Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 553 was a
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...
DC-9-15 jet airliner, registration N1063T, operated by
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...
on March 9, 1967 between
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
and
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. While descending toward Dayton about from the airport, the flight
collided in midair with a
Beechcraft Baron
The Beechcraft Baron is a light twin-engined piston aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft was introduced in 1961. A low-wing monoplane developed from the Travel Air, it remains in production.
Design and development
The di ...
, a small,
general-aviation airplane, near
Urbana, Ohio
Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army during the War of 1812. It is t ...
. All 25 aboard the DC-9 and the sole occupant of the Beechcraft were killed.
Summary
Flight 553 departed from
Greater Pittsburgh Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsbu ...
en route to
Dayton Municipal Airport
Dayton International Airport (officially James M. Cox Dayton International Airport), formerly Dayton Municipal Airport and James M. Cox-Dayton Municipal Airport, is 10 miles north of downtown Dayton, in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. ...
. After passing
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, Flight 553 had been cleared to descend from
flight level
In aviation and aviation meteorology, a flight level (FL) is an aircraft's altitude at standard air pressure, expressed in hundreds of feet. The air pressure is computed assuming an International Standard Atmosphere pressure of 1013.25 hPa ...
(FL) 200 (about above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
) to . The flight was in
uncontrolled airspace
In aviation, uncontrolled airspace is airspace where an Air Traffic Control (ATC) service is not deemed necessary or cannot be provided for practical reasons. It is the opposite of controlled airspace. It is that portion of the airspace that has ...
but under the control of Dayton radar approach, which advised the pilots of uncontrolled
visual flight rules
In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...
(VFR) traffic ahead and slightly to the right and one mile away, about 18 seconds before the collision. The crew acknowledged the traffic advisory. As the airliner descended through at a speed of 323 knots on a southwest heading, its front right side collided with the left side of a southbound Beechcraft Baron 55.
Both aircraft fell in
Concord Township, a rural area northwest of Urbana in
Champaign County. The collision occurred just northeast of the intersection of Melody Lane and Woodville Pike.
Cause
Visual flight rules
In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...
(VFR) were in effect at the time of the accident, meaning that the pilots of both aircraft were responsible to "see and avoid" each other. In addition, the radar controller stated that he did not see the Beechcraft on his radar scope until 22 seconds before the crash. Controllers testified that the zone near the crash site was one in which small planes could be difficult to detect on radar, but flight checks in the area proved inconclusive.
The
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
investigated the accident and determined that because of the DC-9's high rate of descent, its pilots were not able to see the other plane in time to avoid a collision. Weather conditions included widely scattered, thin clouds, with haze reducing visibility to , twice the visibility required for VFR flight.
Aftermath
Enacted in 1961 in the wake of the
1960 New York mid-air collision
On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. T ...
, FAR Part 91.85 mandated speed restrictions below within 30 nautical miles of a destination airport. After the accident involving Flight 553, all areas below were prohibited from exceeding IAS. The accident also influenced the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
's decision to create
terminal control areas or TCAs (now called
Class B airspace) around the busiest airports in the country. The airspace around Dayton did not become a TCA, undergoing only minor changes until it was reclassified as
Class C airspace
The world's navigable airspace is divided into three-dimensional segments, each of which is assigned to a specific class. Most nations adhere to the classification specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and described be ...
in the late 1980s.
References
External links
*
Airliners.net Flight 553 preparing for departurein a photo by Bob Garrard, 1967
*
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
br>
Report AAR68on the crash ()
{{TWA
1967 in Ohio
Airliner accidents and incidents in Ohio
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1967
Mid-air collisions
Mid-air collisions involving airliners
Mid-air collisions involving general aviation aircraft
553
Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Champaign County, Ohio
March 1967 events in the United States