All 42 onboard were presumed killed in the accident.The flight originated in Miami at 10:22 PM the previous evening, landed at Tampa at 11:00 PM . This position is about 108miles east-southeast of New Orleans, about 30miles east of Pilottown, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, and very nearly on the planned course. Of all the prison terms he served, he never had a single infraction of violence. 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? She later said she had a premonition that her husband had been on that flight, and she never wavered from it. Down the rabbit hole I go. After this case, planes continued to disintegrate in flight due to explosive decompression. 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. Select the responses you agree with. Conditions of Employment: FAA Class 1 Medical required at time of Flight . He was sentenced to the maximum term of 5 years. The Board, with the aid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has thoroughly investigated Mr. United Airlines Flight 718, a DC-7, collided over the Grand Canyon with TWA Flight 2, an L-1049 Super Constellation, . Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Search and rescue facilities were activated and the Coast Guard had search aircraft and surface craft in the suspect area before daylight. She ultimately succeeded, and her son Junior received an undisclosed settlement. Posts about National Airlines Flight 967 written by The Flightpath. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD-KVCT) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. All employment decisions are made without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, military leave or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. 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. His wife would then cash in an insurance policy for $100,000 on Spears' life. Join to view profile. This website uses cookies. On November 16, 1959, an airplane vanished over the Gulf of Mexico, with 42 people onboard. It continued on a track of 296 degrees magnetic for a few minutes, then turned right to a heading of approximately 010 degrees and disappeared from the scope at 12:51 AM. * Douglas DC-8-21/31/32/51/54/61 Intensive sea and air searches resulted in finding ten floating bodies and a small amount of floating debris the following morning. At Tampa, some passengers deplaned and others boarded. The prosecutor in Spearss abortion case pointed out they already had sworn affidavits from the abortion witnesses, which they could simply have read out in court. Track National Aeronautics and Space Administration #967 flight from Victoria Rgnl to Houston Ellington Flight status, tracking, and historical data for National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. DC-7 Cockpit - From the display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. A strong sharp contact, definitely bottom and metallic, was made at position 2911.6'N, 8838.2'W at a depth of 245feet. . 967. The next morning (November 14), Taylor and Spears were together again--Taylors son Junior saw them drinking and laughing in Spearss hotel room, in a celebratory mood. They had been divorced longer than she claimed, and the divorce had been far from amicable. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for N967WN 02-Mar-2023 (KPVD-KDCA) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. In 1954 before this case, England lost several planes to it within months of each other, thanks to metal fatigue causing the decompressions. Air Methods is the most responsive and reliable provider of critical care transportation solutions. [5], "Con Man, Best Man, An Air Crash - A Far Out, Far Up Mystery", "Robert Spears, 1959 bomb suspect, dies in Dallas", Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 967, Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on Flight 967, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Spears_(naturopath)&oldid=1106844718, This page was last edited on 26 August 2022, at 19:28. No seat belt abrasions were found. The cultures of National and Pan Am also proved to be incompatible, making workforce integration difficult. Planes, especially larger passenger ones, were still fairly new back then-- they were still figuring out the kinks. I personally think the plane wasn't blown up with explosives or there was any foul play. A FedEx plane was only about 150 feet off the ground when its pilots realized a Southwest jet was in the process of taking off on the same runway, and aborted its landing to avoid a potentially . I am not a shill but it is an interesting book.]. Current weather reports and forecasts showed both destination and alternates to be and to remain above the approved minimums. Seven minutes later, National Airlines flight 2511, which had been carrying 29 passengers and 5 crew members, crashed into a field in Brunswick County. Spears had been a close friend of her husband, and she had never considered him to be a good influence. You can help us keep FlightAware free by allowing ads from FlightAware.com. NATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., DOUGLAS DC-7B, N4891C A careful search was made for witnesses. