 A Northwest Airlines Boeing 727-200, similar to the accident aircraft. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 1, 1974 |
| Summary | Stalled due to atmospheric icing, pilot error, and instrument failure |
| Site | Haverstraw, New York, U.S. (near Stony Point) 41°12′53″N 74°5′40″W / 41.21472°N 74.09444°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 727-251 |
| Operator | Northwest Orient Airlines |
| Registration | N274US |
| Flight origin | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City |
| Destination | Buffalo International Airport |
| Occupants | 3 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 was the fatal crash of a Boeing 727 in the eastern United States on December 1, 1974 in Harriman State Park near Stony Point, New York, just north of the New York City area. The Northwest Airlines 727 had been chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts professional football team in Buffalo in western New York.[1][2]
All three crew members on board died when the aircraft struck the ground following a stall and rapid descent caused by the crew's reaction to erroneous airspeed readings caused by atmospheric icing. The icing occurred due to failure to turn on the pitot tube heating at the start of the flight. This was one of two Boeing 727s to crash in the eastern U.S. that day; the other was TWA Flight 514 in northern Virginia, northwest of Dulles airport (250 miles (400 km) to the southwest).
- ^ "Colts' team jet crashes; crew killed". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 2, 1974. p. 3A.
- ^ "Crashed jet was on way to ferry Colts". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. December 2, 1974. p. 1C.