The crash of Martin M-130 in Port of Spain

Martin M-130 with tail number NC14716 (serial number 558) made its first flight on December 30, 1934 ^[1] , and in October 1935 it entered the customer - the American airline Pan American Airways ^[2] , becoming the first (out of three) representative of the M-130 series. The liner received the name China Clipper ( Russian. Chinese clipper , can also be translated as Tea Clipper ), and on November 22, 1935 flew out of Alamida Harbor ( California ), flew near the Golden Gate Bridge under construction and headed with an airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean , after which, having made intermediate landings in Honolulu , Midway , Wake, and Guam ^[3] , on November 29 safely splashed down in Manila's harbor, becoming the first aircraft to arrive in the Philippines . On December 6, China Clipper safely returned to California, after which it was regularly operated on trans-Pacific routes from San Francisco to Manila and Hong Kong ^[4] .

With the outbreak of hostilities, the NC14716 entered the aircraft of the U.S. Navy , but on October 13, 1943 returned to Pan American Airways, where it was operated in the Latin American branch. He had four piston engines Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S2A5G equipped with Hamilton Standard three-blade propellers . The total operating time of the aircraft was 20,545 hours, and the last inspection was carried out before departure from Miami ^{[2] [5]} .

The crew of the aircraft consisted of 12 people.

• The aircraft commander (FAC) is the 35-year-old Cyril Adrian Goyette ^[5] . He worked at Pan American for 9 years and was considered an experienced pilot, and his colleagues described him as a master of his craft. In addition, with a total flight of 7040 hours on the M-130, he flew 1560 hours; however, it was later established that he had never made overnight landings in Port of Spain on this type of aircraft. In addition, over the past two years, two months before the accident, Goyett flew as a co-pilot with the crew, and although he sometimes served as an instructor, during this period he never flew on regular flights from Miami to Port of Spain. Nevertheless, three months before the incident, in the presence of an inspector, he satisfactorily completed two flights along this route ^{[6] [7]} .
• The co - pilot is 38-year-old Leonard Wright Cramer ^[5] . From April 1, 1942, he worked at Pan American, first as a co-pilot, and later was promoted to commander of an aircraft in the Eastern Division. It had a total flight time of 7034 hours, including 832 hours on Sikorsky S-42 flying boats ; the M-130 was qualified just three days before the accident, and the fatal flight was for Kramer the first flight on this route. According to the medical certificate, he had to wear glasses, however, according to reports, he completed his last flight without glasses ^[7] .

On January 8, 1945, China Clipper operated passenger flight 161 from Miami ( Florida ) to Leopoldville ( Belgian Congo ); Departing from Miami at 06:08 ^{[* 1]} , at approximately 2:23 p.m. the liner safely splashed down in the harbor of San Juan ( Puerto Rico ) - the first intermediate stop. At 16:05, with 18 passengers and 12 crew members on board, the Martin flew out of San Juan and headed for the next stop, Port of Spain (the British colony of Trinidad and Tobago) ^[8] . The take-off gross weight of the aircraft was 46 720 pounds (21 192 kg) with a centering of 33.4% of the MAR , which was within the established limits ^[5] . The flight went fine, reports from the crew arrived at the scheduled time, and at 19:30 a message about the weather in Port of Spain was received from the airline’s dispatcher ^[8] .

On the approach to Trinidad, Kramer was in the left seat (of the commander), and Goyette in the right (of the second pilot); when about 10 miles (16 km ) remained to the coast, Gowett allowed Kramer to land. At an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m ), the plane flew on the north coast of the island and began to gradually decline; the dispatcher of the local radio station of the airline told the crew that the harbor was calm and the landing lights were laid out at a 70 ° course (7 lights on a plot with a total length of 7500 feet (2300 m ) ^[9] ) and there was no traffic in this area, after which he instructed to proceed to contact the airport dispatch service ^{[8] [10]} .

At 21:09, the dispatcher handed over to flight 161: There is no movement, you are number one to land in the Concorit area . Under the direction of Kramer, Martin flew over a series of lights and made a right turn, but since he was still too high above the water, Goyette advised once again to fly over the harbor, which was done. Then Kramker began to perform another 360 ° turn, but this time to the left (to the coast), to which Goyette warned of the danger of such a maneuver due to the adjoining hills, so the right turn was already started, which lasted one and a half minutes, and after the turn 180 ° the plane entered the landing line, at an altitude of 1000 feet (300 m ) and at a distance of 3 miles (4.8 km ) from the first landing light ^[10] . Visibility was unlimited, that is, all the lights on the water were clearly visible ^[9] .