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for American Airlines 967 (AA967/AAL967) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. After forging several checks, he had skipped town and completely abandoned his first family. The flight departed Miami at 2212[1] and landed at Tampa at 2300. Robert Vernon Spears, of Dallas, Texas, was listed as a passenger on Flight967. The aircraft had been called into service on short notice when the normal aircraft used for the evening . Capt. [] Then you also have to think about the fact that Al Taylor was his friend since 1928. Spears disagreed with the characterization of himself as a sinister hypnotic puppetmaster. I was completely drawn in. aviation industry. The inertia of the bodies was plainly downward and forward and the forces at impact were severe. Due to lack of evidence, however, Spears was never charged with any offense in relation to the Flight 967 crash. Boeing 747-400BCF National Airlines N702CA Scale 1/400 XX4975. National Airlines was a United States airline that operated from 1934 to 1980. I wonder how long it took the police to find out about all these shady characters. Note that the whereabouts of DB Cooper on these dates is unaccounted for. I am quite sure that Taylor would not have exploded it.. 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. National Airlines flight 193 lies partially submerged in the shallow waters of Escambia Bay in Pensacola. It was also convenient for National Airlines. The aircraft was a DC-7, N 4891C, owned by Delta Air Lines and operated by National under an equipment interchange agreement. Long read, but totally worth it! When she read that Dr Robert Spears had been a victim of the air disaster, she became even more curious. Everyone loved the read as the comments here suggest and so did I but does anyone have a theory they favor? Without the planes black box, it is impossible to rule this out. Fri, 26 May 23. VIGOR searched, using Navy sonar. We have been unable to find any such relationship. From March16 through25,1960, the VITAL and the BITTERN continued searching in other areas and many botton contacts were obtained but none proved to be aircraft wreckage. Investigators determined that the flight crew was competent and experienced. According to Alan C. Logans book, Taylor had also met with Frank in New York (though Logan does not explain why). The only noteworthy observation from the gate agent in Tampa was "a man in a brown or tan suit, carrying a newspaper but no luggage, hurrying toward the Flight 967 gate right at closing time". After several decades of false names, new identities, fresh starts, abandoned wives, abandoned lives--he had spent the last years running "a lucrative underground abortion business". The crew consisted of Captain William R. Broocke (age 54), employed by National Airlines since 1946, who had qualified to fly the DC-10 in 1972 and accumulated 21,853 flight hours in his career with 801 hours on the DC-10; First Officer Edward H. Saunders (33), employed by National Airlines since 1965, with 7,086 flight hours of which 445 hours were on the DC-10; and Flight . I think the plane crashing was more or less a red herring in this case. All floating debris and bodies were from one-half to two miles east and southeast of this oil slick. * Convair CV-440 So, I think he spun a couple different stories to see if any if them fit enough to get in the least amount of trouble. https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Aviation_Accident_Report:_National_Airlines_Flight_967&oldid=9238655. I'm from New Orleans and have flown to Tampa several times. A bomb was suspected. According to the hotel staff, Taylor was talking about boarding a flight to Dallas--the waitress specifically remembered making small talk about Dallas. Examination of the liferafts and lifevests indicated that they had not been used for their intended purposes or prepared for such use, and all damage had been accidental and random. The theory of a Svengalian puppet master was convenient not just for the former Mrs Taylor. Robert Vernon Spears, a nationally known naturopathic doctor from . Turska also gave wildly conflicting accounts of his involvement in the affair. Yet as Logan points out, the crate of dynamite found on Turskas property was actually purchased in Tucson, and Spears had no way of getting into Tuscon from Turska's compound unless Turska himself drove him. National Airlines Flight 967 Blogs, Comments and Archive News on Economictimes.com No suggestion of unfamiliarity by National crews of Delta interchange aircraft was found during the investigation. Pensacola replied by delivering a clearance to Flight967, which stipulated that it was cleared from NL1 direct to the MSY (New Orleans) omni via the 116-degree radial, and to descend and maintain 6,000feet at the pilot's discretion. At 0044 the flight again contacted FAA Pensacola and advised that it would change over to company frequency and would report to the company when leaving 14,000feet and7,000 feet. In fact, it was revealed that Spears was facing charges for performing abortions--which was illegal at the time, and had been set to stand trial on December 3, 1959. And just a freak coincidence that a couple of conmen just happened to have a ticket? Call 1-650-967-2500 for Cirrus purchase and training assistance, or to take my online seminar: So You Wa . Frank E. Todd of Miami, the pilot, radioed his last message at 12:44a.m. The main wreckage has not been located . Start your trial now! National Airlines Flight 967; All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. Emirates Airlines is the preferable and national . Very interesting story, indeed. 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). 