Page:CAB Accident Report, United Air Lines Flight 823.pdf/1

 SA-380

ADOPTED: June 2, 1966

A United Air Lines, Inc., Vickers Vicsount 745D, N7405, Flight 823, crashed 2-1/4 miles northeast of Parrotsville, Tennessee, at 1815 e.s.t., July 9, 1964. Thirty-four passengers and the four crewmembers died in the crash. One passenger died of injuries following a free fall from the aircraft before the crash. The aircraft was destroyed by fire and impact damage.

Flight 823 was a regularly scheduled operation from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Huntsville, Alabama, with en route stops at Washington, D. C., and Knoxville, Tennessee. The flight operated without any reported discrepancies or difficulties until approximately 1810 e.s.t., when it was observed flying at low altitude trailing smoke. The flight continued in a southwesterly direction and at a point approximately 1.6 nautical miles before the impact site, a passenger was seen falling from the aircraft, and a short time later a cabin window was seen falling. The aircraft was then observed going into a nose-high attitude, the left wing and the nose went down, and the aircraft dived into the ground, exploded, and burned.

The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was an uncontrollable inflight fire of undetermined origin, in the fuselage, which resulted in a loss of control of the aircraft.

1.1

The aircraft, N4705, operated as United Air Lines (UAL) Flight 609 from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, to Philadelphia with intermediate stops at Washington, D. C., Buffalo and Elmira, New York, and Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The aircraft departed Raleigh-Durham at 0705 and arrived at Philadelphia at 1245. The captain and senior stewardess of the flight from Buffalo to Philadelphia stated that the flight was routine and the aircraft operated normally.