The history of the original National Airlines spanned nearly fifty years and during that time it The flight's next radio contact was with FAA Pensacola radio at 0031 requesting clearance to New Orleans and reestimating NL1 at 0035. Spears said he begrudgingly gave his Flight 967 ticket to Al Taylor, a friend who couldn't face a long drive to Dallas. Air Methods is the most responsive and reliable provider of critical care transportation solutions. The main wreckage has not been located . Nothing unusual was observed and no other objects were observed in the vicinity of the flight which indicated to the station that any difficulty was being encountered". This segment of the flight was completely routine. Investigators determined that the flight crew was competent and experienced. 2913'N. In 1964, it became the first exclusively jet powered service in the United States . Conditions of Employment: FAA Class 1 Medical required at time of Flight . After this case, planes continued to disintegrate in flight due to explosive decompression. - November 16, 1959, a DC-7B flown on an interchange route with Delta Air Lines, in a Delta aircraft but with a NAL crew National Airlines Flight 967, en route from Tampa to New Orleans, disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. Who knows, Taylor might show up one day, alive and healthy. The scenes in this video are from the documentary series Air Crash Investigation.None of them belong to me.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_. Robert Vernon Spears, of Dallas, Texas, was listed as a passenger on Flight967. On the night of November 15, 1959, a DC-7 with forty-two persons aboard took off from Tampa International Airport on a regularly scheduled flight to New Orleans. Spears immediately said he had made the whole thing up after the reporter had pressured him to tell him something new. * Boeing 747-135 However, at Pilottown, Louisiana, the United States Coast Guard maintains a manned lookout tower for observing surface craft approaching and departing the port of New Orleans. The last radar contact with the aircraft--made at 12:55 am, over the open sea--had indicated the plane was still on course to its destination at the time . VIGOR searched, using Navy sonar. But they don't agree on when it occurred. The flight accepted the clearance and stated it would remain at 14,000feet a little longer. - February 14, 1953, a DC-6 crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off Mobile, AL. He was cleared by the New Orleans Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC - ZNO) located in the terminal building at New Orleans Lakefront Airport to descend to and maintain 5,000 feet and to report leaving 8,000 feet. From January 9, 1960 to January 15, 1960, the U.S.S. I personally think the plane wasn't blown up with explosives or there was any foul play. The theory arose that Spears, desperate to avoid trial and wanting a fresh start, had tricked Taylor (perhaps through hypnosis)[1] into boarding the aircraft with a piece of luggage containing a bomb; when the aircraft crashed, it would be assumed that Spears was on board. Questions also surround the third man involved in all this--William Turska, the naturopath who Spears went to stay with in the immediate aftermath of the crash. If Dr Spears was somehow responsible for both incidents, that would make him responsible for the loss of 76 lives, making him one of the most prolific killers in American history. This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. Seven minutes later, National Airlines flight 2511, which had been carrying 29 passengers and 5 crew members, crashed into a field in Brunswick County. Explosive decompression makes a plane crash look like the plane was blown up with a large bomb, but minus any larger pieces of wreckage as well as explosive residue proving it. There are a thousand ways of connecting the dots, and a thousand other explanations out there. After forging several checks, he had skipped town and completely abandoned his first family. From March16 through25,1960, the VITAL and the BITTERN continued searching in other areas and many botton contacts were obtained but none proved to be aircraft wreckage. Spectacular job. 0 bags. The aircraft was airworthy at the time of departure and had an adequate amount of fuel. It turned out Mr Taylor was not just a gullible friend of Dr Spears--he was a criminal himself, Spears partner in crime for many years. And just a freak coincidence that a couple of conmen just happened to have a ticket? Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. It has been claimed that Dr Spears tried to access a vial of cyanide before his sentencing--but some have disputed this. Delta Air Lines was scheduled to operate the flight between New Orleans, and its next stop, Dallas, TX, where American Airlines was to take over and operate the same aircraft from Dallas nonstop to Los Angeles. She later said she had a premonition that her husband had been on that flight, and she never wavered from it. Just in case you have yet to hear about it, I recommend you check out r/AdmiralCloudberg since you love aviation mysteries. Taylor apparently then he called his boss at the tire company and asked for the next day off work. Such a bummer. Grapples were used and a variety of objects were recovered but none could be related to the aircraft. Meanwhile she campaigned in the courts to have him declared legally dead (which would give her son access to the life insurance money). The mafia? The Civil Aeronautics Board (predecessor of the NTSB) did not find a probable cause for the accident due to the lack of evidence. Logan seems to be a firm defender of Spears. Citing reports that Spears may have gone to Yuma while hiding out in Arizona, Logan notes, At that time the long US-Mexico border to the west and south of Yuma was largely unpatrolled.. Veterans, volunteers sought for Honor Flight It costs a lot to charter a flight that will carry 75 veterans from the Golden Isles to Washington, D.C., for the annual Honor Flight. She put it bluntly to the Dallas Morning News: "I believe that Spears hypnotized [Taylor] into doing it.". The captain and the dispatcher discussed the flight and concurred in the release. The Board obtained search assistance from the United States Navy. 02:55. The cultures of National and Pan Am also proved to be incompatible, making workforce integration difficult. A radar-observed descent was close to Lat. Radar operators at a military station at Houma, Louisiana, picked up the flight at 12:46 AM. National Airlines records do not show a ticket issued in his name and he was not carried on their records as a passenger on Flight967. This website uses cookies. 