Eastern Air Lines Flight 605

Eastern Air Lines Flight 605

Accident summary
Date	May 30, 1947
Summary	Loss of control for reasons unknown
Site	1.9 miles east of Bainbridge, Maryland
Passengers	49
Crew	4
Injuries (non-fatal)	0
Fatalities	53 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Douglas C-54B Skymaster
Operator	Eastern Air Lines
Registration	NC88814
Flight origin	Newark International Airport
Destination	Miami International Airport

Eastern Air Lines Flight 605 was a domestic flight in the US from Newark to Miami on May 30, 1947. The flight crashed near Bainbridge, Maryland, causing the deaths of all 53 passengers and crew on board.^[1]

Accident flight

Flight 605 departed from Newark International Airport at 17:04 for a scheduled domestic flight to Miami. It climbed to its assigned cruising altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m). While flying over Philadelphia, the pilot reported "all is well".^[2] At 17:41, people on the ground saw Flight 605 enter a steepening dive and crash 2 miles (3 km) east of Bainbridge. All four crew and 49 passengers died in the crash. At the time, Flight 605 was the deadliest crash in United States aviation history.^[3]

Cause

The Civil Aviation Board's investigation of the crash determined that the probable cause of this accident was a sudden loss of control, for reasons unknown, resulting in a dive to the ground.^[4]

Aircraft

The DC-4 aircraft, serial number 18380, was built in 1944 and was delivered officially as a C-54B Skymaster to the United States Air Force in October 1944. On the same day it was transferred with the designation R5D-2 to the United States Navy. It was leased to Eastern Air Lines on 29 November 1945 as fleet number 708.

References

1. Fiery death for 53 in crash of airliner
2. Structural Flaw Thought Cause of Airliner Crash
3. Aircraft accident Douglas C-54B-15-DO NC88814 Bainbridge, MD
4. CAB Accident Investigation Report

External links

• A blog post on Eastern Airlines Flight 605

Coordinates: 39°36′32″N 76°04′16″W / 39.609°N 76.071°W