Iceberg wrote:We received a letter that was on the flight sent from my grandmother in Germany. It arrived about 3 weeks late in a sealed plastic bag. The outer edges were burnt away, but the letter was still about 95% readable. It brought the tragedy very close to us.
I believe you may be thinking of another crash
This one talked about here is the 1968 SAA 707 from flight SA 228 that was going from Johannesburg to London via Windhoek.
Cant see you German letter being on the flight.
Were you not perhaps thinking of the Lufthansa Flight 540 747-100 crash in Kenya that was routing Frankfurt to Johannesburg via Nairobi ?
Hi snitch. Was definitely the Windhoek crash. I probably have the detail wrong (43 years ago - memory fading a bit) - could have been a letter we sent to my sister who was with my grandmother in Germany at the time. The letter was then probably returned to the sender (us). I clearly recall seeing it with the burnt edges. There was also a note of apology with the letter.
The sky is not the limit....
ZS-MDK
Karl Eschberger
Iceberg wrote:Hi snitch. Was definitely the Windhoek crash. I probably have the detail wrong (43 years ago - memory fading a bit) - could have been a letter we sent to my sister who was with my grandmother in Germany at the time. The letter was then probably returned to the sender (us). I clearly recall seeing it with the burnt edges. There was also a note of apology with the letter.
The days when people had the graciousness to apologise even though it was not directly their fault...............sorry I am drifting off a little just something on my mind!
LIST OF CREW
Captain E.R. Smith
Flight Officer J.P. Holliday
Second Officer R.F. Armstrong
Flight Engineer Officer P.A. Minnaar
Navigation Officer H.C. Howe
Flight Traffic Officer A.G. Manson
Chief Flight Steward J.A. Erasmus
Senior Flight Steward H.S. Louw
Flight Steward R.J. Bester
Flight Steward J.W. Jesson
Flight Stewardess M. Nortier
Flight Stewardess E. Janse van Rensburg
PASSENGER LIST
SURVIVORS
B.R. Arntzen
A. Derbyshire
W.E. Rooke
T.W. Taylor
P.T. Williams
DECEASED
S.W. Avery
G.A. Avery
E. Bachmann
F. Bachmann
D.A. de O. Barbosa
I. Bartels
A.E. Begley
C.B. Blackwood
I.H. Böhm
S. Böhm
H.A. Brand
B.A. Brandt
T.A. Brandt
K.G. Brock
R.B. Brockbank
H.W.F. Brons
W. H. Brons
F.K.W. Burzlaff
H.E. Burzlaff
S.G. Cheal
P.K. Coates
M.P. Collins
F.J.M.T. de C. de Chamarel
J.H. de Groot
P.A. de Kok
E. de Rauville
M.E. de Rauville
P. de Rauville
V.E. Engelbert
A.C. Ferguson-Davie
E.W. Fitze
J. Forrest
H.A. Fussenegger
L.P. Geldenhuys
J.L. Gilbert
W. Hanisch
E. Heinz
H.W.R. Hinsch
T.P. Hooper
M.W. Hooper
Y. Jooste
I.H.J. Kannegieser
K.H. Keck
I.D.M.A. Kirsten
L. Knispel
G. Krommenhoek
M. Krommenhoek
V.B. Krufinski
G.J.G. Langermann
J. Langermann
M. de B. Lobo
F. Lorentz
J.W. Loubser
S.L. Louw
F.G. Magee
H.U. Materne
R. Materne
S.A. Materne
W. Materne
I.M.I.S. Merz
K.L. Merz
R. Mininberg
B.A.C.D. Notzon
G.A.R. Notzon
J.S. Notzon
K. Notzon
R.M. Ose
K. Ostmann
L.A. Ostmann
H. Pack
H.W. Pack
R. Pack
W. Pack
M.A. Parker
I.M. Patterson
W.A.G. Patterson
M.A.J. Peters
D. Petrick
H.E. Pohl
V.M. Purcocks
M. Radovanovic
K.M. Richards
I. Roberts
P. Roch
S.M. Rooke
G. Rummel
E.M. Salters
R.M. Salters
C. Sattler
W. Sattler
E. Schnieber
B.W. Sewell
H.J. Sigsworth
D.G. Simpson
J. Smit
R. Smith
M.R. Staiger
B.H.E. Stalmann
W.R. Stern
B. Thomas
E. Thomas
P.M. Thomas
E.N. Thompson
B. Tigner
J. De 0. Trindade
D.F. Usher
J.G. van der Wath
F.C. van Elten
C.H. Wichert
A.T. Williams
J.D. Wylie
REPORT BY THE BOARD OF INQUIRY APPOINTED BY THE HONOURABLE THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT UNDER SUB-SECTION (l) OF SECTION 12 OF THE AVIATION ACT, 1962 (NO. 74 OF 1962) TO INVESTIGATE AND. REPORT ON THE ACCIDENT TO SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS BOEING 707-344C AIRCRAFT ZS-EUW, "PRETORIA", AT WINDHOEK ON 20TH APRIL, 1968.
