This is the first BOAC DH.106 Comet 4, G-APDA. It made its first flight 27 April 1958. (BOAC)
4 October 1958: The first regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger service with jet powered aircraft began when two British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) de Havilland DH.106 Comet 4 airliners, civil registrations G-APDB and G-APDC, left nearly simultaneously from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Idlewild Airport (IDL), New York, and from New York to London.
The west-to-east flight, (G-APDB) commanded by Captain Thomas Butler (Tom) Stoney, D.F.C., departed New York at 7:01 a.m., local time, with Basil Smallpiece and Aubrey Burke, managing directors of BOAC and de Havilland, respectively, on board. Benefiting from more favorable winds, the eastbound flight took just 6 hours, 12 minutes, averaging 565 miles per hour (909 kilometers per hour).
Passengers board BOAC’s DH.106 Comet 4, G-APDC, at London Heathrow Airport, 4 October 1958. (Telegraph.co.uk)
The east-to-west airliner, G-APDC, departed Heathrow at 8:45 a.m., London time, under the command of Captain R.E. Millichap, with Sir Gerard d’Erlanger, chairman of BOAC, and 31 passengers aboard. The westbound flight took 10 hours, 20 minutes, including a 1 hour, 10 minute fuel stop at Gander Airport (YQX), Newfoundland.
These two airliners had been delivered to BOAC on 30 September 1958. They were both configured to carry 48 passengers.
The first two de Havilland DH.106 Comet 4 airliners are delivered to BOAC at Heathrow, 30 September 1958. (Daily Mail Online)
The DH.106 Comet 4 was operated by a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and navigator/radio operator. It could carry up to 81 passengers. The airliner was 111 feet, 6 inches (33.985 meters) long with a wingspan of 115 feet (35.052 meters) and 29 feet, 6 inches (8.992 meters) to the top of the vertical fin. Maximum takeoff weight of 156,000 pounds (70,760 kilograms).
Power was supplied by four Rolls-Royce Avon 524 (RA.29) turbojet engines, rated at 10,500 pounds of thrust (46.71 kilonewtons) at 8,000 r.p.m., each. The RA.29 was Rolls-Royce’s first commercial turbojet engine. It was a single-spool, axial-flow jet engine with a 16-stage compressor and 3-stage turbine. The Mk.524 variant was 10 feet, 4.8 inches (3.170 meters) long, 3 feet, 5.5 inches (1.054 meters) in diameter, and weighed 3,226 pounds (1,463 kilograms).
The Comet 4 had a maximum speed of 520 miles per hour (837 kilometers per hour), a range of 3,225 miles (5,190 kilometers) and a ceiling of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
De Havilland DH-106 Comet 4 G-APDB (“Delta Bravo”) made it’s final flight on 12 February 1974, having flown 36,269 hours, with 15,733 landings. It is part of the Duxford Aviation Society’s British Air Liner Collection at RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England.
G-APDC did not fare as well. It was scrapped in April 1975.
De Havilland DH.106 Comet 4 G-APDC, Christchurch Airport, New Zealand. (V.C. Brown via AussieAirliners)Capt. T.B. Stoney
Captain Stoney had served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during World War II. In 1942, as a Pilot Officer assigned to No. 58 Squadron, Bomber Command, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and promoted to Flying Officer. Ten years later, Captain Stoney was in command of BOAC’s Canadair DC-4M-4 Argonaut, Atalanta, G-ALHK, when it brought Queen Elizabeth II home from Kenya to accede to the throne.¹ Captain R.E. Millichap was also a member of the flight crew. Later that year, Stoney flew the new Queen back to Africa aboard a DH.106 Comet 1. T.B. Stoney was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1960.
The first Boeing 747 is rolled out, 30 September 1968. (Boeing)
30 September 1968: The first Boeing 747, City of Everett, was rolled out at Boeing’s Everett, Washington plant. It was registered as N7470, and carried Boeing’s serial number, 20235. Identified internally as RA001, the Boeing 747-121 was the first “jumbo jet.”
The 747-100 series was the first version of the Boeing 747 to be built. It was operated by a flight crew of three and was designed to carry 366 to 452 passengers. It is 231 feet, 10.2 inches (70.668 meters) long with a wingspan of 195 feet, 8 inches (59.639 meters) and overall height of 63 feet, 5 inches (19.329 meters). The interior cabin width is 20 feet (6.096 meters), giving it the name “wide body.” The airliner’s empty weight is 370,816 pounds (168,199 kilograms) and the Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 735,000 pounds (333,390 kilograms).
