Allegheny Airlines Flight 737

Allegheny Airlines Flight 737
	A Convair 580 similar to the one involved
Occurrence
Date	January 6, 1969
Summary	Undetermined; presumably controlled flight into terrain
Site	Lafayette Township, McKean County, near Bradford Regional Airport, Bradford, Pennsylvania ; 41°51′36″N78°43′43″W / 41.86000°N 78.72861°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Convair CV-580
Operator	Allegheny Airlines
Registration	N5825
Flight origin	Washington D.C.
Stopover	Harrisburg International Airport
Destination	Bradford Regional Airport
Occupants	28
Passengers	25
Crew	3
Fatalities	11
Injuries	17
Survivors	17

Last updated May 17, 2024

Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 was a Convair CV-580 (aircraft registration N5825),^[2] that crashed while attempting to land at Bradford Regional Airport in Bradford, Pennsylvania on January 6, 1969. Eleven of the 28 occupants on board were killed.

Aircraft and crew

The flight was operated using a Convair CV-580 that was originally certificated as a Convair CV-440 on July 11, 1967, but was modified to include upgraded turbine engines and propellers and re-certificated as a CV-580. The aircraft had accumulated a total of 27,285 flight hours at the time of the accident.^[1] The flight crew consisted of Captain William I. Blanton Jr. (33), and First Officer Ronald Lesiak (31).^[1]

Flight

Flight 737 took off from Washington D.C. bound for Detroit, Michigan with intermediate stops in Harrisburg, Bradford, and Erie, Pennsylvania. The flight was uneventful until the aircraft began its approach to Bradford. Weather was overcast with one and one half miles visibility and snow showers. At ten miles from the airport, Flight 737 requested and received clearance to make its instrument approach to runway 14 instead of runway 32.^[3] The flight struck treetops just under five nautical miles from the airport before coming to rest upside down on a snow-covered golf course.^[4]

Cause

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was unable to determine the probable cause of the crash. "Of some 13 potential causes examined by the Board, three remain after final analysis. They are: 1) misreading of the altimeter by the captain, 2) a malfunction of the captain's altimeter after completion of the instrument approach procedure turn, and 3) a misreading of the instrument approach chart. Of these three, no single one can be accepted or rejected to the exclusion of another based on the available evidence."^[1]

Aftermath

Less than two weeks before flight 737 crashed, Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 also went down on approach to Bradford Airport on the same Detroit-Washington DC route via Erie, Bradford and Harrisburg. Both aircraft were approaching the same runway at Bradford, but in opposite directions at the time of the crashes.^[5] Shortly after Flight 737's crash, Allegheny Airlines self-imposed new rules for landings at airports. The rules required visibility of 1,000 feet up and three miles out for any airport without instrument landing systems. Allegheny cancelled 124 out of 1,409 scheduled flight segments in the first week after the new visibility rules were adopted.^[6]

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References

1 2 3 4 Aircraft Accident Report, Allegheny Airlines, Inc., Allison Prop Jet Convair 440, N5825, near Bradford, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1969 (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. May 27, 1970. NTSB-AAR-70-10.
↑ "FAA Registry (N5825)". Federal Aviation Administration.
↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Convair CV-580 N5825 Bradford Airport, PA (BFD)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation . Retrieved February 19, 2021.
↑ "Probers Express Amazement Over Similarity of 2 Crashes". The Free Lance–Star . January 7, 1968. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
↑ "Common Factor In Crashes Sought". Daytona Beach Morning Journal . January 8, 1969. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
↑ "Allegheny's Restrictions Cut Landings; Self-Imposed Visibility Rules Canceling Stops". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . January 15, 1969. Retrieved February 4, 2020.

External links

Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 at Airdisaster.com ^[usurped] (Archive ^[usurped])

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[NTSB_AAR-70-10_Final_Report-1] 1 2 3 4 Aircraft Accident Report, Allegheny Airlines, Inc., Allison Prop Jet Convair 440, N5825, near Bradford, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1969 (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. May 27, 1970. NTSB-AAR-70-10.

[2] "FAA Registry (N5825)". Federal Aviation Administration.

[3] Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Convair CV-580 N5825 Bradford Airport, PA (BFD)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation . Retrieved February 19, 2021.

[4] "Probers Express Amazement Over Similarity of 2 Crashes". The Free Lance–Star . January 7, 1968. Retrieved February 4, 2020.

[5] "Common Factor In Crashes Sought". Daytona Beach Morning Journal . January 8, 1969. Retrieved February 4, 2020.

[6] "Allegheny's Restrictions Cut Landings; Self-Imposed Visibility Rules Canceling Stops". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . January 15, 1969. Retrieved February 4, 2020.

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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.