KLM Flight 607-E

Infobox Airliner accident|name=KLM Flight 607-E
Date=August 14 1958
Type=Undetermined
Site=the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland
Fatalities=99
Injuries=0
Aircraft Type=Lockheed Super Constellation
Operator=KLM
Tail Number=airreg|PH|LKM|disaster
Ship name=Hugo de Groot
Passengers=91
Crew=8
Survivors =0

KLM Flight 607-E, also known as "Hugo de Groot", registration PH-LKM, was a Lockheed Super Constellation which crashed 180 kilometres west of Shannon, Ireland on August 14, 1958. All 99 on board died in the accident, including six members of the Egyptian fencing team.

Flight 607-E departed Shannon, Ireland at 3:05 GMT on the second leg of a transatlantic trip from Amsterdam to New York City with intermediate stops in Shannon and Gander, Newfoundland. Radio contact with the aircraft was lost at approximately 0340 hrs GMT; a rescue operation was launched which found light debris on the surface of the ocean approximately 180 km west of Shannon. The remains of 34 of those on board were also recovered. Due to the unknown depth of the crash location, no salvage effort was attempted.

Due to the lack of evidence, Irish and Dutch investigators could not pinpoint a probable cause for the accident. They examined the possibility of a bomb, electrical failure, or pilot error, but believed that the most likely possibility was "'overspeeding' of one of the outboard propellers resulting from oil pollution after a gear had been damaged when the supercharger of the corresponding engine was accelerated (shifted)." KLM made modifications to the propellers making the possibility of such a propeller event much less likely.

Burial

Many victims of the disaster were buried in Bohermore Cemetery in Galway.

ee also

* Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
* Air safety

External links

* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19580814-0&lang=en Flight 607-E] at the Aviation Safety Network.
* [http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0812/aircrash.html Galway Ceremony marks KLM air disaster] at RTE News.