aircraft pictured) shortly after taking off from Long Island MacArthur
Airport, in the U.S. community of Ronkonkoma in Islip, New York. The
aircraft, named Mainliner Idaho, began banking to the right after
takeoff, then swerved 90 degrees, nosedived, and hit the ground,
killing all three crewmembers. An investigation found that they had been
simulating an engine failure on an instrument rating check flight, but
had pulled back the throttle lever for engine No. 4 too far, causing the
propeller blades to reverse, a feature normally used only to slow the
aircraft during landing. They had also failed to raise a metal flag in
the cockpit that would have allowed the blades to return to the proper
position during flight. Investigators from the Civil Aeronautics Board
concluded that crew lost control of the aircraft when they applied full
power to No. 4 engine, and that the sudden bank and dive left the crew
little time to recover from their mistake. After the investigation, the
Civil Aeronautics Administration issued an Airworthiness Directive
ordering all United Douglas DC-6 and DC-6B aircraft to be fitted with a
manual device to prevent the inadvertent reversal of the blades.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_MacArthur_Airport_United_Airlines_crash>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
Charles II of England issued the Declaration of Breda,
describing his conditions for the Restoration of the crown of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Breda>
1814:
Napoleon abdicated as Emperor of the French and named his son
Napoleon II to replace him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_II>
1841:
William Henry Harrison became the first U.S. President to die
in office, 32 days into his term, sparking a brief constitutional crisis
regarding questions of presidential succession that were left unanswered
by the U.S. Constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Harrison>
1945:
World War II: The U.S. Third Army captured the German city of
Kassel after three days of fighting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kassel_(1945)>
1990:
The current flag of Hong Kong was adopted for post-colonial use
during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hong_Kong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
roundabout:
Indirect, circuitous or circumlocutionary; that does not do something in
a direct way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundabout>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The allotted function of art is not, as is often assumed, to put
across ideas, to propagate thoughts, to serve as an example. The aim of
art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul,
rendering it capable of turning to good.
--Andrei Tarkovsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrei_Tarkovsky>
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