r/aircrashinvestigation

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I was browsing Wikipedia recently and came across the page for J.A.G.S. McCartney, the former Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands, who died in a plane crash near Vineland, New Jersey, in 1980.

What immediately caught my attention was how little information there is about the crash. Considering he was the head of government of the territory at the time, I found the lack of detail surprising and, honestly, a bit suspicious.

I decided to dig deeper and discovered that his body was reportedly never recovered, despite the fact that he is still regarded as a national hero in Turks and Caicos.

https://magneticmediatv.com/2018/05/tci-national-heros-death-still-mysterious-jags-mccartney-monuments-destroyed-by-hurricanes/

After more searching, I found the aircraft's registration number and eventually located the NTSB report. Calling it a "full report" would be generous—it is extremely brief and provides very little information.

https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/brief.aspx?ev\_id=32478&key=0

While looking through newspaper archives, I also found that two of the four people killed in the crash—James E. Joyce and Wayne DeBellis—had been involved in corruption scandals and were out on bail at the time of the accident.

https://www.nytimes.com/1980/05/11/archives/west-indies-official-among-4-killed-in-jersey-crash.html

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-register-obituary-for-james-e/51266722/

I also remember reading (although I can't find the source again) that the flight may have been connected to a drug trafficking operation. Years later, the Turks and Caicos government itself was subjected to direct rule by the UK following investigations into corruption and drug trafficking involving public officials.

To this day, J.A.G.S. McCartney is revered as a national hero in Turks and Caicos. The anniversary of his birth is even observed as a public holiday. Yet the lack of information surrounding the crash continues to puzzle me.

Does anyone here know any additional details about this accident? Is there any evidence that the circumstances were intentionally downplayed or obscured, perhaps to avoid tarnishing the legacy of the country's national hero? Or is this simply a case of a small-aircraft crash receiving limited investigative attention in 1980?

On July 6, 2013 Asiana Airlines flight 214 was a flight originating from Seoul, South Korea to San Francisco. While on approach, pilot mismanagement and error caused the plane’s tail to hit the end of the runway resulting in it breaking off and causing the plane to spin and slide before coming to a stop. Most of the 307 passengers survived albeit with injuries but tragically 3 passengers from the back died. This was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 777.

Crew of China Eastern airlines flight 586

Captain: Ni Jie Xiang (倪介祥）

First officer: Yan Bao Di (严宝弟）

Flight Engineer: Zhao Yong Liang (赵永亮）

Navigator: Lu Ge (鲁舸）

Inflight Supervisor: Xu Huan Ju (徐焕菊）

Chief flight attendant : Shu Ye （舒晔)

Liu Wen （刘文）

Flight attendant : Li Rong Hua （李蓉华）Hu Jun Yi （胡骏奕）Dai Yizun（戴益遵） Tao Zhi（陶冶）Ruan Jia （阮佳）Lu Yiying （陆轶颖）Cai Shali （蔡沙里）Luo Wei （罗薇）Wu Ying （ 吴颖）Zhou Zhuqing （周竹青）

38 years ago during the Iran-Iraq War, an Iran Air a300 was flying a short flight from Bandar Abbas to Dubai when not even halfway into the flight it was intercepted by the USS Vincennes. Despite multiple attempts to contact and identify, the crew shot down the aircraft thinking it was an Iranian f-14. In an episode of Mayday, it was revealed that many errors were made in attempts to identify the plane & the crew had misidentified it as a fighter jet but the shoot down proceeded. It was also discovered the plane was shot down in Iranian waters and not another country’s waters. 290 people were killed. Due to the war zone and tensions, many bodies (including that of the captain) went unrecovered and the CVR/FDR remains at the bottom of the sea

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/us/skydiving-plane-crash-butler-missouri-ntsb.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.E2s1.eHI7tHeR_Duo&smid=nytcore-android-share

24 years ago on this day, a Tu154 aircraft with 60 passengers and 9 crew (mostly children) was on its way from Moscow to Barcelona. Also that night, a DHL 757 with two crew was flying from Italy to Belgium. Due to the Russian crew following ATC orders to descend while the DHL crew was following TCAS order to descend, along with controller Peter Nielsen being forced to multitask between different screens, both aircraft collided in midair over Uberlingen, Germany. All 71 died. Less than two years later, Peter Nielsen was murdered by a distraught relative of one of the victims, bringing the final death toll to 72. Rest in peace to all and rest in peace to Peter Nielsen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-mOEBfm80

On April 26, 1993, Indian Airlines Flight 491, a scheduled domestic service from Aurangabad to Bombay, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 55 of the 118 people on board. The aircraft was a Boeing 737-2A8, registration VT-ECQ, manufactured in 1974 and powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A engines. It had accumulated 43,886 flight hours and more than 50,000 cycles. The flight had originated in Delhi with stops in Jaipur and Udaipur before arriving in Aurangabad, a route popular with tourists visiting Rajasthan’s historic palaces and the economic hub of Bombay. On board were 112 passengers, including at least ten Western nationals from Australia, Britain, Germany, and Japan, along with two flight crew and four cabin crew. The captain was 38-year-old S.N. Singh, who had logged 4,963 total flight hours with 1,720 hours on the 737, and the first officer was 30-year-old Manisha Mohan, with 1,172 hours, 921 of them on type.

