December 17 front page of Syracuse Post-Standard

The 1960 New York air disaster was a collision on December 16, 1960, between two airliners over Staten Island, New York, in which one plane crashed into Staten Island and the other airliner crashed into a Brooklyn neighborhood. The crash killed all 84 people aboard Flight 826 and 44 on Flight 266 as well as six people on the ground. is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The doomed Boeing 727, PSA Flight 182, crashes in flames after colliding with another aircraft in 1978 A mid-air collision (MAC) is an aviation accident where two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ... This article is about the borough in New York City. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined jet airliner, manufactured between 1959 and 1972. ... United Airlines is a major airline of the United States. ... OHare International Airport (IATA: ORD, ICAO: KORD) is an airport located in Chicago, Illinois, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop. ... For the regional airport in Wisconsin, see John F. Kennedy Memorial Airport. ... The Lockheed Constellation, affectionately known as the “Connie”, was a four-engine propeller-driven airliner built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. ... Trans World Airlines (IATA: TW, ICAO: TWA, and Callsign: TWA), commonly known as TWA, was an American airline company that was acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. ... James M. Cox Dayton International Airport (IATA: DAY, ICAO: KDAY), also referred to as simply Dayton International Airport, is a public airport located nine miles (14 km) north of the city of Dayton in Montgomery County, Ohio, USA. It was founded in 1936 when the city purchased the original private... FAA diagram of LaGuardia Airport Fiorello La Guardia Airport is located in Flushing, a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens, New York near the Flushing Bay. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Syracuse Post-Standard is the major newspaper servicing the greater Syracuse, NY metro area. ...

United Airlines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registration N8031U, was a Douglas DC-8 en route from O'Hare Airport in Chicago to New York International (Idlewild) Airport in New York City, New York, on December 16, 1960. Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registration N6907C, was a Lockheed Super Constellation en route from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, to New York's LaGuardia Airport. The two aircraft collided in mid-air in heavy clouds a mile west of Miller Field, a military airfield on Staten Island, at 10:33 AM Eastern Time. All 84 people aboard Flight 826, 44 on Flight 266 and six people on the ground were killed. United Airlines is a major airline of the United States. ... The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined jet airliner, manufactured between 1959 and 1972. ... OHare International Airport is an airport located in Chicago, Illinois, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... For the regional airport in Wisconsin, see John F. Kennedy Memorial Airport. ... New York, New York redirects here. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Trans World Airlines (IATA: TW, ICAO: TWA, and Callsign: TWA), commonly known as TWA, was an American airline company that was acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. ... The Lockheed Constellation, affectionately known as the “Connie”, was a four-engine propeller-driven airliner built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. ... : Gem City : Birthplace of Aviation United States Ohio Montgomery 56. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Ohio, USA Coordinates: , Country State Counties Franklin, Fairfield, Delaware Government  - Mayor Michael B. Coleman (D) Area  - City 212. ... LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) is an airport serving New York City, New York, United States, located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst in the borough of Queens. ... Miller Field was a United States Air Force facility on Staten Island, New York, near Fort Wadsworth. ... This article is about the borough in New York City. ... Metronome, a public art installation showing the time in New York City The Eastern Time Zone (ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of Northern America and the west coast of South America. ...

Weather conditions at the time were light rain and fog (which had been preceded by a snowfall)

According to information from the United's flight recorder (the first time a "black box" had been used to provide extensive details in a crash investigation) the United plane was 12 miles off course and in 81 seconds had dove 3,600 feet a minute and dropped its speed from more than 500 miles per hour to 363 miles per hour when it slammed into the right side of the TWA plane at between 5,250 and 5,175 feet.^[1] Both side views of a cockpit voice recorder, one type of flight recorder A flight recorder is a recorder placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of an aircraft accident or incident. ...

The collision occurred about a mile west of Miller Field. The TWA plane spiraled down disintegrating and dropping at least one passenger into a tree in the New Dorp neighborhood. The TWA plane crashed into an empty field at the northwest corner of the field -- although within a few feet of the neighborhood.^[1] The approximate area of the neighborhood of New Dorp on Staten Island is shown highlighted in orange. ...

The United plane was supposed to have been circling a point called "Preston" off the New Jersey coast, was supposed to have been at 5,000 feet (and not diving down from 8,700 feet) and not traveling more than 240 miles per hour. United was to say the ground beacon was not working (pilots testified on both sides of the issue).^[1]

At 10:21 AM, Flight 826 advised its company radio operator that one of its VOR receivers had stopped working (although they did not notify air traffic controllers of the problem) but it made it difficult to fly on instrument conditions. At 10:25 AM, air traffic control issued a revised clearance for the flight to shorten its course to the Preston holding point by 12 miles. It has been suggested that Air traffic control#Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) be merged into this article or section. ... For the Canadian musical group, see Air Traffic Control (band). ...

The United Plane overshot the Preston holding point and at 10:33 AM they collided.

