Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Orleans, Louisiana
Friday, July 9, 1982 16:09 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-83-02. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm
THE ACFT, PAN AM FLT 759, WAS ON A SCHEDULED FLT FROM MIAMI, FL TO LAS VEGAS, NV, WITH AN EN ROUTE STOP AT NEW ORLEANS, LA. WITH AN ACFT GROSS WT OF APRX 170,000 LBS, THE CAPT WAS REQUIRED TO USE RWY 10 FOR TKOF. VIP LVL 3 WX ECHOS WERE LOCATED EAST OF THE RWY, BUT NO LIGHTNING OR THUNDER WAS EVIDENT. THERE WERE SHOWERS OVR THE EAST END OF THE RWY & THE WNDS WERE GSTY, VARIABLE & SWIRLING. AFTR TAKOF, THE ACFT CLIMBED TO APRX 95 TO 150 AGL, THEN BGN TO DESCEND. THE ACFT STRUCK TREES APRX 2376 FT BYD THE DEP END OF THE RWY, ABOUT 50 FT AGL, THEN CONTD ANOTHER 2234 FT, HITTING TREES & HOUSES. THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED BY IMPACT, EXPLOSION & FIRE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE ACFT HAD ENCTRD A DECREASING HDWND SHEAR CAUSED BY DIVERGING FLOW FROM A MICROBURST WHICH OCCURRED ON THE ARPT. THE WND SHEAR WAS NOT DETECTED BY THE LOW LVL WND SHEAR ALERT SYS TIL AFTER FLT 759 BGN ITS TKOF.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/9/1982 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1609 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | NEW ORLEANS |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | |
| Event Date Year | 1982 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 82 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Heavy |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 8 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 9 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 153 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 9 |
| Injury Total All | 162 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 3148 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 31 2002 4:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4737 |
| NTSB Number | DCA82AA028 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 727-235 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 727-235 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 19457 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 172000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Unknown |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 145 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 39253 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PAN AMERICAN WORLD A/W |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PAN AMERICAN WORLD A/W |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | NEW ORLEANS |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1608 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | LAS VEGAS |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10 |
| Runway Length | 9227 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |