Convair CV-880

Flight CX033 was a scheduled flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok with an additional en-route stop at Saigon to transport a backlog of passengers. A Check captain joined the flight. The co-pilot was flying the aircraft from the left-hand seat whilst the pilot-in-command occupied the right-hand seat to assess his performance. The Check captain occupied the jump seat behind the co-pilot from where he could monitor the performance of both pilots. At 10:31 the aircraft commenced to taxi out for takeoff on runway 13. A wind check of 010/10 kt was passed by the tower and acknowledged by the aircraft when the takeoff clearance was given. At 10:34 a rolling takeoff was commenced. The co-pilot, who was piloting the aircraft, increased the power to 1.5 EPR after which the engineer set the engines at maximum power. The aircraft accelerated normally but at a speed of slightly under 120 kt (as reported by the co-pilot) heavy vibration was experienced. The vibration increased in severity and the co-pilot decided to discontinue the takeoff. He called "abort", closed the power levers, applied maximum symmetrical braking and selected the spoilers. The abort action was stated to have been taken promptly except that there was a delay of 4-5 sec in applying reverse thrust which was then used at full power throughout the remainder of the aircraft's travel. No significant decrease in the rate of acceleration occurred until after an indicated airspeed of 133 kt had been attained, there was then a slow build-up of speed to 137 kt over the next 2 sec after which deceleration commenced. Both pilots were applying full brakes but neither of them felt the antiskid cycling. The aircraft continued to run straight some distance after initial braking was applied but then a veer to the right commenced. Opposite rudder was used but failed to check this forcing the use of differential braking to the extent that eventually the right brake had been eased off completely, whilst maximum left braking, full left rudder, full lateral control to the left, and nose-wheel steering were being applied, These actions were only partly effective and the aircraft eventually left the runway and entered the grass strip. The turn to the right continued until finally the aircraft crossed the seawall. All four engines separated on impact with, the sea, the nose of the aircraft was smashed in and the fuselage above floor level between the flight deck and the leading edge of the wing was fractured in two places. The aircraft spun to the right and came to rest some 400 ft from the seawall. A passenger was killed while 33 other were injured.

JA8030 started a take-off run on runway 33R of Tokyo International Airport under VFR conditions at approximately 1428 hours with the pilot-in-command Manshichi Harano, examinees Yoshiomi Motouchi and Shuji Daikoku, flight engineer Terumitsu Fujimaki, and Chief Examiner of the Civil Aviation Bureau of Ministry of Transport Yukiaki Kawata, on board for the purpose of conducting a practical examination necessary for change in type rating to Convair 880-22M. About the time the aircraft took a nose-up attitude, it began to yaw left and entered into a right side-slip. At approximately 1 500 m from the runway threshold marking, the right main landing gear started to go off the ground, and while the yaw and side-slip further increased, the under-surface of No. 1 engine began to contact the runway at approximately 1 600 m from the marking. The aircraft continued to side-slip with the nose coming down and deviated from the runway at approximately 1 700 m from the marking. The aircraft moved on the lawn area, crossed taxiway C-4, then while proceeding in the direction of approximately 35O left in reference to the runway bearing, moved the heading to approximately 145O left in reference to the runway bearing, thence yawed right and continued the side-slip. Although the aircraft was in a slight nose-up attitude during this period, it went abruptly into a nose-down and almost at that time a fire started near No. 3 engine. During this period the aircraft further proceeded with the left main landing gear, nose landing gear and Nos. 3, 2, 1 and 4 engines separated in this sequence, and came to a stop at a point approximately 2 100 m from runway 33R threshold marking and approximately 200 m from the runway centre line with a heading of 90° in reference to runway 33L. The fire expanded explosively and the aircraft was damaged by fire or burnt except for the aft fuselage, empennage and a portion of the main wings. All five persons on board died. The flight was performed on behalf of Japan Air Lines.

The crew was completing a local training flight at Kansas City-Mid-Continent Airport, Missouri, consisting of touch and go manoeuvres. During the takeoff roll, when the aircraft reached the speed of 146 knots, the pilot-in-command started the rotation when the airplane banked right to an angle of 25° then struck the runway surface. It went out of control, veered of runway and came to rest in flames. All four crew members were evacuated while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Shortly after takeoff from Oita-Iki Airport, while in initial climb at a height of 150 feet, the airplane stalled and crashed. All six occupants were evacuated while the aircraft was destroyed. It appears the takeoff was attempted with one engine voluntarily inoperative. The crew apparently underestimated the aircraft performances and was overconfident.

The flight was scheduled for training for two pilots who were to “check out” in the CV-880. A pilot-trainee occupied the left seat and a qualified instructor-pilot occupied the right. Immediately after liftoff the aircraft assumed an extremely nose-high attitude and banked steeply to the left. It then rolled to a vertical right bank, the nose fell through, and the aircraft struck the ground and burned. Four crew members, the only occupants, received fatal injuries.