Lake Central Airlines Flight 527

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527
	A Convair 580 similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	March 5, 1967
Summary	Loss of control and aircraft break-up after catastrophic propeller failure
Site	During descent to Toledo Express Airport, near Marseilles Township, Wyandot County, Ohio ; 40°41′37″N 83°25′51″W / 40.69361°N 83.43083°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Convair 580
Operator	Lake Central Airlines
Registration	N73130
Flight origin	Chicago O'Hare International Airport
1st stopover	Lafayette (IN) Airport
2nd stopover	Greater Cincinnati Airport
3rd stopover	Port Columbus International Airport
4th stopover	Toledo Express Airport
Destination	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Passengers	35
Crew	3
Fatalities	38
Survivors	0

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 was a regularly scheduled Convair 580 flight on March 5, 1967 from Chicago, Illinois to Detroit, Michigan with stops at Lafayette, Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio. The aircraft crashed near Marseilles, Ohio, killing all 38 passengers and crew on board.^[1]

Synopsis[edit]

On March 5, 1967, Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 was scheduled from Chicago, Illinois to Detroit, Michigan. The flight, operated by one of the company's Convair 580 aircraft and flown by captain John W. Horn (45) and first officer Roger P. Skillman (33), left Chicago at 4:04 p.m. CST and proceeded normally to Lafayette, Cincinnati and Columbus. No problems were reported.

The aircraft was serviced in Columbus and departed at 7:52 p.m. EST for Toledo. At 8:05 p.m., the flight was cleared by air traffic control to descend from 10,000 to 6,000 feet (3,000 to 1,800 m) as it approached Toledo. Air traffic control requested that the flight report its descent and to report crossing 8,000 and 7,000 feet (2,400 and 2,100 m). The crew acknowledged leaving 10,000 feet. This was the last transmission from the aircraft.^[1]

Witnesses in the vicinity of Marseilles, Ohio reported hearing sounds from an aircraft at times between 8:05 and 8:10 p.m. Some reported sounds similar to that of an engine starting. Shortly thereafter, the sound of an explosion was reported.

By 9:00 p.m., the authorities had confirmed that an aircraft had crashed in the area. Rain mixed with snow was reported at the time of the accident.

Cause[edit]

The aircraft was found to be loaded within normal limits, and the crew was found to be properly qualified for the flight, with no deficiencies reported.^[1]

The aircraft was equipped with a flight data recorder, which sustained no damage in the crash and was successfully read by investigators. Approximately 14 minutes after departing Columbus, the aircraft was on a heading of 322 degrees when it abruptly veered right 40 degrees, and then left 55 degrees, before power to the recorder was abruptly terminated.^[1] The cockpit voice recorder lost power at the same time, although investigators heard a sound resembling "the first few seconds of an air raid siren" just before shutoff.^[1]

The aircraft crashed in a farm field on a heading of 360 degrees. The front fuselage was separated from the main part of the aircraft, and debris was recovered from a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km), 0.5-mile-wide (0.80 km) trail on a heading of 135 degrees from the main wreckage. The right propeller was completely detached from the engine, as were the blades. In reconstructing the wreckage, the investigators discovered that the right propeller had separated during flight and severed the fuselage.^[2]

During manufacture, propeller pistons, which control the pitch of the propellers, are coated through a process called nitriding, which hardens them and increases their resistance to surface wear.^[3]^[4] They are supposed to be inspected to ensure that the process is completed, but investigators could not determine why N73130's propeller was not nitrided and did not fail inspections.^[1] During the life of the engine, the piston had been slowly wearing away. During the flight, the piston finally failed, causing the propeller to speed beyond its limits. The stress caused the propeller to fail one to two seconds later. When the propeller failed, the blades were hurled through the cabin, severing control cables and compromising the plane's structural integrity. The investigators determined that the crash was caused solely by the propeller defect and subsequent failure.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Aircraft Accident Report : Lake Central Airlines" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 26 February 1968. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
^ "Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 - Marseilles, Ohio - Plane Crash Sites on". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
^ "CV-340 Accident". Enginehistory.org. 5 March 1967. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
^ "Reaching Back Soft Steel". Cahslunken.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2013.

External links[edit]

[ad-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Aircraft Accident Report : Lake Central Airlines" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 26 February 1968. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

[2] "Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 - Marseilles, Ohio - Plane Crash Sites on". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.

[3] "CV-340 Accident". Enginehistory.org. 5 March 1967. Retrieved 16 September 2013.

[4] "Reaching Back Soft Steel". Cahslunken.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2013.

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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.