports from other aircraft indicated extremely dense fog with severely limited visibility; some pilots requested holding due to unsafe landing conditions. Shortly before failure, runway visual range instruments recorded visibility near zero but this data was not communicated to tower controllers. As a result, inbound pilots were unaware of the deteriorating weather; the control tower reported visibility at approximately one mile despite actual conditions being near zero. Airport regulations mandated a minimum visibility of 2,000 feet for runway operations.
As Flight 512 approached the runway, the crew descended to roughly 25 feet above ground level about 1,000 feet beyond the touchdown zone before deciding to abort the landing. They retracted the landing gear, reduced flaps from 40 degrees to 20 degrees, and initiated a climb angle between three and five degrees but did not increase engine thrust accordingly. This led to a loss of lift; one wing contacted the ground causing the aircraft to roll over across a marshland.
The fuselage detached from the wings atop a small embankment approximately three feet high located 3,600 feet along the runway. The left wing’s fuel tanks ruptured, igniting a fire. The fuselage broke apart near the first-class cabin and came to rest in soft sand roughly 200 yards from the runway edge. At 9:45 p.m., tower personnel observed a bright orange flash and commenced emergency response protocols. They instructed American Airlines Flight 8, which was following Flight 512 on approach, to overfly and report on the situation; that crew confirmed seeing flames adjacent to the runway.
Aftermath
Emergency crews experienced significant difficulties reaching the crash location due to thick fog combined with marshy ground conditions. Visibility was reported as low as five feet, complicating efforts to locate victims. Additionally, congestion caused by spectators impeded emergency operations. The airport remained closed to all air traffic until reopening at 7:10 a.m. the following morning.
The aircraft ignited immediately upon impact. While the rear fuselage remained mostly intact, engine components and debris were scattered throughout the crash site. Several survivors were ejected still secured in their seats; others were assisted out of the damaged fuselage by two flight attendants. Injured passengers received medical attention at the airport’s medical center as well as Peninsula General Hospital and Queens General Hospital. Two survivors sustained critical injuries while others suffered less severe harm.
Aircraft
The airplane involved was a Douglas DC-7B, built in September 1956 (serial number 45084) and registered under Eastern Air Lines as N815D. It had logged a total of 18,411 flight hours and was equipped with four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone piston engines.
Passengers and crew
Captain Edward Bechtold, aged 43, had been employed by Eastern Air Lines since 1945 and accumulated 15,644 flight hours, including 2,700 on the DC-7 model. He was awarded the Air Medal in 1943 and served as chairman of the New York Air Safety Committee. Copilot Julius Wagner, age 45, joined the airline in 1951 and had amassed 9,042 flight hours, with 1,610 on the DC-7. Flight engineer Robert Voorhees, 31 years old and hired in 1957, recorded a total of 4,080 flight hours. All three cockpit crew members along with an additional crew member seated in the cockpit jump seat lost their lives.
Flight attendants Helen Fournier (21) and Patricia Richards (22) survived the crash and played key roles in assisting evacuation efforts, actions credited with saving several lives amid the post-crash fire. Fournier was on her third flight since beginning employment with Eastern Air Lines in April 1962.
There were 45 passengers aboard—44 U.S. nationals and one Canadian. Twenty-one passengers perished; those who survived were seated in the rear section of the aircraft, which remained structurally intact long enough to allow escape.
Investigation
An investigative team of 80 aviation specialists, including 24 representatives from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), carried out the inquiry. The effort was headed by Arthur E. Newsmann from the Denver office and overseen by G. Joseph Minetti with support from George A. Van Epps, air safety investigator for the New York Region.
On October 10, 1963, the CAB published its conclusive report attributing the probable cause to the crew’s handling during an aborted approach amid unexpected fog conditions. The board determined that employing a greater nose-up pitch or applying more engine power could have prevented the aircraft’s descent and thereby avoided the crash.