Many airlines had pre-ordered the 747. These flight attendants represent them. (Boeing)
The 747-100 is powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A high-bypass turbofan engines. These can produce 46,150 pounds of thrust (205.29 kilonewtons) each, or 47,670 pounds of thrust (212.05 kilonewtons) with water injection (2½ minutes).
The Boeing 747-100 has a cruise speed of 0.84 Mach (555 miles per hour, 893 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) and it’s maximum speed is 0.89 Mach (594 miles per hour/893 kilometers per hour). The maximum range at MTOW is 6,100 miles (9,817 kilometers).
Boeing 747-121 RA001 on public display, Everett, Washington, 30 September 1968. (The Museum of Flight)
The Boeing 747 was in production for 54 years with a total of 1,574 produced. 250 of these were the 747-100 series. The final Boeing 747, a 747-8F freighter, was delivered 31 January 2023.
N7470 made its first flight on 9 February 1969. It last flew in 1995. City of Everett is on static display at The Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington.
The first Boeing 747, N7470, after rollout at Everett, Washington, 30 September 1968. (Boeing)
PSA Flight 182, on fire after mid-air collision, 25 September 1978. (Hans Wendt, County of San Diego)
25 September 1978: At 09:02:07 a.m., local time, the worst aircraft accident in California history occurred when a Boeing 727-214 airliner, civil registration N533PS, operated by Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) as Flight 182, crashed at the intersection of Dwight Street and Nile Street in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, 4,830 meters (3.00 miles) northwest of Lindbergh Field (SAN), today known as San Diego International Airport.
Flight 182 was a regularly scheduled commercial airline flight from Sacramento, California to San Diego, with a stopover at Los Angeles. Captain James E. McFeron, a 17-year veteran of PSA, was in command. First Officer Robert E. Fox was the pilot flying the 727 on this leg. The Flight Engineer (also called the Second Officer) was Martin J. Wahne. Also in the cockpit, occupying the two “jump seats” were two off-duty PSA captains. Four flight attendants were on duty in the passenger cabin along with 126 passengers, which included 30 PSA employees.
In clear weather and early morning sunlight, the airliner was on an visual approach to Lindbergh. The 727 passed over the Mission Bay VORTAC (MZB), a navigation aid 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) northwest of the airport, and turned left to a heading of 090° to intercept the downwind leg of the approach.
Detail of current aeronautical chart of airspace around San Diego International Airport (Lindbergh Field), center near bottom of image. Montgomery field is at the upper right.
Ahead of the 727, a single-engine light airplane, a Cessna 172, N7711G, with an instructor and student aboard, had made two practice ILS approaches to Runway 9 at Lindbergh and departed to the northwest, returning to its base at Montgomery Field (MYF), 6.4 miles (10.3 kilometers) north-northeast of SAN.
Approach Control called, “Cessna 7711G, radar contact, maintain VFR at or below 3500[1,067 meters], fly heading 070, vector (for) final approach course.” The pilot of the Cessna, David T. Boswell, acknowledged the east-north-easterly heading and the altitude restriction. About 15 seconds later, at 08:59:39, the controller informed the 727, “Additional traffic’s twelve o’clock, three miles, just north of the field, northeastbound, a Cessna One Seventy-Two climbing VFR out of one thousand four hundred.” [427 meters] At 08:59:50, First Officer Fox reported, “Okay, we’ve got that other twelve.”
Radar tracks show that N7711G initially maintained the assigned heading but after about one minute, turned 20° right to 090°, the same heading as that of Flight 182.
At 09:00:23, Approach Control acknowledged Flight 182: “Okay, sir, maintain visual separation, contact Lindbergh Tower 133.3. Have a nice day, now!”
Flight 182 switched radio frequencies and Captain McFeron checked in with the tower: “Lindbergh, PSA 182. Downwind.” The Tower Controller responded, “PSA 182, Lindbergh Tower, traffic 12 o’clock, one mile, a Cessna.”
In the cockpit there was confusion about the reported conflicting traffic ahead. Captain McFeron asked, “Is that the one we’re looking at?” Flight Engineer Wahne replied, “Yeah—but I don’t see him now.” McFeron called the Tower, “Okay, we had it there a minute ago.”The Controller replied, “One Eighty-Two, roger.” The Captain continued, “I think he’s passed off to our right.”
Inside the cockpit, McFeron said, “He was right over there a minute ago.” Wahne agreed, “Yeah.”
