Page:CAB Accident Report, Continental Airlines Flight 12.pdf/1

 File No. 1-0019

ADOPTED: June 20, 1966

Continental Air Lines, Inc., Flight 12, a Boeing 707-124, N70773, crashed at Kansas City Municipal Airport, Kansas City, Missouri, at 0529 c.s.t., July 1. 1965.

Of the 60 passengers and 6 crewmembers aboard, three passengers and two crewmembers received minor injuries. The aircraft received substantial damage although no major fire occurred.

The aircraft made a "firm" landing, in heavy rain, about 1,050 feet past the approach and of runway 18. When the crew's efforts to stop the aircraft were ineffective, and the captain was convinced that they were going off the and of the runway, he used differential power and rudder to cock the aircraft to the left. The aircraft slid off the end of the runway, went through the ILS localizer antenna building, struck a dirt blast mound, slid up over the mound, and came to rest with the nose section in the perimeter road between the blast mound and a river levee.

The passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft without major difficulty.

The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was hydroplaning of the landing gear wheels that precluded braking effectiveness.

1.1 History of Flight

Continental Air Lines, Inc., Flight 12, (CAL Flight 12) was a Boeing 707-124, N70773, scheduled in domestic passenger service from Las Angeles International Airport, California, to D'Hate International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, with an intermediate step at Kansas City Municipal Airport, Missouri. The flight operated as planned except that the cruising altitude was changed from 29,000 feet to 33,000 feet to avoid weather and to increase passenger comfort.

Following an en route descent, the flight began an ILS approach to runway 18 at Kansas City. After passing the outer marker the flight was cleared to land