| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 1, 1969 |
| Summary | Bird strike during take-off leading to runway overrun excursion |
| Site | Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport, New South Wales, Australia |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-321B |
| Aircraft name | Clipper Star King[2] |
| Operator | Pan American World Airways |
| Registration | N892PA |
| Flight origin | Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport |
| 1st stopover | Honolulu International Airport[1][3] |
| 2nd stopover | Los Angeles International Airport[3] |
| Destination | New York[3] |
| Passengers | 125 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 136 |
Pan Am Flight 812, a Boeing 707-321B, was a scheduled international flight from Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii. On December 1, 1969 it overran the runway during an aborted takeoff from then-runway 34 due to striking a flock of seagulls. The air accident investigation concluded that number 2 engine was damaged by a bird carcass causing a power spike during the takeoff. A timely decision was made to abandon the takeoff, occurring somewhere near V1 but the runway excursion was found to have not been inevitable. Factors which contributed to the accident included an incorrectly calculated load, lower than expected winds, and adoption of rolling start and braking techniques that did not most effectively use the available runway length. The damage done to the aircraft was categorised as "substantial" by both the Australian Transport Safety Bureau[4] and the United States National Transportation Safety Board[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Air Safety Investigation Branch, Melbourne (1970). Accident Investigation Repor - Boeing 707-321B Aircraft N892PA at Sydney (Kingsford-Smith) Airport, on 1st December, 1969 (PDF). Melbourne, Victoria: Department of Civil Aviation, Australia. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- ^ "Pan Am Clipper Names". panamair.org. June 29, 2000. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c "707 jet hits sea gulls". Ellensburg Daily Record. December 1, 1969. p. 8. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- ^ "Boeing 707-321B Aircraft N892PA at Sydney (Kingsford-Smith) Airport, 1 December 1969". atsb.gov.au. August 20, 1970. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- ^ "NTSB Identification File 1-0062". ntsb.gov. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
External links
edit- Australian Transport Safety Bureau Aviation Safety Investigation Number 196901184
- US National Transportation Safety Board File 1-0062
- "707 jet hits sea gulls". Ellensburg Daily Record. December 1, 1969. p. 8. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Jet crashes at Sydney after battering by gulls". The Age. December 2, 1969. p. 1. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- Richardson, M. (December 3, 1969). "Pilots' nightmare". The Age. p. 6. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Another near-miss scares Mascot". The Age. December 3, 1969. p. 9. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Crash costly". The Gazette. December 5, 1969. p. 6. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969}} [[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Australia]] [[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969]] [[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707]] [[Category:Pan American World Airways accidents and incidents]] [[Category:Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners caused by bird strikes]]