When Eastern Airlines Flight 66 Crashed Moments from Landing at JFK International Airport, Part 2

06/07/23 • 42 min

This is Part 2 of 2. On a summer day in 1975, Eastern Airlines Flight 66 crashed just yards away from its intended runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City. Witnesses at the time, said the plane exploded in midair, but this was not the case. The plane had flown through a thunderstorm and had been shoved to the ground by a microburst. In 1975, thunderstorms were not well understood and their potential for severe damage had not been realized. Updrafts, downdrafts and microbursts were terms that had not yet been embraced by meteorologists or aviation safety experts, but this crash would change their minds. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, as well as the AAR (Aircraft Accident Report) from the NTSB, provided many of the clues to what happened, but not all. What happened in the moments before this crash? What did the air traffic controllers tell the crew? What did the pilots and controllers not know, that could've prevented this crash? Why was a tornado expert summoned to investigate this crash, and how did his findings impact aviation safety in the decades to come? Episode 8 of "Radar Contact Lost: The Podcast" answers all these questions and more.

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When Eastern Airlines Flight 66 Crashed Moments from Landing at JFK International Airport, Part 1

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Part 1 of 2. On a summer day in 1975, Eastern Airlines Flight 66 crashed just yards away from its intended runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City. Witnesses at the time, said the plane exploded in midair, but this was not the case. The plane had flown through a thunderstorm and had been shoved to the ground by a microburst. In 1975, thunderstorms were not well understood and their potential for severe damage had not been realized. Updrafts, downdrafts and microbursts were terms that had not yet been embraced by meteorologists or aviation safety experts, but this crash would change their minds. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, as well as the AAR (Aircraft Accident Report) from the NTSB, provided many of the clues to what happened, but not all. What happened in the moments before this crash? What did the air traffic controllers tell the crew? What did the pilots and controllers not know, that could've prevented this crash? Why was a tornado expert summoned to investigate this crash, and how did his findings impact aviation safety in the decades to come? Episode 8 of "Radar Contact Lost: The Podcast" answers all these questions and more.

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When a Helicopter Crash Silenced ‘Number One' - The Story Behind the Stevie Ray Vaughan Helicopter Crash

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“When a Helicopter Crash Silenced ‘Number One’" is about the 1990 crash of a Bell JetRanger helicopter that was carrying a pilot and four passengers. The helicopter crashed into a ski slope at night and in the fog, killing all on board. Among the passengers was Stevie Ray Vaughan, the legendary Blues guitarist from Texas. The crash stunned the world with not only the crash that was attributed to pilot error, but the end of an amazing career of a guitarist that had burst onto the scene only seven years before with his debut album, Texas Flood, which went double-platinum and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues Performance category. The crash occurred late at night and in fog. A lot of helicopters, unfortunately, have crashed in fog. Except that’s not the end of the story. In fact, it’s really only a cursory understanding of the crash, as there were other factors both before the crash and factors after the helicopter lifted above the ground – neither of which were mentioned in the official Aviation Accident Report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board. Though fog was a significant factor to the crash, there was another factor that was as surprising as it was dangerous, and it was perhaps even more lethal than the fog.