Narrative:
Arriving near Washington, the aircraft had to hold because of 2 emergencies. "Flagship San Antonio" then continued to Baltimore and held there for 75 mins. also because of some emergencies of other flights. The crew decided to try Philadelphia instead. They were not able to use the Philadelphia radio dang however due to static interference. The flight continued north-eastward with weather conditions worsening. With 30 minutes of fuel left an emergency landing was decided upon. A belly landing was carried out on a beach. The aircraft was salvaged and sold as scrap.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The inability of the pilot to land at a prepared landing area due to the loss of radio navigational reference resulting from severe static interference. A contributing factor was the saturation of navigational facilities in the New York-Washington area due to the existence of a large number of emergencies which prevented an early landing. A further contributing factor was the failure of the company and the United States Weather Bureau to forecast adequately the high level conditions affecting this area due to insufficient number of radiosonde stations in the northeastern states."
| Status: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
| Date: | Sunday 5 January 1947 |
| Time: | 22:08 |
| Type: |  Douglas DC-3-208A |
| Operator: | American Airlines |
| Registration: | NC21746 |
| MSN: | 2104 |
| First flight: | 1939 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 25547 |
| Engines: | 2 Wright R-1820-G102 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 13 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 16 |
| Aircraft damage: | Damaged beyond repair |
| Location: | Jones Beach, NY ( United States of America)
|
| Phase: | Unknown (UNK) |
| Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Baltimore Airport, MD, United States of America |
| Washington-National Airport, DC (DCA/KDCA), United States of America | |
| Flightnumber: | AA203 |
Arriving near Washington, the aircraft had to hold because of 2 emergencies. "Flagship San Antonio" then continued to Baltimore and held there for 75 mins. also because of some emergencies of other flights. The crew decided to try Philadelphia instead. They were not able to use the Philadelphia radio dang however due to static interference. The flight continued north-eastward with weather conditions worsening. With 30 minutes of fuel left an emergency landing was decided upon. A belly landing was carried out on a beach. The aircraft was salvaged and sold as scrap.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The inability of the pilot to land at a prepared landing area due to the loss of radio navigational reference resulting from severe static interference. A contributing factor was the saturation of navigational facilities in the New York-Washington area due to the existence of a large number of emergencies which prevented an early landing. A further contributing factor was the failure of the company and the United States Weather Bureau to forecast adequately the high level conditions affecting this area due to insufficient number of radiosonde stations in the northeastern states."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
» CAB File No. 1-0003-47Photos
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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