TO THE HONOURABLE THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT
Sir,
We have the honour to report that we have completed our investigations into and our findings on the accident to South African Airways Boeing 707-344C aircraft ZS-EUW, "Pretoria", at Windhoek on 20th April, 1968.
We commenced our investigations with flight tests and ground studies during September 1968. On 25th September 1968 we held a pre-hearing for all interested parties at Johannesburg. Public hearings began at Windhoek on lst October, 1968 and lasted there until 4th October, 1968, during which time we carried out inspections from the air and on the ground. The public hearings were continued at Pretoria from 7th to 9th October, 1968. Since then we have been engaged in conducting further investigations, obtaining additional evidence and consulting experts in various fields of aviation construction, maintenance, operation and accident investigation. These further duties have been carried out at Pretoria, Johannesburg, Jan Smuts Airport, Washington D.C. and London, in accordance with specific requirements.
In all, 82 witnesses testified viva voce in public; 22 made written depositions; 18 experts were consulted in the Republic, 12 in the U.S.A. and 1 in England. Approximately 250 documentary exhibits and records were studied, and also a large number of reports and technical publications.
We have personally investigated the wreckage and the entire crash area. We have visited the observation points of all material eye-witnesses. We have examined the installations and services of J.G. Strijdom Airport.
We have studied the relevant training and operational procedures of S.A. Airways. We have caused various investigations to be made on our behalf. We have from time to time engaged in air tests. We have done a comparative survey of the available reports of all other accidents having apparently similar characteristics. We have also considered possible improvements from the point of view of safety.
Our deliberations have now been completed and our findings on causation and responsibility are unanimous.
We now have the honour to submit our report, which has been compiled substantially in accordance with the recommended "Summary of Accident Report" contained in Appendix 3 to ICAO Annex 13, namely "International Standards and Recommended Practices on Aircraft Accident Inquiry", with certain additions and modifications.
Dated at Pretoria this day of November, 1968.
CHAIRMAN.
Summary
Index / Subject
I. Investigation
1.1 History of Flight
1.2 Injuries to Persons
1.3 Damage to Aircraft
1.4 Other Damage 1
1.5 Crew Information
1.6 Aircraft Information
1.7 Aircraft Information
1.8 Meteorological Info
1.9 Aids to Navigation
1.10 Communications
1.11 Aerodrome and Ground Facilities
1.12 Flight Recorders
1.13 Wreckage
1.14 Fire
1.15 Survival Aspects
Tests and Research
2. Analysis and Conclusions
2.1 Analysis
2.2 Conclusions
2.3 Responsibility for the accident
Recommendations
Summary
ANNEXURES
1. List of Passengers 65 - 70
2. List of Crew 71
3. Locality Plan
4. Site Plan of wreckage
5. Key to Site Plan of Wreckage. 72 - 83
6. Photograph of Crash Area
APPENDICES
A. List of Witnesses who testified viva voce. 84 - 87
B. List of witnesses who gave written statements only or who gave additional evidence in writing. 88
C. List of persons consulted by the Board. 89 - 90
D. List of parties represented at the hearing. 91
E. List of exhibits. 92 - 97
F. Bibliography. 98
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT. *
RELEASED on THIS ..... ...... DAY OF ..................... 1968
SUMMARY
(a) Name of Operator: South African Airways.
