Arrow Air Flight 1285
Arrow Air Flight 1285
Gander Airport, Newfoundland, Canada, December 12, 1985
Flight Crashed in Canada, Killing 248 U. S. Troops, From the 101st Airborne Division
It was December 12, 1985 and Arrow Air Flight 1285 was preparing to take off from Gander Airport in Newfoundland, a Canadian Island. The Army chartered the flight to carry 248 U.S. service men from the 101st Airborne Division who were traveling from Cairo to their home base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The aircraft had stopped at the airport to refuel before continuing to their final destination in Kentucky. There were eight crew members on board making the total of people on board 256.
Shortly after takeoff, the McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF jetliner stalled and then crashed about half a mile from the runway. Immediately after the impact, the aircraft erupted in a fire ball that burned for about four hours. Everyone aboard the plane perished.
To this day, this accident remains one of the 25 most deadly plane crashes in the last 30 years. Of those 25 crashes, the Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash remains one of three of which icing was determined to be a contributing factor.
The Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB) investigated the crash. After analyzing the evidence the board could not unanimously come to a conclusion on the cause of the crash. In fact, the board was almost equally divided in their assessment. Four of the nine members believed that the fire was caused by "detonations of undermined origin." They released their results in a minority report. The report states that the crash was caused by the fire which was caused by the detonated device.
The majority of the Board however, believed that the aircraft had suffered from unexpectedly high drag and reduced lift, causing it to crash about 3,000 feet from the runway. It was the combination of these two obstacles, coupled with a loss of thrust from the number four engine, that led to the fatal accident. According to a Probable Cause statement issued and signed by the majority of the CASB, there was ice contamination on the wings of the aircraft. They believed that the fire erupted after impact.
Contributing to the cause of the tragic crash was inaccurate weight and balance calculations showing the aircraft to be approximately 14,000 lighter that it actually was, which caused the flight crew to make inaccurate reference speeds leading to the high drag and reduced lift of the aerodynamic stall of the wings on take-off.
Baum Hedlund represented the families of three soldiers killed in this crash, holding Arrow Air accountable for its deficient maintenance and neglect in safety precautions.
NTSB REPORT: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001214X38384&key=1
CASB Majority Report: http://www.sandford.org/gandercrash/investigations/majority_report/html/_i.shtml
CASB Minority Report: http://www.sandford.org/gandercrash/investigations/minority_report/html/_cover_page.shtml
