World Airways Flight 802

{{short description|1973 plane crash in Alaska, United States}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox aircraft occurrence

| image = Douglas DC-8-63(CF), World Airways JP6538344.jpg

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption = A World Airways DC-8 sister ship of the accident aircraft

| occurrence_type = Accident

| date = {{Start date|1973|09|08|df=y}}

| summary = Controlled flight into terrain

| site = King Cove, Alaska

| coordinates = {{Coord|55.1893|-162.2645|type:event|display=inline,title}}

| occupants = 6

| passengers = 3

| crew = 3

| fatalities = 6

| survivors = 0

| aircraft_type = Douglas DC-8-63CF

| aircraft_name =

| operator = World Airways

| callsign = WORLD 802

| tail_number = N802WA

| origin = Travis AFB, California

| stopover0 = Cold Bay Airport, Alaska

| last_stopover = Yokota AFB, Japan

| destination = Clark AFB, Philippines

}}

On September 8, 1973, a Douglas DC-8 operated by World Airways as World Airways Flight 802 crashed on high ground while on approach to Cold Bay Airport, Alaska, killing all six people on board.{{cite news |date=September 10, 1973 |title=Crashed jet found; crew dead |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/196453712/ |access-date=11 November 2016 |accessdate=}}

The official accident investigation concluded that the probable cause was the captain's non-adherence to published instrument approach procedures for the destination airport.

History of the flight

Flight 802 was a contract cargo flight for the US Military Airlift Command from Travis AFB, California, to Clark AFB, Philippines; Cold Bay was the first planned stopover. The flight crew consisted of Captain John A. Weininger (52), First Officer Gregg W. Evans (27), and Flight Engineer Robert W. Brocklesby (46), while on board were also three non-revenue passengers, including two company employees.

The aircraft operating flight 802 was a four-engine Douglas DC-8-63CF jetliner, registration {{Airreg|N|802WA|,}} which had entered service two years earlier, in 1971. Maintenance records for the aircraft did not highlight any significant problem.{{cite report |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR7406.pdf |title=Aircraft Accident Report, World Airways, Inc., DC-8-63F, N802WA, King Cove, Alaska, September 8, 1973 |date=May 8, 1974 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |id=NTSB-AAR-74-6 |access-date=11 November 2016 |accessdate=}} - [https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR74-06.pdf Copy at] Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Final descent and crash

{{Expand section|date=November 2016}}

After an uneventful flight from Travis, the aircraft descended in cloud towards Cold Bay Airport, straying significantly off-course and into an area of poor radio navigation reception, until at 05:42 AKDT it struck Mount Dutton at an altitude of {{Convert|3500|ft|abbr=on}}.

References