Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 17 January 1959
Aircraft Type: Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation
Owner/operator: Eastern Air Lines
Registration Number: N6240G
Location: Miami International Airport, FL (MIA) – ÿ United States of America
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 17
Component Affected: No specific component is explicitly mentioned, but the engine and its associated components (nose wheel steering, engine, and main gear) are affected.No specific component is explicitly mentioned, but the engine and its associated components (nose wheel steering, engine, and main gear) are affected.
Investigating Agency: CABCAB
Category: Accident
An Eastern Air Lines flight 704 experienced a catastrophic accident resulting from an uncontrolled fire ignited in a zone of the engine nacelle. The engine failure caused a loss of power and control, leading to a collapse of the nose wheel steering and subsequent runway overrun. The fire rapidly escalated, ultimately resulting in the aircraft?s destruction.An Eastern Air Lines flight 704 experienced a catastrophic accident resulting from an uncontrolled fire ignited in a zone of the engine nacelle. The engine failure caused a loss of power and control, leading to a collapse of the nose wheel steering and subsequent runway overrun. The fire rapidly escalated, ultimately resulting in the aircraft?s destruction.

Description

Eastern Air Lines flight 704 took off from runway 27R at Miami International Airport at 16:21 hours. At about 150 feet above the runway and about the time the undercarriage was retracted the captain noticed fluctuations of the no. 3 engine tachometer. The rpm momentarily dropped from 2600 to 2300 rpm. The engine began losing power and the captain ordered the engine to be shut down. The flight engineer accomplished these procedures. He did not use the emergency firewall shutoff because no fire was indicated. However, Miami tower personnel noticed the aircraft trailing smoke and flames from the no. 3 engine nacelle area. The local controller informed the flight and cleared it to land on any runway. The flight engineer then fired two fire extinguishing bottles of the no. 3 engine. Fire however continued to burn until the aircraft landed on the runway. After touchdown braking became ineffective and the no. 4 engine stopped. Also, the nose wheel steering failed. The aircraft overran the runway, upon which the right hand main gear collapsed. All occupants evacuated and the fire was extinguished by fire services in about 30 minutes. Probable Cause: “The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was an uncontrollable fire ignited in zone 3-A by a burning breather discharge which was ignited by and combined with an abnormal exhaust flame during engine failure.”

Primary Cause

Uncontrolled fire ignited in a zone of the engine nacelle caused by a burning breather discharge.Uncontrolled fire ignited in a zone of the engine nacelle caused by a burning breather discharge.

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