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Douglas DC-8-55CF accident report
On November 29, 1963, TCA's brand new DC-8-54CF CF-TJN c/n 45654 crashed in the dark under foggy conditions near Saint Therese de Blainville, Canada. All 111 passengers and 7 crew members were killed. Domestic flight 831 from Dorval airport ( 45°28'13"N 73°44'11"W ), Montreal to Toronto. Crash 5min after take-off from RW06, course NNW, 15km NW of Montreal, water filled crater of 30m diameter and 2 meters deep. (location as indicated in the final crash investigation report : 45°40'53"N 73°53’55"W ) It seemed as if the aircraft had been trimmed incorrectly, but the cause was never determined.
The aircraft had made its first flight in 1963 and had only made 2174 flight hours.
This watery crater is all what was left of DC-8-54CF CF-TJN, it is nowadays a residential area with nice houses with swimming pools
PH-MBH pictured at Schiphol airport
On December 4, 1974, the DC-8-55CF PH-MBH c/n 45818 operating for Garuda flies against a mountain in Sri Lanka. All 182 passengers and 9 crew members are killed. Martinair airplane, leased by Garuda. Flight 138 from Surabaya (SUB) via Colombo (CMB) to Jeddah (JED), full of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims. Flies during approach RW04 CMB against Anjimalai Mountain at 4355ft altitude, at Maskeliya 40nm east of CMB. misinterpretation of Doppler and weather-radar system. 1st flight : 1966, 35613 flight hours. JT3D-3B engines.
This was at that time the second largest disaster in aviation history. (location +-2km 6°53'38"N 80°29'25"E )
safe flight hours till fatality : 7899 [hr] (2.4 service years)
Literature :
Photo of McDonnell Douglas DC-8-55F PH-MBH - Aviation Safety Network (aviation-safety.net)