Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706

1961 aviation accident

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Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706
Crash
A Northwest Orient Lockheed L-188 Electra, similar to the accident aircraft
Date	September 17, 1961
Summary	Maintenance error
Site	O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, US 41°57′38″N 87°55′08″W / 41.9606°N 87.9190°W / 41.9606; -87.9190
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-188C Electra
Operator	Northwest Orient Airlines
Registration	N137US
Flight origin	O'Hare International Airport
Destination	Tampa International Airport
Occupants	37
Passengers	32
Crew	5
Fatalities	37
Injuries	0
Survivors	0

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 was a Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft, registration N137US, which crashed on take-off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport September 17, 1961. All 37 on board were killed in the accident.

Flight 706 began its day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was scheduled to stop at Chicago before travelling to Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, Florida. It arrived at Chicago in the early morning and left soon afterwards, being cleared for takeoff at 8:55 AM. Takeoff was normal until the aircraft reached the altitude of 100 feet above ground level, when witnesses noticed a slight change in the sound of the Electra's engines. The aircraft began a gentle bank to the right as the starboard wing began to drop. The bank angle increased to 35°; at that point the tower controllers picked up a garbled broadcast believed to be from the pilots. The aircraft climbed to approximately 300 feet but continued to bank, eventually reaching a bank angle of over 50°. At that point, the starboard wing nicked a series of high-tension power lines running along the south boundary of the airport; shortly after that, the aircraft struck an embankment and cartwheeled onto its nose. The forward fuselage broke off, the plane pancaked and skidded, then launched into the air and slammed nose-first into the ground, falling over on its back and exploding into a ball of flame. The accident took less than two minutes from the beginning of takeoff until the final crash.

Investigators with the Civil Aeronautics Board determined that the cable physically connecting the first officer's control wheel to the aileron boost unit had disconnected. This had caused the ailerons to put the aircraft in a starboard-wing-down attitude, and had prevented the pilots from being able to correct the bank. The cables attaching the pilots' control wheels to the aileron boost unit had been removed two months before the accident during routine maintenance; a safety cable that held part of the assembly together had not been replaced when the cables were hooked back up. The contact slowly separated, until it completely failed during the takeoff sequence.

References

"FAA Registry (N137US)". Federal Aviation Administration.

External links

Aircraft Accident Report on Flight 706 - Civil Aeronautics Board
Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
Air Disaster, Vol. 4: The Propeller Era, by Macarthur Job, Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. (Australia), 2001 ISBN 1-875671-48-X
The Crash of Flight 706: The Impact and Breakup Sequence ..., by Craig Hagstrom, 2016

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1961 (1961)
Jan 3 Aero Flight 311Jan 16 RAF Lakenheath nuclear weapons accidentsJan 24 Goldsboro B-52 crashJan 28 American Airlines Flight 1502Feb 3 Garuda Indonesia Flight 542Feb 15 Sabena Flight 548Mar 14 Yuba City B-52 crashMar 16 Aeroflot Flight 68Mar 28 ČSA Flight 511Apr 3 LAN-Chile Flight 621May 10 Air France Flight 406May 30 Viasa Flight 897Jun 12 KLM Flight 823Jul 11 United Air Lines Flight 859Jul 12 ČSA Flight 511Jul 19 Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 644Jul 21 Alaska Airlines Flight 779Jul 30 Avion PirataAug 6 Malév C-47 crashAug 9 Holtaheia Vickers Viking crashSep 1 TWA Flight 529Sep 10 President Airlines DC-6 crashSep 12 Air France Flight 2005Sep 14 F-84 Thunderstreak incidentSep 17 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706Sep 18 Transair Sweden DC-6 crashSep 23 Turkish Airlines Flight 835Oct 7 Derby Aviation crashNov 8 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8Nov 14 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crashNov 23 Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 322Nov 30 Ansett-ANA Flight 325Dec 17 Aeroflot Flight 245Dec 31 Mineralnye Vody Il-18 crash
1960 ◄ ► 1962

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1961 (1961)

Jan 3 Aero Flight 311Jan 16 RAF Lakenheath nuclear weapons accidentsJan 24 Goldsboro B-52 crashJan 28 American Airlines Flight 1502Feb 3 Garuda Indonesia Flight 542Feb 15 Sabena Flight 548Mar 14 Yuba City B-52 crashMar 16 Aeroflot Flight 68Mar 28 ČSA Flight 511Apr 3 LAN-Chile Flight 621May 10 Air France Flight 406May 30 Viasa Flight 897Jun 12 KLM Flight 823Jul 11 United Air Lines Flight 859Jul 12 ČSA Flight 511Jul 19 Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 644Jul 21 Alaska Airlines Flight 779Jul 30 Avion PirataAug 6 Malév C-47 crashAug 9 Holtaheia Vickers Viking crashSep 1 TWA Flight 529Sep 10 President Airlines DC-6 crashSep 12 Air France Flight 2005Sep 14 F-84 Thunderstreak incidentSep 17 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706Sep 18 Transair Sweden DC-6 crashSep 23 Turkish Airlines Flight 835Oct 7 Derby Aviation crashNov 8 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8Nov 14 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crashNov 23 Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 322Nov 30 Ansett-ANA Flight 325Dec 17 Aeroflot Flight 245Dec 31 Mineralnye Vody Il-18 crash

1960 ◄ ► 1962

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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