Lake Central Airlines Flight 527

1967 aviation accident

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527
Accident
A Convair 580 similar to the accident aircraft. This aircraft crashed while operating with Air Tahoma in 2004.
Date	March 5, 1967 (1967-03-05)
Summary	Loss of control and aircraft break-up after catastrophic propeller failure
Site	During descent to Toledo Express Airport, near Marseilles Township, Wyandot County, Ohio 40°41′37″N 83°25′51″W / 40.69361°N 83.43083°W / 40.69361; -83.43083
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Convair 580
Operator	Lake Central Airlines
Registration	N73130
Flight origin	Chicago O'Hare International Airport
1st stopover	Lafayette (IN) Airport
2nd stopover	Greater Cincinnati Airport
3rd stopover	Port Columbus International Airport
4th stopover	Toledo Express Airport
Destination	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Passengers	35
Crew	3
Fatalities	38
Survivors	0

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 was a regularly scheduled Convair 580 flight on March 5, 1967 from Chicago, Illinois to Detroit, Michigan with stops at Lafayette, Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio. The aircraft crashed near Marseilles, Ohio, killing all 38 passengers and crew on board.

Synopsis

On March 5, 1967, Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 was scheduled from Chicago, Illinois to Detroit, Michigan. The flight, operated by one of the company's Convair 580 aircraft and flown by captain John W. Horn (45) and first officer Roger P. Skillman (33), left Chicago at 4:04 p.m. CST and proceeded normally to Lafayette, Cincinnati and Columbus. No problems were reported.

The aircraft was serviced in Columbus and departed at 7:52 p.m. EST for Toledo. At 8:05 p.m., the flight was cleared by air traffic control to descend from 10,000 to 6,000 feet (3,000 to 1,800 m) as it approached Toledo. Air traffic control requested that the flight report its descent and to report crossing 8,000 and 7,000 feet (2,400 and 2,100 m). The crew acknowledged leaving 10,000 feet. This was the last transmission from the aircraft.

Witnesses in the vicinity of Marseilles, Ohio reported hearing sounds from an aircraft at times between 8:05 and 8:10 p.m. Some reported sounds similar to that of an engine starting. Shortly thereafter, the sound of an explosion was reported.

By 9:00 p.m., the authorities had confirmed that an aircraft had crashed in the area. Rain mixed with snow was reported at the time of the accident.

Cause

The aircraft was found to be loaded within normal limits, and the crew was found to be properly qualified for the flight, with no deficiencies reported.

The aircraft was equipped with a flight data recorder, which sustained no damage in the crash and was successfully read by investigators. Approximately 14 minutes after departing Columbus, the aircraft was on a heading of 322 degrees when it abruptly veered right 40 degrees, and then left 55 degrees, before power to the recorder was abruptly terminated. The cockpit voice recorder lost power at the same time, although investigators heard a sound resembling "the first few seconds of an air raid siren" just before shutoff.

The aircraft crashed in a farm field on a heading of 360 degrees. The front fuselage was separated from the main part of the aircraft, and debris was recovered from a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km), 0.5-mile-wide (0.80 km) trail on a heading of 135 degrees from the main wreckage. The right propeller was completely detached from the engine, as were the blades. In reconstructing the wreckage, the investigators discovered that the right propeller had separated during flight and severed the fuselage.

During manufacture, propeller pistons, which control the pitch of the propellers, are coated through a process called nitriding, which hardens them and increases their resistance to surface wear. They are supposed to be inspected to ensure that the process is completed, but investigators could not determine why N73130's propeller was not nitrided and did not fail inspections. During the life of the engine, the piston had been slowly wearing away. During the flight, the piston finally failed, causing the propeller to speed beyond its limits. The stress caused the propeller to fail one to two seconds later. When the propeller failed, the blades were hurled through the cabin, severing control cables and compromising the plane's structural integrity. The investigators determined that the crash was caused solely by the propeller defect and subsequent failure.

References

^ "Aircraft Accident Report : Lake Central Airlines" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 26 February 1968. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 - Marseilles, Ohio - Plane Crash Sites on". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
"CV-340 Accident". Enginehistory.org. 5 March 1967. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
"Reaching Back Soft Steel". Cahslunken.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2013.

