User:RandomInfinity17/Flying Tiger Line Flight 923

Flying Tiger Line Flight 923

The accident aircraft at Torslanda Airport in June 1961
Accident
Date	September 23, 1962 (1962-09-23)
Summary	Ditching after engine failure
Site	North Atlantic Ocean, around 560 nmi (640 mi) west of Shannon, Ireland 52°12′N 24°30′W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed Constellation L-1049H
Operator	Flying Tiger Line
Registration	N6923C
Flight origin	McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, United States
Stopover	Gander International Airport, Gander, Canada
Destination	Rhein-Main Air Base, Frankfurt, West Germany
Occupants	76
Passengers	68
Crew	8
Fatalities	28
Survivors	48

Flying Tiger Line Flight 923 was a chartered military transport flight that ditched in the North Atlantic Ocean on September 23, 1962. The Lockheed Constellation L-1049H was transporting 68 military personal of the United States Army from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Rhein-Main Air Base in West Germany. While flying over the North Atlantic on the Gander-Frankfurt leg, the number 3 engine fire warning sounded, and the engine was shut down. While trying to finish the engine shutdown checklist, the flight engineer accidentally turned off the fuel flow to the number 1 engine, leaving the aircraft on only two engines. Approximately an hour later and after the L-1049H started to divert to Shannon, Ireland, the number 2 engine caught on fire and was forced to be at reduced thrust. The aircraft ditched in the North Atlantic Ocean, where 48 occupants survived for six hours on a life raft until the MS Celerina arrived at the scene.

Background

Aircarft

The aircraft involved was a Lockheed Constellation L-1049H, with serial number 4827 and was registered as N6923C. It was manufactured by Lockheed Corporation in 1958 and was powered by four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines.

Crew

The pilot in command was 44-years-old and had logged about 17500 hours of flying time, 4300 of which were on the L-1049 aircraft. His co-pilot, aged 27, had logged about 2430 hours of flying time, including 350 hours on the L-1049. The flight engineer, aged 30, logged about 3750 hours of flying time, 2450 of which were on the L-1049. The navigator, aged 32, had logged about 7500 hours of flying time, including 4500 hours on the L-1049 aircraft.

Passengers

There were 68 passengers onboard Flight 923.