Narrative:Eastern Air Lines Flight 605 departed Newark Airport, New Jersey, USA at 17:04 for a domestic flight to Miami, Florida.
The DC-4 climbed to its assigned cruising altitude of 4000 feet and the crew made position reports at 17:10 and 17:27 hours.
About 17:41 witnesses saw the aircraft enter a steepening dive until it struck the ground at high speed in a partially inverted attitude. The aircraft impacted moderately to densely wooded area with trees 60-70 feet high.
The investigation of this accident was at the time the most intensive in the history of the Civil Aeronautics Board's Safety Bureau.
It was found that the empennage disintegrated during the dive but whether failure of the empennage and/or its controls was an effect or a cause of the dive was not discovered.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a sudden loss of control, for reasons unknown, resulting in a dive to the ground."
Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: | CAB |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | 1 year and 1 months | Accident number: | File No. 1 0049-47 | Download report: | Final report
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Classification:
Cause undetermined
Loss of control
Sources:
» CAB File No. 1 0049-47
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Newark International Airport, NJ to Miami International Airport, FL as the crow flies is 1739 km (1087 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.
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.