Following the collision, the crippled United DC-8 careened into the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, setting fire to 10 brownstone apartment buildings, the Pillar of Fire Church, the McCaddin Funeral Home, a Chinese laundry and a deli. Wreckage was spewed over the Seventh Avenue at Sterling Place intersection, killing six people on the ground including a sanitation worker shoveling snow.^[2] A typical Park Slope block in spring. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ... Pillar of Fire, November 25, 1914 The Pillar of Fire Church is headquartered in Zarephath, New Jersey and was first established in 1901 in Denver, Colorado as the Methodist Pentecostal Church. ...

Although witnesses speculated at the time that United attempted an emergency landing in Prospect Park or at LaGuardia Airport, there is no evidence that the pilots had control of the DC-8 at any time after the mid-air collision. There was no audible voice radio contact with traffic controllers from either plane after the collision although LaGuardia had begun tracking an incoming fast moving unidentified plane from Preston toward the LaGuardia "Flatbush" outer marker ^[3] Prospect Park is a 585[1] acre (2. ... LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) is an airport serving New York City, New York, United States, located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst in the borough of Queens. ...

TWA Flight 266 crashed into Miller Army Field, with some sections of the aircraft landing in New York Harbor on the Atlantic Ocean side. New York Harbor, a geographic term, refers collectively to the rivers, bays, and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City. ...

The only initial survivor of the tragedy was 11-year-old Stephen Baltz of Wilmette, Illinois, a passenger on the United jet, who was thrown into a snowbank at impact. He later died in Park Slope's New York Methodist Hospital a few blocks from crash. Baltz told rescuers that moments before the collision he had looked out the window at the snow falling on the city. Stephen Baltz (1949-1960) was the only person to survive the crash of United Airlines Flight 826 after it collided with another plane on December 16, 1960, in a snowstorm over Staten Island. ... US Baháí House of Worship in Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. ...

It looked like a picture out of a fairy book. It was a beautiful sight.^[4]

Pictures of Baltz appeared on many front pages around the world such as the Syracuse Post-Standard repeating a story from the Associated Press in which he expressed concern about his mother who was waiting for him at the airport. He gave the only description of the crash: The Syracuse Post-Standard is the major newspaper servicing the greater Syracuse, NY metro area. ...

I heard a big noise while we were flying. The last thing I remember was the plane falling.^[5]

With a death toll of 134, the accident was the worst U.S. commercial aviation disaster at the time, topping the 1956 midair collision between United Airlines Flight 718 and Trans World Airlines Flight 2 over Arizona's Grand Canyon that killed 128. United Airlines Flight 718, Mainliner Vancouver, registration N6324C, was a Douglas DC-7 en route from Los Angeless International Airport to Chicago, Newark and Philadelphia on June 30, 1956. ... Official language(s) English Spoken language(s) English 74. ... This article is about the canyon in the southwestern United States. ...

Filmmaker and critic Hollis Frampton was scheduled to be on the flight, but decided to leave the next day in order to see a retrospective of the work of Edward Weston in Minneapolis; he said of this decision that he was "never...able to decide whether Weston tried to kill me, or saved my life." ^[6] Hollis Frampton (1936-1984) was an American avant-garde filmmaker, photographer, and a pioneer of digital art. ... Edward Weston (March 24, 1886 - January 1, 1958) was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. ...

United has not retired the use of 826 as a flight number. However, as of October 2006 no United flights currently carry the designation. The most recent route of United Flight 826 was on a San Francisco to Los Angeles route, and was last used on September 5, 2006.

United had named the ill-fated DC-8 after well known American entertainer Will Rogers. Along with Wiley Post he was killed in a plane crash near Barrow, Alaska in 1935. William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was a Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, and actor. ... Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was the first pilot to fly solo around the world. ... Barrow is a city in North Slope Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. ...

Within two months there would be two more major air disasters involving Idlewild Airport.

On January 19, 1961, an Aeronaves de Mexico DC-8 crashed on takeoff into Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Idlewild in a snow storm killing four – although 102 of the 106 passengers and crew escaped. Aeroméxico, is one of Mexicos two major airline companies. ... Rockaway Beach Boulevard, opened in 1886, was the first major east-west thoroughfare on the Rockaway Peninsula in the Borough of Queens in New York City. ...

On January 28, 1961 an American Airlines Boeing 707 Flight 1502 (Flagship Oklahoma) from Idlewild on a training mission nosedived 300 yards off Atlantic coast at Napeague, New York killing all six aboard. American Airlines, Inc. ... The Boeing 707 is an American four-engine commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. ... Lunch at Napeague Napeague is a census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. ...

See also

• List of notable accidents and incidents on commercial aircraft

This list of notable accidents and incidents on commercial aircraft is grouped by the years in which the incidents or accidents occurred. ...

Footnotes

References

• Pillar of Fire: Recalling the Day the Sky Fell, December 16, 1960 by Nathaniel Altman, from the Park Slope Reader
• Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on the collision from the Department of Transport's Special Collections
• Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 826
• Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 266
• Death in the Air, Time, December 26, 1960.

Coordinates: 40.6772° N 73.9740° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...