American Airlines Flight 1502

American Airlines Flight 1502
	N7502A, Flagship Oklahoma at Los Angeles International Airport in 1959.
Accident
Date	January 28, 1961
Summary	Loss of control due to unknown circumstances
Site	Atlantic Ocean, 9.5 miles (15.3 km) off of Montauk Point, New York, United States ; 41°3′42″N 72°2′20″W / 41.06167°N 72.03889°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-123 Jet Flagship
Aircraft name	Flagship Oklahoma
Operator	American Airlines
Registration	N7502A
Flight origin	Idlewild International Airport, New York
Destination	Idlewild International Airport, New York
Occupants	6
Passengers	0
Crew	6
Fatalities	6
Survivors	0

American Airlines Flight 1502 was a crew training flight from Idlewild International Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport). On January 28, 1961, the Boeing 707 operating the flight crashed out of control into the Atlantic Ocean 9.5 miles (15.3 km) west of Montauk Point, New York, and all six crew on board were killed.^[1] The cause of the crash was never officially determined. Flight 1502 would be the second of three 707s that American lost in a three-year period in the New York area.

Aircraft and crew[edit]

The aircraft was a Boeing 707-123, registered in the United States as N7502A and named Flagship Oklahoma. First flown on November 2, 1958, it was delivered new to American Airlines on January 23, 1959.^[2] The aircraft was valued at approximately $5 million.

The crew on board the flight were captains Lloyd Dute Reinhard, with Robert Hinman, John B. Coyne, Herbert J. Thing, Jr., flight instructor Harald Engh, and trainee Howard Loren Sturdy.^[3]

Accident[edit]

Flight 1502 departed Idlewild Airport into clear skies at 11:00 a.m. EDT (UTC−4), with Captain Reinhard at the yoke. 57 minutes later, the aircraft made its last radio contact.^[4]

At 12:20 p.m. EDT (UTC−4), Airman First Class James F. Ross was driving on the Montauk Highway and caught Flight 1502 passing overhead at an estimated 100 feet (30 m), in a 60–70° dive. Ross pulled his car to the side of the highway as the 707 disappeared behind sand dunes. Also present on the highway was Captain Frank Ward, a local fisherman from Montauk who said the aircraft did multiple rolls, straightening out before impact, and that an engine was reportedly on fire.^[5] In a steep, left wing low attitude, Flight 1502 crashed into the shallow waters off of Napeague Beach, killing the six occupants.^[1] Emergency crews rushed to the scene to find the aircraft extensively fragmented, with some seats reportedly split in half by the force of the crash.^[6] The crash was the fourth involving a modern jetliner in the New York metropolitan area in the past two years, amounting to a total 149 lives lost. This included what was at the time the world's deadliest aviation disaster, the 1960 New York mid-air collision, that only occurred the previous month.

Cause[edit]

When the accident occurred, the crew could have been engaged in an engine shutdown and restart, a canyon approach, or en route to engine-climb maneuvers. Canyon-approach procedures require a flap-setting of 30 degrees, and the wreckage seemed to corroborate this setting. However, the evidence was inconclusive to find a cause for the loss of control. As such, the FAA officially gave a probable cause as "A loss of control for an undetermined reason". Additionally, there was consideration that two engines were inoperative at impact, but this could not be concisely proven.^[7] As a result of this speculation, and the crash of another American Airlines 707 on a training flight over Long Island in 1959, the FAA removed the requirement for all 707 flight crews to practice landings with two failed engines on the same wing.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Pither 1998, pp. 110–115
^ Eastwood 1992, p. 51
^ "Gone West". www.alliedpilots.org. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-123 N7502A Montauk Point, NY". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on April 21, 2005. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
^ Grohman, Adam (January 12, 2017). "In Our Waters". liboatingworld.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
^ "Amagansett, NY Training Jet Liner Crashes, Jan 1961". www.gendisasters.com. GenDisasters ... Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods. Archived from the original on May 30, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
^ "Crash of a Boeing 707-123 off Montauk Point: 6 killed". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

Pither, Tony (1998). The Boeing 707 720 and C-135. England: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-236-X.
Roach, John; Eastwood, Tony (1992). Jet Airliner Production List. West Drayton, England: The Aviation Hobby Shop. ISBN 0-907178-43-X.

[Pither-1] Pither 1998, pp. 110–115

[2] Eastwood 1992, p. 51

[3] "Gone West". www.alliedpilots.org. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

[4] Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-123 N7502A Montauk Point, NY". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on April 21, 2005. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

[5] Grohman, Adam (January 12, 2017). "In Our Waters". liboatingworld.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

[6] "Amagansett, NY Training Jet Liner Crashes, Jan 1961". www.gendisasters.com. GenDisasters ... Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods. Archived from the original on May 30, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

[7] "Crash of a Boeing 707-123 off Montauk Point: 6 killed". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 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.

Aircraft and crew[edit]

Accident[edit]

Cause[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]