World Airways - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• On September 19, 1960, a DC-6A/B took off from the Agana Naval Air Station on the island of Guam for a night time VFR flight to Wake Island. The plane made a right turn after takeoff and climbed continuously until striking Mount Barrigada. The plane struck the mountain 300 feet above airfield elevation and slid into thick underbrush. There were 90 occupants on board with 80 fatalities. The probable cause was the failure of the pilot to comply with published departure procedures.
• On September 8, 1973, a DC-8 operating on a cargo flight for the Military Airlift Command from Travis AFB to Clark AFB via Cold Bay and Yokota AFB crashed into Mount Dutton at an altitude of 3500 feet. All six persons on board were killed. The probable cause was "the captain's deviation from approved instrument approach procedures. As a result of the deviation the flight descended into an area of unreliable navigation signals and obstructing terrain."
• On September 20, 1981, an in-flight accident took place on a DC-10 from Baltimore to London. Flight attendant Karen Williams was killed when she became trapped in the lower galley elevator of the double-deck aircraft. An electrical malfunction and human error were both blamed as the cause. The rising elevator trapped the flight attendant between the top of the elevator shaft and a serving cart that she was apparently trying to release from its locking device.
• On January 23, 1982, World Airways Flight 30, a DC-10 landing at Boston's Logan International Airport under icy conditions and limited visibility slid off the end of the runway and plunged into Boston Harbor, separating the cockpit section from the rest of the aircraft. Two passengers were missing and were reported as fatalities. However, no bodies were found in the very shallow water. The main cause of this accident was the Boston Port Authority's failure to provide adequate runway braking reports to the crew although previous aircraft had reported little to no braking action prior to World's landing.

• On May 6, 2009, a DC-10-30 with registration N139WA operating as flight 8535 from Leipzig, Germany for the Military Airlift Command experienced a firm landing at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). As a result of the captain's response to the firm landing, the plane's nose wheel struck the runway hard two times. The aircraft blew one of its front tires and had to execute a go-around before landing successfully. Several passengers were injured, including the first officer, who suffered back trauma. The age of the aircraft (29 years 11 months at the time of the accident) and of the extent of damage to the front landing gear and fuselage resulted in the aircraft being written-off as scrap.