Lindbergh Tower authorized Flight 182 to land, “PSA 182—cleared to land,” and McFeron acknowledged with, “PSA 182’s cleared to land.” He then asked the Flight Engineer, “Are we clear of that Cessna?” Wahne said, “Supposed to be!” McFeron responded, “I guess.” In the cockpit’s jump seat, one of the two off-duty captains said, “I hope!”
At 09:01:21, Captain McFeron stated, “Oh, yeah, before we turned downwind, I saw him about one o’clock, probably behind us now.”
First Officer Fox called for the wing flaps to be lowered and then at 09:01:31 he asked for the landing gear to be lowered. At 09:01:38, Fox said, “There’s one underneath [pause] I was looking at that inbound there.” Flight 182 was now descending through 2,600 feet (793 meters).
At 09:01:47, the Flight 182’s Cockpit Voice Recorder picked up the sound of the collision.
The Boeing 727 struck the Cessna 172 from above and behind, with the impact occurring on the forward underside of the 727’s right wing, approximately 12.5 feet (3.8 meters) outboard of the wing root. The airliner was heavily damaged and on fire, having lost both the number 5 and 6 leading edge flaps. The number 3 leading edge slat and number 4 inboard leading edge flap were damaged. Chordwise damage penetrated to the forward wing spar. The airplane’s System A hydraulic lines and pressurized fuel lines were routed along the wing’s leading edge, in front of the forward wing spar. The NTSB estimated that only partial hydraulic pressure would have been available. With the flight controls damaged, Flight 182 rolled and turned to the right. On a heading of approximately 200°, it crashed into residential neighborhood in a 300 mile per hour (483 kilometers per hour), 50° dive.
According to seismographs at the Museum of Natural History, San Diego, the impact occurred at 09:02:07 a.m., Pacific Daylight Savings Time (16:02:07 UTC).
The Cessna 172 was also heavily damaged and on fire. The largest piece of the Cessna impacted six blocks away from the scene of the 727 crash, near 32nd Street and Park Avenue.
PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-214, registration N533PS, shortly before impact, 0902 a.m., 25 September 1978. (Hans Wendt, County of San Diego)
All 135 persons aboard the 727, both persons on the Cessna, and seven persons on the ground were killed. Another nine persons on the ground were injured. Twenty-two homes in a four-block area were destroyed or damaged.
The last words of the flight deck personnel recorded by the Cockpit Voice Recorder were that of an unidentified voice saying, “Ma, I love you.”
Scene of the crash of Flight 182, 25 September 1978. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Pilot in Command of Flight 182, Captain James E. McFeron, had been employed by Pacific Southwest Airlines since 1961. He held an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate and was type-rated in both the Lockheed L-188 Electra and the Boeing 727. He had a total of 14,382 flight hours, with 10,482 hours in the Boeing 727.
First Officer Robert E. Fox, Jr., also held an ATP certificate. Of his 10,049 flight hours, 5,800 were in the 727. He had been with PSA for 9 years.
Flight Engineer Martin J. Wahne had worked for PSA for 11 years. He had 10,800 hours, with 6,587 hours in the Boeing 727.
The Pilot in Command of the Cessna was Gunnery Sergeant David Lee Boswell, U.S. Marine Corps, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Gunnery Sergeant Boswell held Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor certificates, with Airplane—Single– and Multi–Engine Land ratings. He was receiving instrument flight instruction to apply for an Instrument Rating. Boswell had 407 total flight hours, and had flown 61 hours in the previous 90 days.
The Instructor Pilot on board the Cessna was Martin B. Kazy, Jr., an employee of the aircraft owner, Gibbs Flight Center at Montgomery Field. He held Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor certificates, with Airplane Single– and Multi–Engine Land, and Instrument–Airplane ratings. He had a total of 5,137 flight hours. Kazy had flown 347 hours in the previous 90 days.
Pacific Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 727-214, N533PS, photographed at San Francisco International Airport, September 1974. (Edge to Edge Photography)
The aircraft operated as PSA Flight 182 was a Boeing 727–214, serial number 19688, which made its first flight 4 June 1968. At the time of the accident, the total time on the airframe (TTAF) was 24,088.3 hours. It had made 36,557 takeoffs and landings.