External links

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1967 (1967)
Jan 14 Aeroflot Flight 5003Feb 16 Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 708Feb 28 Philippine Air Lines Flight 345Mar 5 Lake Central Airlines Flight 527Mar 5 Varig Flight 837Mar 9 TWA Flight 553Mar 10 West Coast Airlines Flight 720Mar 13 South African Airways Flight 406Mar 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9877Apr 11 Air Algérie DC-4 crashApr 20 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crashJun 3 Air Ferry DC-4 accidentJun 4 Stockport air disasterJun 23 Mohawk Airlines Flight 40Jun 30 Thai Airways International Flight 601Jul 6 Philippine Air Lines Flight 385Jul 19 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22Aug 27 Lake Erie skydiving disasterSep 5 ČSA Flight 523Oct 12 Cyprus Airways Flight 284Nov 4 Iberia Flight 062Nov 6 TWA Flight 159Nov 15 X-15 Flight 3-65-97Nov 16 Aeroflot Flight 2230Nov 20 TWA Flight 128Dec 8 Faucett Perú Douglas C-54 crashDec 30 Aeroflot Flight L-51
1966 ◄ ► 1968

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1967 (1967)

Jan 14 Aeroflot Flight 5003Feb 16 Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 708Feb 28 Philippine Air Lines Flight 345Mar 5 Lake Central Airlines Flight 527Mar 5 Varig Flight 837Mar 9 TWA Flight 553Mar 10 West Coast Airlines Flight 720Mar 13 South African Airways Flight 406Mar 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9877Apr 11 Air Algérie DC-4 crashApr 20 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crashJun 3 Air Ferry DC-4 accidentJun 4 Stockport air disasterJun 23 Mohawk Airlines Flight 40Jun 30 Thai Airways International Flight 601Jul 6 Philippine Air Lines Flight 385Jul 19 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22Aug 27 Lake Erie skydiving disasterSep 5 ČSA Flight 523Oct 12 Cyprus Airways Flight 284Nov 4 Iberia Flight 062Nov 6 TWA Flight 159Nov 15 X-15 Flight 3-65-97Nov 16 Aeroflot Flight 2230Nov 20 TWA Flight 128Dec 8 Faucett Perú Douglas C-54 crashDec 30 Aeroflot Flight L-51

1966 ◄ ► 1968

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 (January 6 1960) Capital Airlines Flight 20 (January 18 1960) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 (March 1960) Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 (July 1960) World Airways Flight 830 (September 1960)* Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 (October 4 1960) Cal Poly football team (October 29 1960) New York mid-air collision (December 1960)
1961	Goldsboro B-52 crash (January 24 1961) American Airlines Flight 1502 (January 28 1961) Yuba City B-52 crash (March 1961) United Air Lines Flight 859 (July 11 1961) Alaska Airlines Flight 779 (July 21 1961) TWA Flight 529 (September 1 1961) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 (September 17 1961) Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 (November 8 1961) Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash (November 14 1961)
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 (March 1962) Continental Airlines Flight 11 (May 1962) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 (July 1962) United Air Lines Flight 297 (November 23 1962) Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 (November 30 1962)
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 (January 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 (February 1963) Camden PA-24 (March 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 (June 1963) Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 (July 1963) Pan Am Flight 214 (December 1963)
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 crash (January 1964) Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 (February 1964) Paradise Airlines Flight 901A (March 1964) Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 (May 1964) United Air Lines Flight 823 (July 1964) Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 (November 1964) Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 (December 1964)
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita (January 1965) Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 (February 1965) Pan Am Flight 843 (June 1965) Continental Airlines Flight 12 (July 1 1965) Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 (July 23 1965) United Air Lines Flight 389 (August 1965) American Airlines Flight 383 (November 8 1965) United Air Lines Flight 227 (November 11 1965) Carmel mid-air collision (December 1965)
1966	NASA T-38 crash (February 1966) American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D (April 1966) Braniff International Airways Flight 250 (August 1966) West Coast Airlines Flight 956 (October 1966)
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 (March 5 1967) TWA Flight 553 (March 9 1967) West Coast Airlines Flight 720 (March 10 1967) Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 (March 30 1967) Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 (June 1967) Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 (July 1967) Lake Erie skydiving disaster (August 1967) TWA Flight 159 (November 6 1967) X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (November 15 1967) TWA Flight 128 (November 20 1967)
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 (March 1968) Braniff International Airways Flight 352 (May 3 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 (May 22 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 (August 1968) Northeast Airlines Flight 946 (October 1968) Japan Air Lines Flight 2 (November 22 1968) Pan Am Flight 281 (November 24 1968) Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 (December 2 1968) Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 (December 24 1968) Pan Am Flight 799 (December 26 1968) Ozark Air Lines Flight 982 (December 27 1968) North Central Airlines Flight 458 (December 27 1968)
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 (January 6 1969) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 (January 13 1969) United Air Lines Flight 266 (January 18 1969) Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 (February 1969) Prinair Flight 277 (March 5 1969)* Delta Air Lines Flight 821 (March 25 1969) TWA Flight 5787 (July 1969) Newton Cessna 172 crash (August 1969) Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 (September 1969) Mohawk Airlines Flight 411 (November 1969)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory. 1950–1959 ◄ 1960–1969 ► 1970–1979

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