(b) Aircraft : Boeing 707-344C, registered in the Republic of South Africa as ZS-EUW, and known as "PRETORIA".
(c) Place and Date of Accident: Aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from runway O8, J.G. Strijdom Airport, Windhoek, South West Africa, on the night of 20th April, 1968.
* :All times are given as G.M.T. Local time at Windhoek is South African Standard Time (S.A.S.T.), which is G.M.T. plus 2 hours.
(d) Brief Description of Accident :
On 20th April, 1968, at 18.49 the aircraft took off from J.G. Strijdom Airport on the second leg of a scheduled public service international flight from Johannesburg to London via Windhoek, Luanda, Las Palmas and Frankfurt.
Local weather conditions were fine : there was no cloud and no wind. The night was particularly dark: there was no moon and the horizon was indistinct.
The aircraft took off on runway O8 (i.e. towards the East) into conditions of complete darkness.
The aircraft climbed to an altitude which has been variously estimated, but which is believed to have been approximately 650 feet above the elevation of the airport.
The aircraft, instead of maintaining its climb, levelled off and then began to descend. Its heading of 0800 magnetic was substantially maintained, though there was a slight veering to port. The levelling off and descent took an estimated time of some 30 seconds, at the end of which the aircraft flew into the ground at a point some 5,327 metres from the eastern extremity of runway O8 (i.e. from the threshold of the reciprocal runway 26). The level of the ground at the point of impact is 179 feet below the airport elevation or approximately 100 feet below the point of lift-off, so that the aircraft descended through approximately 750 feet. The impact occurred at a groundspeed of approximately 271 knots (312 miles per hour) The rate of descent at the time of impact is difficult to estimate, but could have been as much as 2,000 feet per minute, and the mean rate of descent has been calculated as 1,500 feet per minute approximately.
The initial impact was in a slightly left-wing-down attitude. The hull and each of the 4 engine pods gouged deep trenches in the ground and the aircraft then began to break up as its momentum carried it onward. Wreckage and bodies were strewn over an area some 1,400 metres long and some 200 metres wide, and 2 separate fires broke out, presumably through the ignition of fuel on impact.
The entire flight deck crew of 3 pilots, flight engineer officer and navigation officer, were killed or mortally injured, as were the whole of the cabin crew, and all but 5 of the passengers. The total death roll of crew and passengers numbered 123 persons.
The last communication from the aircraft was the R/T acknowledgement of the control tower's permission to take off.
(e) Cause of the Accident :
(1) The effective cause of the accident was the human factor, and not any defect in the aircraft or in any of the engines or flight instruments.
(2) After a normal take-off and retraction of the landing gear, and while the aircraft was approaching an estimated height of 650 feet, the flaps were fully retracted and the engine output reduced from take-off power to climb power. There is no reason to suppose that these steps were not taken in the correct sequence and at the prescribed indicated airspeeds. In that phase of flight these alterations in flap configuration and engine power would have caused the aircraft to level off and then lose height
(a) unless the pilot checked that tendency and maintained a climbing attitude by appropriate action, or
(b) until the aircraft gained much more speed.
(3) The aircraft levelled off and lost height, and during the short period in which it did so the pilot appears to have acted as if he believed that the aircraft was still climbing. He appears to have altered the stabilizer trim to maintain the aircraft in its same pitch attitude, which he apparently believed was an attitude of climb, but which was in fact an attitude of descent, In that situation, which lasted for about 30 seconds, the aircraft lost approximately 750 feet in height and flew into the ground.
