Boeing 727-235 N4737

Summary

On 9 July 1982 at about 21:09 local time, a Boeing 727-235 registered N4737, operated by Pan American World A/W, was involved in an accident near New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. 162 people were on board and 145 died. 8 people on the ground also died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

9 July 1982 at 21:09

Classification

Accident

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing 727-235

Registration

N4737

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

Pan American World A/W

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New Orleans → Las Vegas

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA82AA028

145 people died, including 8 on the ground.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-83-02. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm THE ACFT, PAN AM FLT 759, WAS ON A SCHEDULED FLT FROM MIAMI, FL TO LAS VEGAS, NV, WITH AN EN ROUTE STOP AT NEW ORLEANS, LA. WITH AN ACFT GROSS WT OF APRX 170,000 LBS, THE CAPT WAS REQUIRED TO USE RWY 10 FOR TKOF. VIP LVL 3 WX ECHOS WERE LOCATED EAST OF THE RWY, BUT NO LIGHTNING OR THUNDER WAS EVIDENT. THERE WERE SHOWERS OVR THE EAST END OF THE RWY & THE WNDS WERE GSTY, VARIABLE & SWIRLING. AFTR TAKOF, THE ACFT CLIMBED TO APRX 95 TO 150 AGL, THEN BGN TO DESCEND. THE ACFT STRUCK TREES APRX 2376 FT BYD THE DEP END OF THE RWY, ABOUT 50 FT AGL, THEN CONTD ANOTHER 2234 FT, HITTING TREES & HOUSES. THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED BY IMPACT, EXPLOSION & FIRE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE ACFT HAD ENCTRD A DECREASING HDWND SHEAR CAUSED BY DIVERGING FLOW FROM A MICROBURST WHICH OCCURRED ON THE ARPT. THE WND SHEAR WAS NOT DETECTED BY THE LOW LVL WND SHEAR ALERT SYS TIL AFTER FLT 759 BGN ITS TKOF.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.