The Boeing 727–200 series was a stretched version of the original –100 model. It was designed to be operated by a flight crew of three, and could carry up to 189 passengers. The –200 was 153 feet, 2 inches (46.685 meters) long with a wingspan of 108 feet, 0 inches (32.918 meters) and overall height of 34 feet, 0 inches (10.363 meters). The empty weight was 98,400 pounds (44,633 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was 184,800 pounds (83,642 kilograms). The airliner was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9 low-bypass axial-flow turbofan engines, rated at 14,500 pounds of thrust at Sea Level for takeoff (5-minute limit), and 12,600 pounds of thrust, maximum continuous power. This gave the 727–200 a maximum cruise speed of 0.9 Mach (610 miles per hour, or 982 kilometers per hour, at 30,000 feet/9,144 meters). Its service ceiling was 42,000 feet (12,802 meters), and the maximum range was 1,956 miles (3,148 kilometers).
1,832 727s were built by Boeing between 1963 and 1984. 1,245 of these were 727-200s.
This 1976 Cessna 172M is similar in appearance to Gibbs Flight Center’s N7711G. (Skytamer)
Cessna 172 N7711G was a 1975 Cessna 172M, serial number 17265788. It had 2,993 total flight hours on the airframe (TTAF). It was a single-engine, four-place light airplane with a high wing and fixed tricycle landing gear. 711G was painted white with “mustard” yellow trim. The 172M is 26 feet, 11 inches (8.201 meters) long with a wingspan of 36 feet, 0 inch (10.973 meters) and height of 8 feet, 9½ inches (2.680 meters). The empty weight is 1,350 pounds (612 kilograms) and gross weight is 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms). It is powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated 319.749-cubic-inch-displacement (5.240 liter) Lycoming O-320-E2D horizontally-opposed 4-cylinder direct-drive engine rated at 150 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. The engine drives a two-bladed McCauley fixed-pitch propeller with a diameter of 6 feet, 3 inches (1.905 meters). The engine installed on N7711G engine had 3,086 total hours since new (TSN) and 879 hours since overhaul (TSO). The 172M has a cruise speed of 138 miles per hour (222 kilometers per hour) at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters), and a maximum speed of 142 miles per hour (229 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. The airplane’s service ceiling is 13,100 feet (3,993 meters) and its maximum range is 875 miles (1,408 kilometers).
More than 43,000 Cessna 172s have been built, more than any other airplane type.
Ansett-ANA Vickers Viscount Type 832, VH-RMI. (The Airways Museum & Civil Aviation Historical Society)
22 September 1966: Ansett-ANA Flight 149, a Vickers Viscount Type 832 medium-range airliner, registration VH-RMI, departed Mount Isa Airport (ISA) at 12:08 p.m., enroute to Longreach Airport (LRE), both located in Queensland, Australia. Captain John Kenneth Cooper was in command, with First Officer John Gillam. The two flight attendants (“air hostesses”) were Beverly Heeschen, aged 24, and Narell Davis, 19. There were twenty passengers aboard.
At 12:52 p.m., Flight 149 reported, “Longreach this is Romeo Mike India on emergency descent.” Two minutes later it reported that there were fire warnings for both the Number 1 and Number 2 engines. Captain Cooper radioed, “I have an engine on fire. The other is stopped and I can’t feather it. Request permission to divert to Winton.” [Winton Airport, WIN]
Wing of Vickers Vicount VH-RMI. (Flight Safety Australia)
While descending between 4,000 and 3,500 feet (1,200 and 1,067 meters) above ground level (AGL) at 170 knots, the airliner’s left wing failed between the Number 1 and Number 2 engines. The wing folded up and over, striking the top of fuselage which was cut open by the propeller of the Number 1 engine. The mid-cabin structure above the floor was torn away and the rear of the fuselage broke off. Air Hostesses Davis and Heeschen, along with several passengers, were pulled out of the cabin by the slipstream.
—The Sydney Morning Herald, No. 40,176, Friday, 23 September 1966, Page 1
The remainder of the airplane—the forward fuselage, lower mid fuselage, right wing with engines 3 and 4, impacted the ground 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) west southwest of Winton, Queensland. The wreck was engulfed in flames. All those aboard were killed.
The accident investigation determined that the probable cause of the crash was:
The means of securing the oil metering unit to the no.2 cabin blower became ineffective and this led to the initiation of a fire within the blower, which propagated to the wing fuel tank and substantially reduced the strength of the main spar upper boom. It is probable that the separation of the oil metering unit arose from an out-of-balance condition induced by rotor break-up but the source of the rotor break-up could not be determined.
