Arrow Air Flight 1285 is a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 jet plane operated as an international charter flight carrying US troops from Cairo, Egypt, to their headquarters in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, through Cologne, West Germany, and Gander, Canada.
On Thursday morning, December 12, 1985, shortly after taking off from Gander on the way to Fort Campbell, the plane stopped, crashed and burned about half a mile from the runway, killing all 248 passengers and 8 crew members inside. By 2017, he has the highest death toll from any aviation accidents on Canadian soil and the second highest of any accident involving DC-8, behind the crash of Nigeria Airways 2120 aircraft six years later.
The accident was investigated by the Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB), which determined the probable cause of the accident was the unexpected drag of the plane and the reduced lift conditions, most likely due to ice contamination on the wing of the leading edge and upper surface, as well as the underestimated onboard weight. A minority report stated that the accident may have been caused by an unknown onboard blast before impact.
Video Arrow Air Flight 1285
Flight history
The plane, McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF, was hired to carry US Army personnel, all members of the 101st Airborne Division, back to their base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They have completed a six-month deployment in Sinai, in the Army's peacekeeping mission and the Multinational Observer. DC-8 involved in the accident (registration N950JW) was built in 1969, and has been leased to Arrow Air by its parent company, International Air Leases.
The flight consists of three feet, with refueling stops in Cologne and Gander. The aircraft departed Cairo at 20:35 UTC on Wednesday 11 December 1985, and arrived in Cologne on Thursday 12 December 1985, at 01:21 UTC.
A new flight crew, comprising Captain John Griffin and First Officer John Connelly (both 45), and Flight Engineer Michael Fowler (48), boarded the plane before leaving for Gander at 2:50 UTC. The plane arrived at Gander International Airport at 09.04, where passengers departed from the plane while the plane was refueling. Witnesses reported that the flight engineer conducted an external inspection of the aircraft, after which the passenger returned to board the plane.
DC-8 initiated its take-off roll on runway 22 from junction runway 13 at 10:15 UTC (06:45 NST). It is played near the A taxiway, 51 seconds after the brake is released, at a speed of about 167 KIAS. Witnesses reported that the aircraft showed difficulty obtaining altitude after rotation. In the air, the air speed reaches 172 KIAS and begins to decrease again, causing the DC-8 to drop. After crossing the Trans-Canada Highway, which is located about 900 feet (270 m) from the end of the 22 runway runway, at very low altitudes, the pitch of the aircraft increases and continues to decline.
Witnesses driving on the highway claimed that they saw a bright light radiating from the plane before crashing into a plain just Gander Lake and falling about 900 feet (270 m) beyond the tip of the runway departure. Flight 1285 broke up, crashed into an empty building and exploded; this started an increasing fire due to the severity due to the abundance of fuel on board for the last leg of the flight. All 248 passengers and eight crew members on board were killed.
Maps Arrow Air Flight 1285
Investigation
The Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB) investigated the accident, and, under the signatures of five of the nine board members, found that during its approach to Gander, the deposition conditions favored the formation of ice on the plane's wings. After landing, it continues exposed to "frozen and frozen rainfall capable of producing roughening on the upper surface of the wing" in addition to freezing temperatures. They also found that before taking off the plane it was not dead. The Council issued the following Possible Cause statement in its final report:
"The Canadian Aviation Safety Board can not determine the exact sequence of events leading to this accident, but the Board believes that the weight of evidence supports the conclusion that, shortly after launch, the aircraft experienced an increase in obstacles, and a reduction in removal resulting in low altitude from where recovery is not possible.The most probable cause of the stall is determined to be contamination of ice at the leading edge and the upper surface of the wing.Another possible factors such as thrust losses from machine number four and improper takeoff reference speeds may have exacerbated the effects of contamination. "
Four (nine) members of the CASB disagreed, expressed minority opinions stating that no evidence presented proves that ice has been present at the edges like wings, and minority reports speculate that "An in-flight fire may have resulted from detonation of origin that has not yet determined to bring disaster system failure. "
The report also notes the inadequacy of data from the ancient Data Recorder foil-tape, which records only airspeed, altitude, heading, and vertical acceleration styles. The aircraft also took off with a cockpit area microphone that did not work. Also there is no step on the standard checklist to test the microphone's functionality, though there is a button in the cockpit for that purpose. The flaw was undetectable due to a number of uncertain flights leading to an accident flight, and thus the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) did not record any useful data.