(4) The co-pilot failed to monitor the flight instruments sufficiently to appreciate that the aircraft was losing height.
The following causes probably contributed in greater lesser degree to the situation described above:-
(a) take-off into conditions of total darkness with no external visual reference;
(b) inappropriate alteration of stabilizer trim;
The ground at the point of impact is approximately 100 feet lower than the point on the runway at which the aircraft took off.
(c) spatial disorientation; pre-occupation with after-take-off checks.
The following causes might have contributed in greater or lesser degree :
(a) temporary confusion in the mind of the pilot on the position of the inertial-lead vertical speed indicator, arising from the difference in the instrument panel layout in the C model of the Boeing 707-344 aircraft, as compared with the A and B models, to which both pilots were accustomed;
(b) the pilot's misinterpretation, by one thousand feet, of the reading on the drum-type altimeter, which is susceptible to ambiguous interpretation on the thousands scale;
(c) distraction on the flight deck caused by a bird or bat strike, or some other relatively minor occurrence.
It has not been possible to determine whether the captain or the first officer was handling the controls at the relevant time.
(f) Responsibility for the Accident :
It was a fundamental requirement of safe operation of the aircraft in the conditions of darkness and lack of all external visual references, and especially in the phase of flight immediately after the take-off, that the pilot and co-pilot should have ensured that safe attitude and airspeed and a positive climb were maintained by continuous reference to the relative flight instruments.
In the objective analysis of the occurrence, there was, as between the pilot and the co-pilot or either of them, a failure to observe this requirement in respect of the positive climb. Various factors, operating individually or cumulatively on the pilot and/or co-pilot, probably caused or contributed to this failure, but there is nothing to suggest that any crew disablement or other emergency which would have caused loss of control or which would have justified any departure from the said requirement. Responsibility for the accident accordingly falls on both the captain and the first officer, but primarily on the captain as the pilot-in-command, whether or not the first officer was doing the take-off.
Though in theory the third pilot's duties would have included monitoring the flight generally, in practice it was not possible for him to monitor flight instruments effectively. Besides, the evidence indicates that in this case he was responsible for the R/T. No responsibility for the accident therefore rests on him.
Apart from the afore going, there is in relation to the accident no evidence of any neglect or breach of duty or other irregularity on the part of South African Airways, or the Department of Transport, or any person connected with the maintenance, operation or control of the aircraft, or with air traffic control, or search and rescue by the airport fire-fighting service, or with the licensing and flying proficiency of the pilots, or with the medical examination of the crew members for the purposes of licence renewal.
The report is 106 pages long, but my OCR software started playing up at this point due to the original scans being larger (more pixels) than what the software could interpret. I can carry on with the actual investigation, but it's just a lot more effort and I guess I have to ask if there's any interest in more detail?
For instance they investigated the use of seat belts. Had Flight Officer J.P. Holliday been wearing his shoulder harness it was determined that he would most likely have survived. It was also determined that 44 passengers had already unbuckled their seat belts less than a minute into the flight.
Hi all good to find so much info on this crash I turned 3 just over a week after it happened , a life changing experience as my Dad was J P Holliday co pilot. I would like to find out as much as possible about what happened. Does anyone have any pictures? Was the documentary ever made and if so how can I get a copy.?
Wow, and to see how many families lost more than one member in this crash.
ITH
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I guess that flirting with death sometimes leads to a date - ITH
......never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. – John Donne
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. - Oscar Wilde
Jsholliday wrote:Hi all good to find so much info on this crash I turned 3 just over a week after it happened , a life changing experience as my Dad was J P Holliday co pilot. I would like to find out as much as possible about what happened. Does anyone have any pictures? Was the documentary ever made and if so how can I get a copy.?
Heartbreaking post - sorry for your loss.
Welcome to Avcom - a good place to find whatever answers are likely to be found.
Grant all equity and dignity
Richard Cook Consulting Architects (Pty) Ltd
