However, there was ample fuel to have proceeded to the flight's planned alternate or to Dallas, the next en route stop. Upon his arrest in Arizona, the FBI charged him with transporting a stolen vehicle beyond state lines. Intensive sea and air searches resulted in finding nine floating bodies and a small amount of floating debris the following morning. This is evident by the lack of any unusual radio messages. He had become financially successful in Texas as a naturopath, even becoming president of the Texas Naturopath Association in 1954. The condition of the bodies and wreckage all fit too-- the plane ends up in tiny pieces (basically whatever floats). He had become financially successful in Texas as a . Taylors son Junior dismissed the story. Adequate fuel, with reserve, was carried. Flight Departure Times. This air traffic control instruction/clearance was issued through National Airlines' radio station/office at Pensacola, Florida, a normal procedure before making the approach to Moisant International Airport (KMSY) in New Orleans. Otherwise, the loading of the aircraft was normal with the center of gravity located within prescribed limits and the gross weight some 11,000pounds under maximum permissible for takeoff. Frank E. Todd of Miami, the pilot, radioed his last message at 12:44a.m. The Board obtained search assistance from the United States Navy. Spears said Taylor was going to fly to Dallas and that he would drive the car, but flight 967 was going to New Orleans not Dallas? This is also unexplained. The man was a con artist. While circling in this general area, several bodies were sighted as well as one liferaft that had been broken out of its case but was not inflated and appeared to be about three-fourths submerged. ", Alan C. Logans book also cites a vague remark by Mr Turska that Spears was not alone when he showed up in Arizona after the crash. Aviation Accident Report: National Airlines Flight 967, Aviation Accident Report: National Airlines Flight 967 Report. No suggestion of unfamiliarity by National crews of Delta interchange aircraft was found during the investigation. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. From March3 through13,1960, the U.S.S. * Douglas DC-8-21/31/32/51/54/61 The company posted $1.027 billion in membership fee income compared to $967 million a year earlier, a $60 million increase, or 6.2%. This search was also unsuccessful. There she discovered a receipt addressed to their son Junior. Coscto also reported a Q2 net sales increase of 6.5%, to $54.24 . History of the flight On Sunday 4 April 2010 at about 0920 Eastern Standard Time1, the pilot arrived at Cambridge Aerodrome near Hobart, Tasmania in preparation for a flight in a Victa Airtourer 115 aircraft, registered VH-MTC (MTC). Then he abruptly told her was headed to Atlanta the next day, to look for a job there. [4], Spears died in Dallas, Texas on May 2, 1969, of coronary thrombosis. He heard no noise. Please note . No severe weather was forecast, anticipated or reported at flight altitudes over the route. Weather conditions in the area were poor, which meant that the crew had . In spite of this string of suspicious details, the airplane was still missing, therefore there was no hope of charging Spears with anything relating to the crash. A rival airline company? The sea was practically calm with waves about 1-1/2feet high moving from a northerly direction with a period of about five seconds. Great post! The inertia of the bodies was plainly downward and forward and the forces at impact were severe. When Spears met secretly with his wife on January 7, he had reportedly given her the same story. Without an aircraft, this was no easy task. It turned out he had a long criminal record--a string of confidence schemes, forgery, and thefts under a variety of aliases. [] The final ruling was probable severe turbulence.. [1][2][3] In February 1960, Spears was convicted of interstate transportation of a stolen car (Taylor's Plymouth). 8839'W. The point of fade from the scope was normal and within correlation limits. Clearly in shock, she turned to the reporter and said: "What can I say? This dialogue will close in 60 seconds or you can click the exit icon in the top right corner to go back to the flight map immediately. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. DC-7 [] Template . Interchange flights like this were fairly common before the CAB awarded more direct routes beginning with the Southeast to West Coast case in 1961. Spear's activities in order to determine whether they might have had a bearing upon the accident. The aircraft was airworthy at the time of departure, the crew was competent, weather conditions were good, and when disaster struck, the flight was very close to being both on course and on schedule. The FBI discovered there was much more to the kindly old Dr Spears than met the eye. The passenger manifest for Tampa-New Orleans listed 36passengers. Investigation disclosed no significant weather condition in the form of fronts, squall lines, thunderstorms, turbulence or icing affecting the route of flight. Track National Aeronautics and Space Administration #967 flight from Chennault Intl to Houston Ellington Flugstatus, Tracking und Flugverlaufsdaten fr National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 02.03.2023 (KCWF-KEFD) mit geplanten, geschtzten und tatschlichen Start- und Landezeiten I believe him lost in the crash.". -, Press J to jump to the feed. Taylor's body was not among those recovered. No seat belt abrasions were found. VIGOR searched, using Navy sonar. The combination of the auto theft charge and his existing abortion charge eventually got him ten years in prison. A tragic accident due to some unforeseen mechanical malfunction or even pilot error? D.B. The last radio contact with the flight was at 12:44 AM, when the flight contacted company radio in New Orleans. He was not a licensed MD, and his license to practice naturopathy had been revoked in 1957. Note that the whereabouts of DB Cooper on these dates is unaccounted for. Accordingly, the aircraft was flown in a northerly direction for some five to ten miles from the point of spiral-down, whereupon floating debris was seen. The 36 passengers and six crew aboard Flight 967 from Tampa to New Orleans died in the accident 35.6 mi (57.3 km) off the coast of Pilottown, Louisiana. 