Willard Estey, a former Supreme Court judge of Canada, filed a review of the CASB report in 1989, stating that the available evidence does not support the conclusion. As a result, Canadian public trust in CASB is underestimated. The federal government responded by creating Canada's Transportation Safety Board.
Aftermath
On the day of the accident, responsibility was claimed by Islamic Jihad, the wing of Hezbollah. The claim was dismissed by the Canadian and US governments shortly thereafter. According to United Press International "A few hours after the fall of Islamic Jihad - a group of extremist Shia Muslims - claimed that the plane was destroyed to prove its ability to attack Americans everywhere." The Pentagon and Canadian government officials dismissed the claim, made by an anonymous caller to the French news agency in Beirut.
Two hundred and fifty-six people were killed - 248 US troops and eight crew members. By 2018, the death toll is Canada's deadliest plane crash, and the deadliest air crash of the United States Army in peacetime.
Of the 248 soldiers, all but twelve were members of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), mostly from Battalion 3d, Infantry 502; eleven were from other units of the Troop Command; and an agent of the Criminal Investigation Commission (CID).
A memorial to 256 casualties at the crash site overlooks Gander Lake, and another memorial set up at Fort Campbell. There is also a Memorial Park in Hopkinsville, KY, north of Fort Campbell. By 2017, the scars from accidents are still highly visible, and can be seen on the ground and on satellite images.
In 1991, Les Filotas, one of the four CASB board members who disagreed in the final report, issued a deep argument for minority opinion that the possibility of an explosion in the plane hit the plane.
In popular culture
Discovery Channel Canada/National Geographic TV series Mayday presents an accident and investigations of Flight 1285 in Season 11 episode entitled Decisive Decisions , which included interviews with accident dramatists and recreational dramatists of the accident.
The Unsolved Mysteries television series includes a 5-season episode of the Flight crash of 1285 on 5 May 1993 which strongly implies that the accident occurred because of the explosion, fire, or explosion on the ship. This episode also implies a connection with Iran-Contra affairs.
See also
- Air Ontario Flight 1363, accident similar to ice condition
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
References
Further reading
- Saul M Montes-Bradley II (2016). Gander: Terrorism, Incompetence, and the Rise of Islamic National Socialism . Thomas Osgood Bradley Foundation. ASINÃ, 0985963255. ISBNÃ, 978-0-9859632-5-5. CS1 maint: ASIN using ISBN (link)
- Final report (Archive) - Canadian Aviation Safety Board
- Disagreements (Archive) - Canadian Aviation Safety Board
External links
- Time Magazine - The Falling Elang's Fall - was taken 28 Dec 2006
- Time Magazine - Gander: Different Crashes, Same Answers - taken 28 Dec 2006
- Globalsecurity.org - Congressional Congress 1989 on Gander Crash - taken 28 Dec 2006
- Fort Campbell Courier - news-related news article - was collected 28 Dec 2006
- Gandercanada.com - Photos from Gander's 20th Anniversary Service - taken on 28 Dec 2006
- CBC News - The ceremony marks the anniversary of the deadly plane crash of Newfoundland - taken 28 Dec 2006
- CBC News - Broken Arrow: debate continues after 20 years - taken 28 Dec 2006
- Rootsweb.com - List of victims - taken 28 Dec 2006
- The Canadian Air Force - The Silent Witness Memorial in Gander - taken 28 Dec 2006
- Fatal Combination for Flight Arrow Air 1285 - Smithsonian Channel
- Rootsweb.com - Memorial Gander Photos in Hopkinsville, Kentucky - taken 28 Dec 2006
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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