At a speed of 105 knots (194 km / h), the NC14716 began to decline first at a vertical speed of 600 feet (180 m ) per minute, at an altitude of 800 feet (240 m ), the vertical speed was reduced to 300 feet (91 m ) per minute, by 700 feet (210 m ) turned on the left landing light and handed over to the dispatcher to complete the landing; a slight haze was noticed at 400 feet (120 m ), but it did not significantly reduce visibility, but by 300 feet (91 m ), when by eye to the first the landing light remained about half a mile, reduced the pressure in the engines ^[10] . Goyette announced a speed of 100 knots (190 km / h) and a height of 250 feet (76 m ), when the flight engineer through the porthole noticed how under the wing appeared the surface of the water illuminated by the landing light, covered with ripples. Then a cutting sound was heard, accompanied by vibration, and the heavy car suddenly jerked, causing people to rush forward - the fuselage broke in two, so the cabin quickly filled with water, because of which a significant part of Martin immediately drowned at a distance of 1¼ mile (2 km) from the first landing light; individual fragments lasted a little longer ^[11] .

The approaching ships were rescued by commander Cyril Goyett, third pilot S.K. George III ( English SK George III ), flight engineer I.V. Morse ( English JW Morse ) and four passengers ( K. D. Williams ( English CD Williams ), E. A. Prado ( Eng. EA Prado ), A. S. Mackey ( Eng. AS Mackey ) and 7-year-old girl) ^{[11] [12]} . All other 14 passengers and 9 crew members (including the second pilot Cramer) were killed. In scale it is the largest aviation accident in the history of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the Martin M-130 aircraft ^[1] .

The American Civil Aviation Council began investigating the crash, for which purpose a commission was formed on the same day, investigators from which arrived on January 10 in Port of Spain; hearings on the case took place from January 29 to January 31, 1945 in Miami ( Florida ) ^[2] .

All witnesses indicated that the aircraft was uniformly reduced, while landing occurred with one (left) headlamp turned on, although the airline established rules that, when landing at night, the second headlamp should also be turned on to make it easier to determine the height above the water. Then, when they hit the water, the crew first heard a cutting sound, but the passengers did not hear it; this can be explained by the good soundproofing of the cabin. The fault line went 3 feet (about 1 meter) behind the first redan , after which the rear half of the fuselage flew up and the front half hit the water with force, while both parts of the wing separated; the right wing and the right side of the front of the fuselage were most severely affected ^{[12] [9]} . Also, in the area of ​​the accident, chips and various wooden fragments floated on the surface of the water, so the version was considered that during landing there was a collision with a wooden vessel or other foreign object, but the examination showed that these fragments belonged to the aircraft structure itself, or were just small debris from docks, and therefore could not damage the fuselage. Actually, no signs of damage or failure of the structure and systems of the aircraft before the impact on water were found ^[6] .

It was possible to restore the dashboard and determine that the pressure on the left altimeter was set to 1014.6 mbar, that is, very close to the actual pressure, and on the right (read Goyette readings) it was 1014.2 mbar, which made the readings not exceed by more than 11 feet (3.4 m ). The compass on the panel showed a magnetic course of 77 °, which corresponds to a true 70 °. Also, the NACA VG parametric recorder was installed on board the NC14716, according to which the water was touched with its nose down and at a speed higher than the normal landing ^[6] , which caused Martin to burrow into the water, and overloads reached critical values, leading to the destruction of the structure. Actually, the accident occurred due to the fact that the pilot incorrectly determined the height and did not have time to correct the position of the machine before the splashdown ^{[7] [13]} .

There was a calm surface on the sea that night, since the winds from the coast were weakened by hills, but although there was a chance that a mirror surface was observed in some areas, the surviving passengers noted that ripples were noticed before the disaster. This ripple was supposed to help determine the height above the water, as well as the lights on the surface, and Goyette and Kramer already flew quite a lot on seaplanes, that is, they had considerable experience in landing on water. However, although they started the approach from a height of 1000 feet (300 m ) at normal vertical and instrument speeds, they were at a considerable distance from the splash area, so the landing lights, which were supposed to help determine the position, were observed at a slight angle, practically merging ^[13] .

When the altitude was 300 feet (91 m ), Goyette announced that ½ mile before the first fire, while the crash occurred at an actual 1¼ mile distance, that is, the pilot could not correctly estimate the distance; Kramer did not put on glasses in this flight, and therefore did not see well in the distance, because of which he was forced to trust his partner, unable to control him. In fact, during this landing, the pilots had to change roles, because Kramer flew in less than two hours before the fateful flight on this plane, and even then during certification, therefore Goyett was to be especially vigilant throughout the flight, but the latter focused on the instruments during landing, lost in determining the location on the ground ^{[13] [14]} .

A commission from the Civil Aviation Council came to the conclusion that the most likely accident was the fault of (1) the second pilot Cramer, who did not recognize the proximity to the water and did not correct the situation for a normal landing, as well as (2) the commander of the plane, Goyette, who did not carry out landing control is at the required level, as a result of which there was an unintentional contact with water with a bow down and an excess of landing speed ^{[15] [16]} .

Other disasters Martin M-130

• The disappearance of Martin M-130 over the Pacific Ocean
• The crash of Martin M-130 in California

Comments

Sources

• Pan American, Latin American Division, Trinidad, British West Indies January 8, 1945 . Civil Aeronautics Board (April 24, 1946). Date of appeal May 15, 2018.