List of accidents and incidents involving the Convair CV-240 family

List of accidents and incidents involving the Convair CV-240 family
A restored Convair CV-240 in Western Air Lines livery, at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California

The Convair CV-240 was an American airliner produced by Convair from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement of the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. While featuring a more modern design, the 240 series was able to make some inroads as a commercial airliner and also had a long development cycle which resulted in a number of civil and military variants. Although reduced in numbers through attrition, the "Convairliners" in various forms continue to fly into the 21st century.

Accidents and incidents

Like every other major type in long service and operation, accidents and incidents have been recorded that have substantially reduced the numbers flying. The following list is typical of such a record of operational use.

• January 22, 1952: American Airlines Flight 6780 crashed in downtown Elizabeth, New Jersey in the first fatal accident after a record 840,000 safe flying hours.
• September 16, 1953: American Airlines Flight 723 struck radio towers and crashed near Albany, New York. All 28 on board were killed.
• June 19, 1954: A Swissair Convair CV-240 crashed due to fuel starvation in the English Channel near Folkestone.
• March 20, 1955: American Airlines Flight 711, a Convair CV-240, struck the ground during final approach in Springfield, Missouri. Of the 35 people aboard, there were 22 survivors.
• July 17, 1955: Braniff International Airways flight 560, a Convair 340 (N3422), struck a gas station sign while on final approach to Chicago Midway Airport. The aircraft then crashed through the airport boundary fence and came to rest upside down. A total of 22 of the 43 people on board died.
• September 18, 1957: a Real Transportes Aéreos Convair 440-62 registration PP-AQE belonging to Transportes Aéreos Nacional, flying from Porto Alegre to Montevideo had an accident during touch down operations in Montevideo. While on a night landing procedure under fog, the aircraft undershoot the runway by 1,030m, causing the left and middle gear to hit an earth bank bordering a highway. The right wing touched the ground and further on, the aircraft lost both propellers. The right wing then broke off. One crew member died.^[1]
• June 16, 1958: Cruzeiro do Sul, a Convair 440-59 registration PP-CEP flying from Florianópolis to Curitiba-Afonso Pena was on final approach procedures to land at Curitiba when it was caught in downdrafts. The aircraft descended and struck the ground. Of the 26 passengers and crew aboard, 21 died.^[2]
• June 24, 1960: A Convair CV-340 operated by Real Transportes Aéreos crashed into Guanabara Bay. All five crew and 49 passengers were killed. The cause was undetermined.^[3]
• December 17, 1960: A USAF C-131 Samaritan crashed due to fuel contamination shortly after take-off from Munich-Riem Airport downtown Munich, Germany killing all 20 on board as well as 32 on the ground in an accident known as the 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash.
• May 9, 1962: a Cruzeiro do Sul Convair 240-D registration PP-CEZ on final approach to Vitória struck a tree at a height of 40m, 1860m short of the runway. It should have been at 150m. Of the 25 passengers and crew aboard, 23 died.^[4]
• 22 December 1962: a Varig Convair CV-240-2 registration PP-VCQ, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília via Belo Horizonte-Pampulha descended below the prescribed altitude while on final approach to Brasília, struck trees, skidded and fell to one side. One crew member died.^[5]
• January 15, 1963: a Cruzeiro do Sul Convair 240-D registration PP-CEV on initial climb from São Paulo-Congonhas crashed into houses after an engine failed. Of the 45 passengers and crew aboard, 6 died. Six persons on the ground were also killed.^[6]
• May 3, 1963: a Cruzeiro do Sul Convair 340-59 registration PP-CDW flying from São Paulo-Congonhas to Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont had to return to São Paulo after no. 2 engine caught fire. When on finals to touchdown, the aircraft nosed up 45°, stalled and struck a house. Of the 50 passengers and crew aboard, 37 died.^[7]
• November 20, 1964: Flight 267V, a Convair CV-340 (SE-CCK), operated by Linjeflyg, crashed during an approach at Ängelholm. In instrument conditions, the crew abandoned the set procedure and began the landing too soon. The reason for this must have been that the crew allowed themselves to be misled by an arrangement of lights peculiar to the airfield with which, apart from certain information received during the approach, they were not acquainted. A total of 31 people were killed.
• 28 January 1966: Lufthansa Flight 005 crashed on landing after an approach in low visibility to Bremen, Germany. All 46 passengers and crew on board lost their lives.
• March 5, 1967: Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashed near Marseilles, Ohio when a runaway prop disintegrated. All 38 on board were killed.^[8]
• December 24, 1968: A total of 20 were killed when Allegheny Airlines flight 736 crashed near Bradford, Pennsylvania.
• December 27, 1968: North Central Airlines Flight 458, a CV-580, crashed into a hangar at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, killing 27 of the 45 people on board and killing one and injuring six people on the ground.^[9][10]
• January 6, 1969: Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashed near Bradford, Pennsylvania, killing 11.
• January 25, 1970: A CV-240 from the Mexican Government carrying journalists crashed into into a hill, killing all but one of the 20 people on board.
• June 29, 1972: North Central Airlines Flight 290, a CV-580, collided in mid-air with Air Wisconsin Flight 671, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, over Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago. Both aircraft crashed into the lake, killing all five people aboard the CV-580 and all eight aboard the DHC-6.^[11][12]
• September 27, 1973: Texas International Airlines Flight 655, a Convair CV-600, crashed near Mena, Arkansas, killing 11 persons.
• March 13, 1974: A film crew for Wolper Productions filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when the Sierra Pacific Airlines CV-440 exploded on take off from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California killing 35 on board including 31 Wolper crew members, although not Wolper himself. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television show Primal Man. The National Transport Safety Board (US) has never been able to determine the cause of the crash.^[13]
• October 27, 1975: A CV-440 operated by Transporte Aéreo Militar crashed into the Cerro Colorado volcano during takeoff, killing all four crew and 63 passengers on board. The aircraft was carrying military officers and their families.
• October 20, 1977: Six persons were killed, including three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd when the Convair CV-300 they were aboard, crashed near a forest in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The probable cause of the crash was fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines. The pilot, co-pilot and the band's assistant road manager were among the dead. Some 20 other passengers survived, some with terrible injuries.
• January 9, 1983: Republic Airlines flight 927 landed at Brainerd, Minnesota, right wing down, veered to the right until the right propeller struck a two to three ft snow bank. The blade separated from the engine and penetrated the cabin, killing one passenger.
• September 8, 1989: Partnair Flight 394 Convair 580 LN-PAA crashed into the sea near Hirtshals, Denmark after the tailfin suffered severe vibration due to it being attached to the fuselage with fraudulent bolts; the vibration caused a rudder hard-over. All 55 occupants were killed.
• October 3, 2003: A Convair 580 freighter, ZK-KFU, after severe icing caused the aircraft to stall and enter a spiral dive, crashed into the sea near Paraparaumu, New Zealand. The aircraft subsequently suffered an in-flight breakup. Both pilots were killed.
• August 13, 2004: An Air Tahoma Convair 580 freighter (N586P) crashed during approach to landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Covington, Kentucky, killing the first officer. The cause of the crash was fuel starvation as a result of improper fuel cross-feed application.^[14]
• September 1, 2008: An Air Tahoma Convair 580 freighter, N587X, conducting its first flight following a maintenance "C" Check, immediately after departure from Columbus's Rickenbacker International Airport, crashed in Pickaway County, Ohio. The crew had declared an in flight emergency and was attempting to return to the departure airport. Reports indicate the flight was also being used as a training flight for the first officer. All three occupants, the captain, first officer and a company pilot observer, were killed in the crash or post-crash fire. A recently released NTSB report blames elevator trim cables reversed during maintenance as the cause of the crash.^[15]
• July 31, 2010: A Conair Convair 580 (C-FKFY Tanker 48) crashed while fighting a forest fire. The crash was in the Jackass Mountain region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada.

