Word: copilots
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Disaster struck in a finger snap. The sleek, shiny Constellation tumbled drunkenly across a swampy, weed-covered islet on an arm of the Fergus River not two miles from the airfield. The left wing struck first, then the nose, which broke off and threw the pilot and copilot clear. The rest of the plane hurtled on, scattering its guts, plowing a deep rut in the mushy land. Watchers on Rineanna heard a thunderous crash as the Star hit, saw the flare of the gasoline.fire reach high into the night...
...pilots and passengers of the DC-3 found out what had happened. Eastern's big, four-engined plane, flying the same route at the same altitude, but with a 60-m.p.h. edge in speed, had overtaken the DC-3. The Pilot did not see the smaller plane; the copilot did, just in time. He pulled back mightily on the yoke to drive the big plane over the smaller. It was a good try: a few more inches of overlap would have sent 85 people to certain death in aviation's worst disaster...
...Question. Both curly-haired, 31-year-old Captain William R. Westerfield and 23-year-old Copilot Robert B. Lehr were experienced flyers, and veterans of many a safe Atlantic crossing. Neither had radioed word of any engine trouble. Why had it struck a visible obstacle at an altitude of less than 1,600 feet...
...landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, was routine. As the Pan American Airways Clipper (bound for Lisbon from New York) taxied towards the airport terminal, the pilot snapped an order: "Flaps up." The copilot, who had flown many hours in DC-4s, instinctively reached down with his left hand, yanked the lever next to his seat...
...copilot was not in a DC-4. He was in a Constellation (which has a landing-gear lever where the DC-4 has its flap lever). Instead of the flaps coming up, the wheels came up. The Connie crashed seven feet, on to the runway. The crew and 26 passengers were unhurt. But the $750,000 Connie was damaged beyond repair. Contributing cause to the accident: a safety lock-designed to keep the landing gear from coming up when a plane is on the ground-did not work...