Continental Airlines Flight 12, registration N70773, was a Boeing 707 aircraft en route from Los Angeles International Airport to Kansas City Downtown Airport on July 1, 1965. After a routine flight the plane was making an approach on the instrument landing system for runway 18. There was heavy rain and low visibility at the airport. The wind was reported from the East-northeast at 7 knots. At most airports this would normally mean an approach should be initiated from the other direction, runway 36. Quality Hill in downtown Kansas City overlooks the airport from this direction. It is so close to the end of the runway that aircraft have to go around it to land safely in good weather. This obstacale prevented the installation of an instrument landing system on this runway. It is normally considered safe to land opposite direction in these conditions but they would be landing with a slight tailwind. The flight landed at 5:29 pm CST 1,100 feet down the runway. Reverse thrusting and braking were initiated but did not slow the plane as anticipated. It began to veer 30º left before it ran off the end of the runway. The right wing impacted a blast mound as the aircraft rolled over it coming to rest in three pieces on the perimeter road between the mound and river levee. After an investigation the cause of the accident was determined to be "Hydroplaning of the landing gear wheels, which precluded braking effectiveness." July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of America Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... The Boeing 707 (most commonly spoken as Seven Oh Seven) is a four engined commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. ... Continental Airlines (IATA: CO, ICAO: COA, and Callsign: Continental) (NYSE: CAL) is a certificated air carrier of the United States. ... Continental Airlines (IATA: CO, ICAO: COA, and Callsign: Continental) (NYSE: CAL) is a certificated air carrier of the United States. ... The Boeing 707 (most commonly spoken as Seven Oh Seven) is a four engined commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. ... Runway layout at LAX “LAX” redirects here. ... Kansas City Downtown Airport, also known as Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, (IATA: MKC, ICAO: KMKC) is an airport in Kansas City, Missouri, Clay County, Missouri. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... The Localizer station at Hanover/Langenhagen International Airport in Hanover, Germany. ... ESE also stands for Extensible Storage Engine. ... Quality Hill is an historic and highly upscale registered neighborhood in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It is located on the west side of downtown, between Broadway and I-35 to the east and west, and between 7th Street and 14th Street to the north and south. ... Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of America Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... The Central Standard Time Zone (CST) is a geographic region that keeps time by subtracting six hours from Coordinated Universal Time UTC. In the United States, the time zone includes the entire area of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas except for El...

Although there were no fatalities in the accident it highlighted a number of shortcomings with jet aircraft operations at Kansas City Downtown Airport. Runway 18-36 at 7,000 feet was barely long enough for 707 aircraft. The airport could not be expanded as it was surrounded on 3 sides by the Missouri river and a rail yard on the east side. in 1972 airline operations were moved to Kansas City International Airport. The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Kansas City International Airport (IATA: MCI, ICAO: KMCI), originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, USA. In 2006 10. ...

Flight Number 12 is still used today on Continental's Honolulu-Los Angeles route.

Similar accidents

• Southwest Airlines Flight 1455
• Air France Flight 358
• Southwest Airlines Flight 1248

Excessive speed, a descent angle of 7 degrees, a late turn to final approach, a short and wet runway and failure to comply with company procedures regarding use of an onboard computer system and lack of standardized callouts all contributed to this accident. ... Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340 airliner, departed Paris without incident at 11:53UTC August 2, 2005, later touching down on runway 24L-06R at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 20:01 UTC(16:01 EDT). ... Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 (WN1248, SWA1248) was a scheduled passenger flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport serving Baltimore, Maryland to Midway Airport in southwest Chicago, Illinois. ...

Notes

Runway 18 and 36 are as of 2007 known as runway 1 and 19. Kansas City did not observe Daylight saving time until 1967. 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ...  DST used  DST no longer used  DST never used Daylight saving time (DST), or summer time in British English, is the convention of advancing clocks so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

External links

• Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 12