DISASTERS: Electra’s Tragedy

Southbound for Philadelphia, Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 roared down Runway 9 of Boston’s Logan International Airport, lifted comfortably into the clear October afternoon, then, a few hundred feet in the air, wheeled suddenly on its left wing and dived to destruction in the cold waters of Winthrop Bay. High over Boston Harbor an inbound pilot barked into his mike: “Tower, an Electra just went into the drink!”

Within minutes the far shore of the bay clogged with curious crowds; traffic eventually backed up all the way to downtown Boston. So many boats swarmed across the water that the rescue operation threatened to become a greater disaster than the crash. As dark fell, a grim collection of bodies, many still strapped in their seats, began to collect on shore. A TV and radio call for skindivers brought hundreds to the scene. Only a few dozen were qualified, but none hesitated to thrash through the black, blinding water while boat propellers churned around them. In the confusion survivors were mistaken for the dead. Civil Defense Director Jerry Wyman uncovered a blanketed body, applied a resuscitator and brought one “dead man” to life.

Of the 67 passengers and five crew members, only eleven survived the crash. Among the survivors were three members of a draft of 15 Marine recruits en route to boot camp at Parris Island, S.C.

Dead Starlings. Just back from a tour of the Soviet Union, and not even unpacked, Federal Aviation Agency Chief Elwood (“Pete”) Quesada flew in to head the investigation. He had good reason: Eastern’s Flight 375 was the fifth Electra crash since the big four-engined turboprop planes went into service two years ago, and it was he who had opposed grounding 140 still flying. At least two of the crashes could be charged to pilot error, but study of others—mid-air disintegration over Indiana and Texas—had disclosed serious structural flaws. Weak ened outboard engine nacelles tended to vibrate at high speeds in turbulent air, their intense flutter could destroy a wing. The Civil Aeronautics Board and some quick-tempered politicians had demanded grounding the Electra. Quesada had insisted that while the airlines waited for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. to beef up its Electras’ wings (at an estimated cost of $25 million), the planes could still safely carry passengers—at reduced speeds.

No Electra in service has yet been modified, and last week’s crash laid Quesada’s reputation as well as the Electra’s on the line. But a flock of dead starlings on the runway at Logan—plus divers’ reports that Flight 375’s submerged fuselage was still spattered with birds—offered Quesada one plausible explanation: the plane may have hit a flock of birds on takeoff. The birds could have plugged engine air intakes of one or more engines on the left side and caused flameouts; they could even have fouled the mechanism controlling the Electra’s great paddle-bladed props. And although the Electra is designed to fly on two engines in an emergency, the unlikely loss of two engines on one side at a critical point just after take-off might well cause the ship to veer sharply and spin in.

Sealed Engines. Pilots, who generally like the way the ship handles, fell over each other to offer testimonials to the be leaguered Electra, “the most beautiful flying airplane we’ve ever had.” Nonetheless, Mississippi Democrat John Williams sternly announced that his House Subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics would start hearings this week on the crash. Republican Steven Derounian of New York and Thomas J. Love, Massachusetts Democrat, called for an investigation. FAA inspectors sealed the four engines under water before hauling them up for study. Indiana’s Democratic Senator Vance Hartke called again for grounding the Electra. Egged on by nervous newsmen who must travel with him on his campaign, Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate Lyndon Johnson switched from an Electra to a Convair. Rumors spread that many large companies were forbidding their employees to fly in Electras. Just two days after the accident at Boston, Eastern’s Electra travel was off 21% on all its routes.

The Wall Street Journal remembered, pensively, that a mythological Electra, who dallied with the gods, was dashed to earth by Athena. “Everything she tried turned to tragedy and mourning became all the bearers of her name.”