- New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441
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New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 Accident summary Date 3 July 1963 Type Wind shear Site Near Mt Ngatamahinerua, Kaimai Ranges, New Zealand Passengers 20 Crew 3 Fatalities 23 (all) Survivors 0 Aircraft type Douglas DC-3C (C-47B-15-DK) Aircraft name Hastings Operator National Airways Corporation Tail number ZK-AYZ Flight origin Auckland Whenuapai Airport Destination Tauranga Airport New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 was a scheduled flight of New Zealand's National Airways Corporation from Whenuapai to Tauranga. On 3 July 1963 at approximately 9:09 am NZST the flight, a Douglas DC-3 Skyliner, flew into a vertical rock face in the Kaimai Ranges near Mount Ngatamahinerua, at an altitude of 2460 feet.[1] 23 people were on board. 22 were killed instantly; there is evidence that one person survived the impact but died shortly afterward. Three extra passengers were supposed to be on the flight, but changed their plans at the last minute.[2]
According to Civil Aviation Authority investigators, a downward current carried the aircraft below the level of the crests of the range, where under the very poor weather conditions prevailing at the time, the aircraft encountered an area of extreme turbulence from which it was impossible for the crew to recover altitude. On the day of the crash, another plane was caught in strong downdrafts in the Kaimai Ranges but managed to recover.
Furthermore, the crew was probably unaware of the true position of the aircraft and initiated a premature descent. However, it must be appreciated that the crew decided to descend only to the level officially designated as the minimum safe altitude in the area of the descent.
Following this accident, the Civil Aviation Authority made the decision to classify the Kaimai Ranges as mountainous terrain, which raised the minimum safe altitude for the area by 1000 feet.
Due to the remoteness of the crash, the wreckage was not recovered but secured on site by the New Zealand Army in 1964. This is similar to New Zealand's other major air disaster, Air New Zealand Flight 901, which remains on the slope of Mount Erebus where it crashed.
References
- ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19630703-0. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ "New Zealand's worst air disasters". New Zealand Herald. 28 November 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10545462. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
← 1962 · Aviation accidents and incidents in 1963 · 1964 → Jan 13 Elephant Mountain B-52 crash
Feb 12 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705
Jun 03 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293
Jul 02 Mohawk Airlines Flight 121Jul 03 NZ National Airways Flight 441
July 27 United Arab Airlines Flight 869 (1963)
Aug 21 Tupolev 124 Neva River ditching
Sep 04 Swissair Flight 306Oct 22 BAC One-Eleven test crash
Nov 06 Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 861
Nov 29 Trans-Canada Flight 831
Dec 08 Pan Am Flight 214Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics. Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps. Categories:- 1963 meteorology
- Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners caused by bad weather
- Aviation accidents and incidents in New Zealand
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1963
- History of the Waikato Region
- 1963 in New Zealand
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