50 years ago, in the early morning of January 6, 1960 on a flight bound from New York to Miami, National Flight 2511 crashed near Bolivia, North Carolina. The tower is about 30 miles west of the crash site. Just a few years before, Logan writes, on Valentine's Day 1953, a National Airlines flight on the very same run--from Tampa to New Orleans--also plunged into the Gulf. 8837.3'W. [] Both men were in the confidence rackets at one time. I can understand him taking out an insurance policy. ASSURANCE and the U.S.S. Spirit airlines began offering the direct flights in 2017. [1][2][3] In February 1960, Spears was convicted of interstate transportation of a stolen car (Taylor's Plymouth). 2913'N, Long. Early that morning, they spotted something: a small amount of debris, a large oil slick, and several floating bodies. This is the last known radio contact with Flight967. There was nothing immediately remarkable about Dr Spears. Taylor had also been married before his marriage to Alice. November 5 After suffering an in-flight engine fire, the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671), piloted by Scott Crossfield, breaks its Back making an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake, California. As Logan points out, in the first three weeks of 1960 alone there had been four major airline crashes. A theory also emerged that Spears was connected to another unexplained air disaster just months later. The media, of course, went straight to Dr Spearss wife. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. The cause was suspected to have been an attempted case of Insurance fraud; . National Airlines Flight 967, registration 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. * Douglas DC-6 Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Back then, you could get on a plane, put something in the luggage rack, and then right before take off say "Excuse me, is this the plane to Dallas? This page was last edited on 5 May 2019, at 15:31. What an intriguing case - how have I never heard of this before? But even then there would be no point in destroying the plane or himself. NH967 (All Nippon Airways) - Live flight status, scheduled flights, flight arrival and departure times, flight tracks and playback, flight route and airport The world's most popular flight tracker. National Airlines records do not show a ticket issued in his name and he was not carried on their records as a passenger on Flight967. * Douglas DC-7B The car belonged to a man named Al Taylor, a longtime friend of Dr Spears, who had been the best man at his wedding. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C,[1] 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. Sun 4/9. Rescuers went out in aircraft and boats, arriving before dawn and still combing the cold, rough seas as the sun came up. The flight release Tampa-New Orleans was in accordance with the Civil Air Regulations and NAL procedures. 8840'W. Robert Vernon Spears (June 26, 1894 - May 2, 1969) was a naturopath who is alleged to have placed a bomb aboard National Airlines Flight 967, an aircraft that went missing over the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959, killing 42 people.. History. Suddenly his strange behavior all made sense to her--her hapless ex-husband was a puppet, under Dr Spearss spell. However, the Clearfield, Pennsylvania, Progress speculated in its Nov. 17, 1959, edition that the aircraft may have been brought down by a bomb: "Was there an explosion aboard the National Airlines DC-7B liner that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico Monday with 42 persons aboard? But in 1957 he was expelled from the organization in a bribery scandal. National Airlines Flight967, a DC-7B, N4891C, crashed in the Gulf of Mexico while en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on .mw-parser-output .nowrap,.mw-parser-output .nowrap a:before,.mw-parser-output .nowrap .selflink:before{white-space:nowrap}November 16, 1959, about 0055c.s.t. November 16, 1959: National Airlines Flight 967 on a flight from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. I know that he loved those babies and that if he were alive I am sure I would have heard from him. The last radar contact with the aircraft--made at 12:55 am, over the open sea--had indicated the plane was still on course to its destination at the time that it vanished. Although sabotage was suspected, no definite cause of the crash was determined. At that time the control tower at Moisant reported a ceiling of 1,200 feet with three-fourths of a mile visibility, light fog and rain. However, Taylor himself purchased $37,500.00 worth of life insurance at the airport; when his ex-wife attempted to collect on that policy, authorities were notified. (If any were available prior to my introduction to flying, though, I can't be sure.) An oil slick estimated to be a mile long and possibly 400yards in width ran in a north-south direction. Upon his arrest in Arizona, the FBI charged him with transporting a stolen vehicle beyond state lines. 0 bags. Associate Procurement Agent. 