Lockheed P-3 Orion - Notable Events, Accidents, and Incidents

Notable Events, Accidents, and Incidents

• 28 January 1971: Commander Donald H. Lilienthal, USN flew a P-3C Orion to a world speed record for heavyweight turboprops. Over 15–25 kilometers, he reached 501 miles per hour to break the Soviet Il-18's May 1968 record of 452 miles per hour.
• 26 May 1972: BuNo 152155, a U.S. Navy P-3A, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on a routine training mission after departing NAS Moffett Field, California with the loss of eight crew members.
• 3 June 1972: While attempting to fly through the Straits of Gibraltar, en route from Naval Station Rota, Spain to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily a U.S. Navy P-3 assigned to Patrol Squadron 44 (VP-44) hit a mountain in Morocco, resulting in the death of all 14 people on board the aircraft.
• 12 April 1973: A U.S. Navy Lockheed P-3C (157332) operating from NAS Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, California collided with a Convair CV-990 (N711NA) operated by NASA during approach to runway 32R. The aircraft crashed on the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, half a mile short of the runway, resulting in destruction of both aircraft and the death of all but one.
• 11 December 1977: Lockheed P-3B-80-LO BuNo 153428 operating from Lajes Field in the Azores crashed on mountainous El Hierro (southwesternmost of the Canary Islands) in poor visibility. There were no survivors from the crew of 13.
• 26 April 1978: Lockheed P-3 BuNo 152724 from Patrol Squadron 23 (VP-23) crashed on landing approach to Lajes Field in the Azores. Seven of the crew were killed and the plane sank into deep water preventing recovery to assess the cause of the crash.
• 22 September 1978: Lockheed P-3B-75-LO BuNo 152757 from Naval Air Station Brunswick Patrol Squadron 8 (VP-8) disintegrated over Poland, Maine on 22 September 1978. An over-pressurized fuel tank caused the port wing to separate at the outboard engine. The detached wing sheared off part of the tail; and aerodynamic forces caused the remaining engines and starboard wing to detach from the fuselage. Debris rained down near the south end of Tripp Pond shortly after noon. There were no survivors from the plane's 8-man crew.
• 26 October 1978: Lockheed P-3C BuNo 159892 AF-586 from NAS Adak Patrol Squadron 9 (VP-9) ditched at sea after an engine fire caused by a propeller malfunction. Ten of the 15-man crew were rescued by a Soviet trawler.
• 27 June 1979: Lockheed P-3 BuNo 154596 from NAS Cubi Point, Philippines Patrol Squadron 22 (VP-22) had a propeller overspeed shortly after departure. The number 4 propeller then departed the aircraft striking the number three with a subsequent fire on that engine. While attempting an overweight landing with 2 engines out, the aircraft stalled, rolled inverted and crashed in Subic Bay just past Grande Island. Four crew and one passenger were killed in the crash..
• 17 April 1980: Lockheed P-3 BuNO 158213 from Patrol Squadron 50 (VP-50) while flying for a parachuting exhibition, struck overhead tram wires and crashed, killing six.
• 16 June 1983: Lockheed P-3 BuNo 152720 YB-06 from Barber's Point, Oahu, Hawai'i Patrol Squadron 1 (VP-1), crashed into a mountain top in fog and low clouds, on the Napali Coast between the Hanapu and Kalalau valleys in Kauai, Hawai'i shortly after 0400 hours, killing all 14 on board.
• 21 March 1991: While on a training mission west of San Diego, California, two U.S. Navy Orions assigned to Patrol Squadron 50 (VP-50) at NAS Moffett Field collided in midair, killing all 27 people on board both aircraft.
• 1 April 2001: An aerial collision between an EP-3E ARIES II, a signals reconnaissance version of the P-3C, and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8IIM fighter resulted in the Hainan Island incident between the United States and China. The J-8IIM crashed and its pilot was killed. The EP-3 came close to becoming uncontrollable, at one point sustaining a near inverted roll, but was able to make an emergency landing on Hainan.
• 22 May 2011: Twenty Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists claiming to avenge Osama Bin Laden's death destroyed two Pakistan Navy P-3C Orions during an armed attack at PNS Mehran, a heavily guarded base of the Pakistan Navy located in Karachi. The aircraft had been readily used the Pakistani military in overland counter-insurgency surveillance operations.