59 Believed Dead In Two Air Crashes

Press, Volume CI, Issue 30007, 17 December 1962, Page 15

59 Believed Dead In Two Air Crashes

(-V.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

RIO DE JANEIRO, December 16

At least 59 persons are believed dead in two plane crashes since Friday. No survivors were expected on a Brazilian airliner sighted crashed in an Amazon jungle clearing yesterday and at least nine persons died in a cargo plane which crashed in flames in a San Fernando valley residential and industrial area on Frida.v night.

The Brazilian airLner was just 30 miles short of its dest.nation on a 2500-mile flight from R.o de Janeiro. Panair d Brasil Air Lines reporttd. A spokesman for Panair do Brasil said the airline's own > arch planes spotted the plane. But he said there were i; > details to report, other than that the four-engined Constellation, a propellercriven plane, had “crashed in a clearing.” the Associated Press reported. It had been preparing to land at the Amazon river port of Manaus.

Civil Aeronautics Board investigators dug through charred wreckage today, trying to learn why the fourpropeller cargo airliner crashed in flames in the San Fernando Valley. The police had difficulty in determining the number of dead, but they reported the bodies of five men and four women were accounted for. At least four men and one woman were on the plane. All were killed. The known death toll on the ground was a 16-year-old girl at home, two factory workers and another woman. The Super Constellation, which broke up as it crashed, also hit about a dozen cars, and narrowly missed one 30unit block of flats. Instrument Approach The Constellation was operated by the Flying Tiger Line. Carrying a 40,0001 b load, it was on an instrument approach to Lockheed air terminal at nearby Burbank in a ground mist. It struck a signboard, sheered tops off trees and telephone poles and struck at least two homes and a factory. As it broke apart, debris touched off fires in several other buildings. So severe was damage that investigators searched through the night and all day for possible additional victims. A witness said the plane appeared to be coming in for a perfect landing—except it was on top of homes and businesses near Laurel Canyon boulevard instead of at the field. “The plane was lowering in just like for a landing,” said one witness. Mr Mike Powers. He said he looked up, horrified at the apparition of a big airliner roaring in out of the mist, the Associated Press reported. “It had its landing gear and flaps down. The landing lights were burning. I just couldn’t believe it could come down there. Then the left wing dipped and the plane smashed in, nose first.” Blazing Homes

Mr Powers, a college student, “and almost immediately it looked like a whole block was burning." Another witness said: “It was like a napalm bomb. The flash was so bright, it nearly blinded me and I had to stop my motor-cycle.” North Hollywood is part of the city of Los Angeles and adjoins Burbank.

Communications Poor Communications in the Amazon area are poor, which apparently accounted for e: roneous announcements by the Air Ministry and the Airline that the plane had been located yesterday. The Air Ministry said its false report—that all aboard had survived a forced landing on a lake shore—came from its search and rescue service based in Manaus. The plane disappeared six m.nutes before it was due to land early yesterday. Machete-wielding rescuers, aided by spotter aircraft, were hacking their waythrough the thick jungle to the plane, an officer of the search and rescue division of the Brazilian Air Force said tonight. He said another rescue team has been dispatched byboat down the Amazon, and may reach the crash site first Jaguars and Snakes A.r Force officers said there are no ferocious Indians in the area where the plane v ent down, but Amazonian j..guars and poisonous snakes abound. Because then was no sign of life the Air Force called off plans to attempt a dangerous parachute drop by rescue teams.

The plane clipped power lines, which whiplashed across homes and yards, trailing sparks—and plunging the panic-stricken neighbourhood into darkness lit only by blazing homes and wreckage. “Screams rose from the block as the rumble of the crash subsided,” said a resident. “The children were terrified. Everything was black, and the homes were burning.” Shortly after the crash, a series of explosions blasted through the neighbourhood. “All I could see were flames and flashing lights.” one woman told a reporter. Flames shot 100 ft into the air. Screams of children pierced the night. The biggest piece of the plane which remained intact after the crash was the midsection of the fuselage. The wings, engines, tail and nose broke off and big chunks tore through the homes and the factory. “I saw the nose fly off,” said