2912.3'N, Long. It is perhaps no coincidence that a PR man from National Airlines wrote a book in 1963 accusing Spears of being responsible for the crash. National Airlines Flight 967. Shortly thereafter a Coast Guard helicopter arrived. 02:55. On the night of November 15, 1959, a DC-7 with forty-two persons aboard took off from Tampa International Airport on a regularly scheduled flight to New Orleans. This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Networks opinion as to the cause of the accident. Al Taylor asked him to drive the Plymouth to Dallas where they were scheduled to meet up. WOW! She contacted his work--they knew nothing. He was charged with three felony accounts and was set to stand trial in Los Angeles on December 3, 1959. You received a Purple Heart on or after September 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged after any amount of service, or. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for American Airlines 967 (AA967/AAL967) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. According to the Nov. 17, 1959, edition of the New York Times, I. W. Dymond, vice president of operations for the airline, said the weather "was anticipated, but it was not a factor" in the crash. She received a court order to open his post office box. The ultimate flight tracking suite for small aircraft/general aviation (GA) owners and operators. Pan Am paid too high a price for National, and was ill prepared to integrate National's domestic route network with Pan Am's own globe-girdling international network. November 10 of 1958, National became the first airline to introduce domestic jet service in the United States, with a flight between Miami 's international airport and Idlewild International Airport in New York. None of this disclosed conclusive evidence as to the genesis of the accident. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for N967WN 02-Mar-2023 (KPVD-KDCA) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. It's quick and easy to. Clearly, Dr Spears had not been on that plane. Lt. James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard air detachment at New Orleans, said the wreckage was spread over a comparatively small area of two to three miles. Mrs Taylor? It's possible it was not a direct flight, and the next leg would have been from NO to Dallas. National Airlines Flight967 of November 15, 1959, was scheduled between Miami, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, with a stop at Tampa, Florida. The U.S.S. A mystery woman told a local Tampa newspaper that she had had a relationship with Taylor shortly before his disappearance, and did not believe he was dead. At Miami, National Airlines prepared one of its Convair aircraft, which left for the area at 0545 under the command of the company's chief pilot. saw an unusual light in the sky [] in the general direction of where [the flight] was lost and at about the time it was lost [] the light was red or dark red, appearing suddenly, lasting a couple of seconds then producing a vertical white light which fell with a white trail [] the initial red flash was almost as big as the sun. I wonder how long it took the police to find out about all these shady characters. He also had convictions for drunk driving and drug possession. Investigators determined that the flight crew was competent and experienced. A hypothesis arose that Spears, who had befriended Taylor in prison, tricked Taylor into boarding the flight with a piece of luggage containing a bomb. FBI National Academy. 2918.5'N, Long. The Flightpath. C. L. McGAVERN, Jacksonville, Florida, RENFRO (no first name), arrived from Orlando, JACK ATKINSON, Miami Springs, an inspector for the Federal Aviation Agency, Self-Styled: Chasing Dr Robert Vernon Spears by Alan C. Logan, Civil Aeronautics Board - Aircraft Accident Report, June 11, 1962, Robert Spears, 1959 bomb suspect, dies in Dallas". "[citation needed]. Register now (free) for customized features, flight alerts, and more! He kept checking his watch, his ex-wife later said, and looked anxious to leave". None of these nine persons had been subjected to fire or smoke before death, as demonstrated by low carboxyhemoglobin levels in blood and tissue. Braniff International Airways Flight 542, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, registration N9705C, was a scheduled domestic flight from Houston, Texas, bound for New York with scheduled stops in Dallas and Washington, D.C. On September 29, 1959, 23 minutes into the 41-minute flight from Houston to Dallas Love Field, the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air approximately 3.8 miles (6.1 km) southeast of . (Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives) On the 8th of May 1978, a National Airlines Boeing 727 was on approach to Pensacola, Florida when it suddenly touched down in Escambia Bay amid heavy fog. James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard station at New Orleans, said the plane might have exploded when it struck the water. Three days before the crash, (the day Spears had arrived in Tampa) Taylor and Spears were seen together enjoying a lavish meal in the Hillsboro Hotel. News Stories American Airlines to start hiring pilots again Southwest To Recall Pilots And Flight . Sometimes with these mysteries that were so long ago it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the victims were people who were loved and cared for by many. November 16 - National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7B, crashes into the Gulf of Mexico while on a flight from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, in a possible case of sabotage; all 40 on board perish. A radar-observed descent was close to Lat. Alice was not to be dissuaded. Franks body was found with injuries significantly different from and much more extensive than the other passengers, injuries which were inconsistent with the type of injury usually incurred in an aircraft accident. Mr Frank? * Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar It was founded in 1934 as a Florida-based airline. The scenes in this video are from the documentary series Air Crash Investigation.None of them belong to me.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_. Turska? Mrs Taylor recalled that Dr Spears had held an unnatural sway over her former husband. He also cites the testimony of Spearss wife, neighbors and friends who spoke of him as a lovely person and a gentleman and expressed utter disbelief that he would be capable of doing something so heinous as taking down a passenger aircraft.