At Aurangabad, 51 passengers boarded and the aircraft was refueled before the crew received clearance for Runway 09. The takeoff roll began around 13:00 local time under hot, clear conditions. The aircraft reached rotation speed roughly 4,100 feet down the 6,000-foot runway, but the captain delayed rotation by five to seven seconds after the callout. The nose began to rise only in the final 500 feet of the paved surface, and the 737 still had not lifted off when it reached the end of the runway and continued into the 1,800-foot overrun area. A truck loaded with cotton bales was traveling on a public road about 410 feet beyond the runway end. The aircraft’s left main landing gear and left engine struck the truck, severing the landing gear and the engine’s thrust reverser. Debris from the impact damaged the left horizontal stabilizer and left elevator, causing approximately 98 inches of the stabilizer and 115 inches of the elevator to detach. The left engine’s RPM dropped, and the aircraft banked left.

Still airborne, the 737 flew approximately three kilometers northeast and struck a set of high-tension power lines, snapping all three. About 500 meters farther, it hit two babool trees, which tore off the left flaps and engine before the aircraft slammed into the ground left-engine-first. The fuselage split into two sections aft of the 19th cabin window. The rear section inverted and was quickly consumed by fire, while the forward portion slid another 190 meters before stopping. The cockpit crew evacuated through the window, and passengers and two surviving cabin crew exited through the left forward entry door. Fifty-three passengers and two cabin crew members stationed in the rear galley died; all but one passenger in the aft fuselage perished. Sixty-three people survived, including the captain, first officer, and two flight attendants, though 11 sustained serious injuries.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched an investigation, retrieving the flight recorders from the burned wreckage. Terrorism was quickly ruled out because no explosive traces were found, despite the crash occurring one day after the hijacking of another Indian Airlines 737. Investigators then examined whether the aircraft was overloaded. The load sheet indicated a takeoff weight 54 kilograms below the regulated limit, but further analysis suggested an overload of 118 kilograms, and some estimates placed the excess as high as one ton due to unaccounted hand baggage. Flight simulations showed that an overloaded state alone would not have caused the crash; instead, they pointed to the captain’s late rotation. Investigators concluded that Captain Singh routinely employed a delayed rotation technique, believing it would build up extra speed and improve climb performance, especially when he perceived the aircraft as overweight. On this flight, that misperception caused him to hold the nose down far longer than normal. When the truck appeared, he hesitated for two seconds before executing a rapid over-rotation to avoid collision, later stating he felt disoriented and panicked. First Officer Mohan recognized the abnormality and momentarily grabbed the control column, but the captain told her to leave it.

Contributing significantly to the accident was the presence of the truck on a road that passed close to the departure end of the runway. Until 1985, gates controlled traffic during flight operations, but those gates had been absent since 1986. The National Airports Authority (NAA) had failed to regulate vehicle movements on the road, and investigators noted a lack of coordination among NAA officials responsible for the area. The final report, issued on December 25, 1993, determined the probable causes to be pilot error in initiating late rotation and using an incorrect rotation technique, and the NAA’s failure to control vehicular traffic on the adjacent road during flight hours. After the crash, the runway was lengthened by 3,000 feet and the road was gated again. Captain Singh’s command license was revoked and his co-pilot license suspended, while other officials faced departmental action.

Investigation Report：https://www.dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/Upload?flag=iframeAttachView&attachId=i4WUfruawscOchoa3rOxXA%3D%3D

Mount Aso is the second largest active volcano in Japan after Mount Fuji. It has been experiencing eruption since October 20, 2021. The site is considered sacred and during the Meiji era further access routes were opened.

On January 20, 2026 a Robinson R44 with a very experienced pilot was flying 2 tourists for a planned tour; as the helicopter flies over the caldera it begins to lose forward speed as vertical speed increases. Shortly after 11:04 local time, one of the tourists iPhones begins transmitting an automated SOS signal which is triggered by G-forces.

After nearly a month of searching, a drone captures what appears to be the wreckage of the R44 with 3 sets of remains; however, due to the extremely hostile environment further exploration was judged too dangerous and recovery was officially cancelled.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. A potential contributing factor could have been a sudden and unexpected pocket of hot gas which reduces the lift potential. As ambient temperature increases air density decreases, this is known to reduce an aircraft’s flight envelope.

On the 31st of May 1998 an MD-11 (even though after the late 1980s Boeing was fazed out the MD-11 would be kept since it had never been a problem so they keep it for it’s reliability even into the 2030s) flight number: 001
The aircraft was flying the Toronto-Kronhavn
A passenger named: John Smith a left radical American would be the bomber only found out after the fact
At 14:21 the MD-11 would depart Toronto and it climbed fast reaching their cruising altitude of 410
Due to bad weather the plane would be diverted to Amsterdam
At around 22:32 the plane was above London at 380
In a matter of seconds an explosion in the forward cargo bay was experienced this immediately caused the skin to be ripped apart of the fuselage due to the weakening of the skin this caused the framing to become weaker and it’d eventually get crushed causing the nose to fly off completely
The explosion had vibrated the plane so much it caused a large crack on the tail piece
When the remaining plane piece started climbing the tail got way more wing pushing against it leading to the tail ripping off
All 173 died with 4 dying on the ground of a London Town

Video essay I made on the ghost flight and the passenger who fought until his last moments to try and save it. fascinating story, if you wanna learn more about it, here ya go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orir31iYEk8&t=965s

I'm in the process of digitizing thousands of photos from my parents' house and found these: my dad must have been flying out of Logan shortly after the World Airways Flight 30 accident. Thought this sub might appreciate them. Threw in a few random BOS shots as well from the same batch.

It was the first 747 crash. Surely it is important enough to have an episode on?