It is Sunday, the 6th of October 1957, and at Schiphol airport, KLM ground crew are doing their final preparations while the cockpit crew is already running up the engines. Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation PH-LKW 'Deuteron'.
In the cockpit, First Officer Schoenmaker* and Flight Engineer Meersman* are checking the engines, while Captain Zaandert* is calling the checklist. Meanwhile, Navigator Merchter* is cross-checking the weather forecast with his maps, while Radio Officer Kleijndert* is checking his equipment, with Second Flight Engineer Geysels by his side. In the back, the cabin crew, consisting of a Purser and two Stewardesses, are assisting the passengers, who are boarding the plane.
The passengers who are boarding the plane are quite varied. Some are tourists, some are businessmen and sales reps. Somewhere in the tourist section's a Dutch family of five that is emigrating to Australia; in First Class, four gentlemen are discussing some serious matters. They are members of the Dutch Public Transport Safety Board, headed for Biak for the continued investigation into two accidents (1). Most of the passengers seem to have either Biak in Dutch New Guinea, or Sydney in Australia as their destination. In all, 83 passengers are boarding the aircraft at Schiphol, 24 of them booked in First Class, with the remainder seated in Tourist Class.
The scene has been set. The journey can begin. Over the next few posts we will learn to know some of our passengers, while we enjoy the ride...
* All fictitious names, of course.
(1) The accidents mentioned are those of KLM Flight 844 (Sydney-Amsterdam), which took place on Tuesday, the 16th of July 1957 at 03:36 local time, and that of that of Kroonduif Twin Pioneer JZ-PPX which took place on Friday, the 30th of August 1957 at 10:08 local time.
The accident of KLM 844 involved Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation PH-LKT 'Neutron', which crashed into the Soanggarai Bay minutes after take-off out of Biak. Only 10 of the 68 aboard survived. As the wreck lay at a depth of about 850 ft, it was never recovered; the investigation report issued in March 1958 was inconclusive but cited spatial disorientation over an unlit sea as a probable cause.
Kroonduif Twin Pioneer JZ-PPX crashed during a training flight, killing its two pilots. The crash occurred when one of its wings failed during a turn, but the cause initially remained a mystery as its wreck was not recovered as well. Four months later, however, another Twin Pioneer, G-AOEO operated by Scottish Aviation, suffered a similar accident in Libya, resulting in six fatalities. It was found the V-brace strut of the wing had failed due to fatigue: this caused the outer panel of the wing to break away, rendering the aircraft uncontrolable.
In the cockpit, First Officer Schoenmaker* and Flight Engineer Meersman* are checking the engines, while Captain Zaandert* is calling the checklist. Meanwhile, Navigator Merchter* is cross-checking the weather forecast with his maps, while Radio Officer Kleijndert* is checking his equipment, with Second Flight Engineer Geysels by his side. In the back, the cabin crew, consisting of a Purser and two Stewardesses, are assisting the passengers, who are boarding the plane.
The passengers who are boarding the plane are quite varied. Some are tourists, some are businessmen and sales reps. Somewhere in the tourist section's a Dutch family of five that is emigrating to Australia; in First Class, four gentlemen are discussing some serious matters. They are members of the Dutch Public Transport Safety Board, headed for Biak for the continued investigation into two accidents (1). Most of the passengers seem to have either Biak in Dutch New Guinea, or Sydney in Australia as their destination. In all, 83 passengers are boarding the aircraft at Schiphol, 24 of them booked in First Class, with the remainder seated in Tourist Class.
The scene has been set. The journey can begin. Over the next few posts we will learn to know some of our passengers, while we enjoy the ride...
* All fictitious names, of course.
(1) The accidents mentioned are those of KLM Flight 844 (Sydney-Amsterdam), which took place on Tuesday, the 16th of July 1957 at 03:36 local time, and that of that of Kroonduif Twin Pioneer JZ-PPX which took place on Friday, the 30th of August 1957 at 10:08 local time.
The accident of KLM 844 involved Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation PH-LKT 'Neutron', which crashed into the Soanggarai Bay minutes after take-off out of Biak. Only 10 of the 68 aboard survived. As the wreck lay at a depth of about 850 ft, it was never recovered; the investigation report issued in March 1958 was inconclusive but cited spatial disorientation over an unlit sea as a probable cause.
Kroonduif Twin Pioneer JZ-PPX crashed during a training flight, killing its two pilots. The crash occurred when one of its wings failed during a turn, but the cause initially remained a mystery as its wreck was not recovered as well. Four months later, however, another Twin Pioneer, G-AOEO operated by Scottish Aviation, suffered a similar accident in Libya, resulting in six fatalities. It was found the V-brace strut of the wing had failed due to fatigue: this caused the outer panel of the wing to break away, rendering the aircraft uncontrolable.