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD . The unplanned water landing caught everyone . On January 20, when she was informed that her husband was alive, Mrs Spears struck a very different tone. However, there was ample fuel to have proceeded to the flight's planned alternate or to Dallas, the next en route stop. The FBI got involved. A massive search began. Acknowledging "there is little or no physical evidence on which to explain this accident", the CAB was forced to conclude, after nearly three years of investigation: Because of lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. He heard no noise. Extraterrestrials? It was founded in 1934 as a Florida-based airline. He added that the passengers apparently had no warning to don lifebelts, as only one life preserver was found among the debris. Despite intensive searches over the following months and years by the Coast Guard, Civil Aeronautics Board, the US Navy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and private companies--the rest of the wreckage has never been found. She received a court order to open his post office box. According to the Senior Passenger Agent for National Airlines, there were no established procedures in 1959 for determining if a reporting passenger was the same person for whom the reservation was made. In fact, he had vanished on November 16, 1959 - the very same day that airplane went down in the Gulf. Dr Spears (who was calling himself Dr Rhodes) had tried to file down the numbers on the cars registration numbers and had even used dynamite to damage the car's crankcase. The flight had been on its way from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans. In this interview, he told a completely different story about what had happened. 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. None of this disclosed conclusive evidence as to the genesis of the accident. Robert Vernon Spears (June 26, 1894 May 2, 1969) was a naturopath who is alleged to have placed a bomb aboard National Airlines Flight 967, an aircraft that went missing over the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959, killing 42 people. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. He needed to get the dynamite from Tulsa to Dallas. Nothing unusual was observed and no other objects were observed in the vicinity of the flight which indicated to the station that any difficulty was being encountered". Lowest fares guaranteed on flights from Dubai to Toronto by Skycraft Air Transport. The United States Fish and Wild Life, M/VOREGON, searched for 24hours on December14 and 15, 1959, dragging a 35foot wide net over the botton at a position centered around Lat. This search was also unsuccessful. Explosive decompression makes a plane crash look like the plane was blown up with a large bomb, but minus any larger pieces of wreckage as well as explosive residue proving it. 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. Get the FlightAware App for the best flight tracking experience on your device. The flight's next radio contact was with FAA Pensacola radio at 0031 requesting clearance to New Orleans and reestimating NL1 at 0035. From March3 through13,1960, the U.S.S. The other plane crash remains unexplained despite the apparent presence of dynamite and that it happened over land where, presumably, most or all of the wreckage was recovered. It has been claimed that Dr Spears tried to access a vial of cyanide before his sentencing--but some have disputed this. The National plane was then spiralled in a climbing turn to 7,000feet in order to obtain VOR bearings for this position. Goodness, I'm on the wrong plane!" Logan says Taylors ex-wife was media-savvy--and points out that she had a potential financial motive to portray Taylor as an unwitting passenger on that flight. 1 adult. We have been unable to find any such relationship. Massey. Dr Spears lived in an affluent suburb of Dallas, and he and his wife were relatively well-known in the citys social circles. Forty-two people were on board, and less than 1% of the wreckage was recovered. 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. 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. This consisted of fragmented bits of upholstery, soundproofing material, cabin linings, scat cushions and backs, metallic parts of seats attached to and buoyed by these cushions and backs, overhead racks and other light items not essential to the structural integrity of the aircraft. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, [1] 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. At 0014, while between Crab and NL1, the flight received the 0600 New Orleans weather from National Flight968, which was: "M700 overcast; 2-1/2 miles visibility; very light drizzle; fog; temperature 54; dewpoint 52; wind northeast 3; altimeter 30.14; ceiling ragged; obstruction lights out of service; see NOTAMS.". Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. A check by the company at this time showed that FAA, New Orleans Approach Control, and ARTC were also out of contact with Flight967. * Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar This aircraft was flown to Tampa then out the NL route toward New Orleans to the position of 2913'N, 8840'W, at an altitude of 14,000feet. In fact, Turska had also been facing abortion charges in November 1959 (though Turskas charges were later dropped). The theory arose that Spears, desperate to avoid trial and wanting a fresh start, had tricked Taylor (perhaps through hypnosis)[1] into boarding the aircraft with a piece of luggage containing a bomb; when the aircraft crashed, it would be assumed that Spears was on board. The day before the fateful flight, Taylor had visited his ex-wife Alice Steel Taylor at her home, looking for their adult son Junior, who wasnt home. - November 16, 1959, a DC-7B flown on an interchange route with Delta Air Lines, in a Delta aircraft but with a NAL crew National Airlines Flight 967, en route from Tampa to New Orleans, disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. He said he had persuaded Al Taylor to take the dynamite on the airplane by promising to pay him $10,000 to do it.
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