Page:CAB Accident Report, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663.pdf/1

 SA-381

ADOPTED: November 14, 1966

EASTERN AIR LINES, INC., DC-7B, N849D

IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN 6.5 NAUTICAL MILES

SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF JONES BEACH

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

FEBRUARY 8, 1965

Eastern Air Lines, Inc., Flight 663, a DC-7B, N849D, en route from John F. Kennedy Airport to Richmond, Virginia, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 6.5 nautical miles south-southwest of Jones Beach, Long Island, New York at 1826 e.s.t., February 8, 1965. The 79 passengers and 5 crewmembers perished in the crash and the aircraft was destroyed.

Flight 663 was climbing in a southerly direction after departing JFK Airport at 1820. At the same time Pan American Flight 212, a Boeing-707, inbound to JFK from Puerto Rico was descending to land. At 1827 the Pan American crew reported a near miss with another aircraft and that, "It looks like he's in the bay then, because we saw him. He looked like he winged over to miss us and we tried to avoid him, and we saw a bright flash about one minute later."

The Board determines that the probably cause of this accident was the evasive action taken by EAL 663 to avoid an apparent collision with PAA 212. The evasive maneuver of EAL 663, prompted by illusion, placed the aircraft in an unusual attitude from which recovery was not effected.

1.1 History of the Flight

Eastern Air Lines, Flight 663, (EAL 663) was a regularly scheduled passenger flight originating at Boston, Massachusetts, and terminating at Atlanta, Georgia, with intermediate stops at New York, Richmond, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina. The flight operated between Boston and New York without reported discrepancies.

EASEAL [sic] 663 took off from runway 31L at John F. Kennedy Airport at 1820 on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) clearance to Richmond Airport. The aircraft was cleared to maintain 8,000 feet after making a Dutch 7 Standard Instrument