1955 MacArthur Airport United Air Lines crash
New York
A crew practicing an engine failure pushed the throttle forward to save themselves, and it drove the plane into the ground.
On the fourth of April, nineteen fifty-five, a United Air Lines DC-6 called Mainliner Idaho lifted off from Long Island MacArthur Airport. No passengers. Three pilots, running instrument checks. One of them had pulled the throttle for the number four engine back before takeoff, simulating a failed engine. He pulled it back too far. On a DC-6, that far back reverses the propeller, the setting used to slow the plane after landing. The wheels left the ground. At fifty feet the airplane started rolling right. Someone shoved the number four throttle all the way forward, the instinctive move, expecting thrust. Because the safety flag in the cockpit had not been raised, the blades stayed reversed. Full power meant more reverse thrust. The roll went past ninety degrees, wings straight up and down. At about a hundred and fifty feet the nose dropped. The right wing hit first, the fuselage cartwheeled, and all three men were killed instantly.
This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
Because the blades were reversed and the flag was not raised, that increased the reverse thrust from No. 4 engine, causing the DC-6 to spiral out of control.
Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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