Engine of Vickers Viscount VH-RMI. (Flight Safety Australia)
Captain Cooper had flown Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats with the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He joined Ansett-ANA in 1951. At the time of the accident, he had a total of approximately 14,300 flight hours. Captain Roland E. Black, who had conducted Cooper’s last airline proficiency check, described him as a “well above average pilot.”
The Vickers Viscount was a four-engine turboprop-powered civil transport which first flew in 1948. It was in production from 1948 to 1963 with 445 airplanes built. VH-RMI was a Vickers Viscount Type 832, one of three built for Ansett-ANA in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd., at Bournemouth-Hurn Airport, Dorset, England. It was operated by a flight crew of 2 and had 56 passenger seats, of which 4 were in a rear lounge. In the seven-and-a-half years since its first flight, VH-RMI had accumulated 18,634 flight hours.
The airliner was 85 feet, 6 inches (26.060 meters) long with a wingspan of 93 feet, 8 inches (29.464 meters) and overall height of 26 feet, 9 inches (8.153 meters). Empty weight of the similar Type 810 was 41,276 pounds (18,723 kilograms) and its maximum takeoff weight was 67,500 pounds (30,618 kilograms).
The Type 832 Viscount was powered by four Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart Mk.525 (RDa.7/1) turboprop engines. The Dart was an axial-flow engine with a 2-stage centrifugal compressor, 7 combustion chambers and a 3-stage turbine. The Mk.525 was rated at 1,910 shaft horsepower at 15,000 r.p.m., with 470 pounds of residual thrust (2.09 kilonewtons). It was derated to 1,800 s.h.p. for takeoff. The Dart Mk.525 is 8 feet, 1.6 inches (2.479 meters) long, 3 feet, 1.9 inches (0.963 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,207 pounds (547.5 kilograms). The turboprop engines drove four-bladed Rotol constant-speed propellers which had a diameter of 10 feet (3.048 meters).
The Viscount had a maximum speed of 352 miles per hour (567 kilometers per hour), range of 1,380 miles (2,221 kilometers) and service ceiling of 25,000 feet (7,620 meters).
Wreckage of the tail section Ansett-ANA Flight 149 at Nadjayamba Station, Queensland, September 1966. (Unattributed)
10 September 1993: Boeing completed production of the 1,000th 747 commercial transport, a 747-412, c/n 27068, delivered to Singapore Airlines and assigned civil registration 9V-SMU.
The 747-400 was a major development of the 747 series. It had many structural and electronics improvements over the earlier models, which had debuted 18 years earlier. New systems, such as a “glass cockpit,” flight management computers, and new engines allowed it to be flown with a crew of just two pilots, and the position of Flight Engineer became unnecessary. The most visible features of the –400 are its longer upper deck and the six-foot tall “winglets” at the end of each wing, which improve aerodynamic efficiency be limiting the formation of wing-tip vortices.
At the time of its first flight, Boeing had already received orders for 100 747-400s. It would become the most popular version, with 694 aircraft built by the time production came to an end 15 March 2007.
The 1,000th Boeing 747, Singapore Airline’s 747-412 9V-SMU, 20 November 2011. (Wikipedia)
The Boeing 747-400 airliner can carry between 416 and 524 passengers, depending on configuration. It is 231 feet, 10 inches (70.663 meters) long with a wingspan of 211 feet, 5 inches (64.440 meters) and overall height of 63 feet, 8 inches (19.406 meters). Empty weight is 394,100 pounds (178,760.8 kilograms). Maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 875,000 pounds (396,893.3 kilograms). While the prototype was powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbofan engines, production airplanes could be ordered with PW4062, General Electric CF6 or Rolls-Royce RB211 engines, providing thrust ranging from 59,500 to 63,300 pounds. The –400 has a cruise speed of 0.85 Mach (567 miles per hour, 912 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 0.92 Mach (614 miles per hour, 988 kilometers hour). Maximum range at maximum payload weight is 8,355 miles (13,446 kilometers).
Singapore Airlines retired 9V-SMU in December 2010. It was acquired by Aircastle Limited in 2011, converted to a freighter for Aircastle Limited and re-registered as N417AC. It was next leased to Southern Air Inc., 20 January 2012, with a new N-number, N400SA. On 30 December 2014, c/n 27068 was withdrawn from service and placed in storage at MoD St. Athan Airport, Wales. It is reported to have been broken up in December 2015.
Southern Air Boeing 747-400 N400SA at Flughafen Leipzig/Halle, 10 April 2014. (Ad Meskens via Wikipedia)
