Aviation Accident Report: American Airlines Flight 383/Synopsis and Probable Cause
CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT
AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. BOEING 727, N1996 NEAR THE GREATER CINCINNATI AIRPORT CONSTANCE, KENTUCKY NOVEMBER 8, 1965
SYNOPSIS
American Airlines Flight 383, Boeing 727, N1996, a regularly scheduled passenger flight nonstop from LaGuardia Airport, New York to Cincinnati, Ohio, crashed and burned near the Greater Cincinnati Airport on November 8, 1965, at approximately 1902 e.s.t. Fifty-eight of the 62 persons on board were fatally injured in the accident.
The flight was conducting a visual landing approach to runway 18 when it crashed into a wooded hillside approximately two miles north of the runway. Initial impact occurred at an altitude 225 feet below the published airport elevation of 890 feet m.s.l.
At the time of the approach a line of rain showers and thunderstorms was moving into the Cincinnati area from the northwest. Rain was reported at the field shortly before the accident.
The last communication from the flight, five seconds before impact, indicated no awareness by the crew of the aircraft's low altitude.
The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the crew to properly monitor the altimeters during the visual approach into deteriorating visibility conditions.