^[16]

References

Notes

1. ^ "Accident description PP-AQE." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: July 16, 2011.
2. ^ "Accident description: Cruzeiro do Sul Convair 440-59." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: May 6, 2011.
3. ^ "Accident description PP-YRB." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: May 16, 2011.
4. ^ "Accident description PP-CEZ." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: July 16, 2011.
5. ^ "Accident description PP-VCQ." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: May 16, 2011.
6. ^ "Accident description PP-CEV". Aviation Safety Network. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19630115-1. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 
7. ^ "Accident description PP-CDW." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: August 17, 2011}}
8. ^ "Lake Central Airlines CV-580." ntsb.gov. Retrieved: September 1, 2010.
9. ^ Aviation Safety Network: ASN Aircraft accident Convair 580 N2045 Chicago-O’Hare International Airport
10. ^ National Transportation Safety Board Report Number NTSB-AAR-70-27 “Aircraft Accident Report North Central Airlines, Inc., Convair 580, N2045, O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, December 27, 1968,” adopted November 12, 1970
11. ^ Aviation Safety Network: ASN Aircraft accident Convair CV-580 N90858 Appleton, WI
12. ^ National Transportation Safety Board Report Number NTSB-AAR-73-09 “Aircraft Accident Report North Central Airlines, Inc., Allison Convair 340/440 (CV-580), N90858, and Air Wisconsin, Inc., DHC-6, N4043B, Near Appleton, Wisconsin, June 29, 1972,” adopted April 25, 1973
13. ^ "The 'Primal Man' Crash, Near Bishop, California, March 13, 1974." check-six.com. Retrieved: December 22, 2010.
14. ^ "NTSB Report: Air Tahoma CV-580 N586P crash." ntsb.gov. Retrieved: September 1, 2010.
15. ^ "NTSB Report: Air Tahoma CV-580 N587X crash." ntsb.gov. Retrieved: September 1, 2010.
16. ^ "Accident description C-FKFY Airtanker 48." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: May 16, 2011.

Bibliography

• Frawley, Gerald. "Convair CV-540, 580, 600, 640 & CV5800", The International Directory of Civil Aircraft 1997/98. Fyshwick ACT: Aerospace Publications, 1997. ISBN 1-875671-26-9.
• Gradidge, Jennifer. The Convairliners Story. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1997, ISBN 0-85130-2343-2.
• Wegg, John. General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors. London: Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-833-X.

External links