967. Just a few years before, Logan writes, on Valentine's Day 1953, a National Airlines flight on the very same run--from Tampa to New Orleans--also plunged into the Gulf. Searching continued through November23. Revenue passenger traffic in millions of passenger-miles Suddenly his strange behavior all made sense to her--her hapless ex-husband was a puppet, under Dr Spearss spell. I think it's because "my friend took my ticket last minute under my name, but when I heard the plane exploded, i decided to duck out and start a new life because not only am i a con man, I was in big trouble for illegal abortions too" doesn't make for a convincing story. At 00:55 the aircraft suddenly crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Mrs Spears said that when he came to see her, Spears was sad about Taylors death. United Airlines Flight 718, a DC-7, collided over the Grand Canyon with TWA Flight 2, an L-1049 Super Constellation, . Spears had been in and out of jail in multiple states (even mistakenly deported to Canada on one occasion). At that time there was also very little airport security. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. During this time, Spears had briefly visited his wife (on January 7)--so her answers in her first interview were a lie. Braniff International Airways Flight 542, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, registration N9705C, was a scheduled domestic flight from Houston, Texas, bound for New York with scheduled stops in Dallas and Washington, D.C. On September 29, 1959, 23 minutes into the 41-minute flight from Houston to Dallas Love Field, the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air approximately 3.8 miles (6.1 km) southeast of . His testimony indicates that the light was red or dark red, appearing suddenly, lasting a "couple of seconds," and then producing a vertical, white light which fell with a white trail. The inertia of the bodies was plainly downward and forward and the forces at impact were severe. Although sabotage was suspected, no definite cause of the crash was determined. The position of 2913'N and 8840'W - at which the aircraft went off the military radar scope - was used as a focal point of search. National Airlines Flight 967; A Delta Airlines DC-7, similar to the accident aircraft. National Airlines Flight 967, a DC-7B on a flight from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Suicide by a passenger holding large life insurance policies was the probable cause. National Airlines Flight 967. Probably one of the most intriguing cases Ive read here, what a great write up OP! Thanks for writing this all up. The FBI's FOIA Library contains many files of public interest and historical value. The pilot planned to conduct solo aerobatic flight manoeuvres in the DC-7 [] Template . This material totaled possibly less than one percent of all such material within the fuselage. The the bodies can get torn apart depending on their exact location on the plane, whether they were strapped in or not. I am not a shill but it is an interesting book.]. You can easily find cheap flights / LCC plane tickets from Lloydminster Airport in Lloydminster to Columbia. 18cm Wingspan approx. It may safely be concluded that there was no warning of the disaster. "[citation needed]. To me it just doesnt add up that Spears is going to tell his best friend of many decades, a man with essentially no history of violence, to take on this package like its Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.. In one letter, Spears urged Taylor not to use his real name in future communications, but to refer to him as F. 1. Remember Julian Frank, the corrupt lawyer who allegedly blew up the other aircraft? Incredible write-up! National Airlines was a United States airline that operated from 1934 to 1980. The aircraft was crossing an area of severe weather and possibly flew into a waterspout. Sometimes with these mysteries that were so long ago it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the victims were people who were loved and cared for by many. This is the story Spears gave after his arrest: He said he had been in Tampa and was planning on heading back to Dallas on November 16. As he said in a recent interview: "The more that I learned through the research about Spears, even though this guy had an incredibly profound criminal past [] he never had any history of violence at all. . Water temperatures in the vicinity of the crash were 70 degrees or more. Nearly every comment is just a "great job, best ever", and nearly all of the questions posited have no answers or discussions below them. Photographs depicted Dr Spears as a plump, jovial man--in a checkered suit and round spectacles, he embodied the image of a kindly family physician. Turska claimed at the time he did not even know about the airplane crash. Our global headquarters is situated in Orlando FL, with several operational hubs across the globe in Buffalo NY, Chicago IL, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid, Dubai, Djibouti, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Forty-two people were on board, and less than 1% of the wreckage was recovered. They even raise the possibility that the two con-men may have been plotting something together. A Spirit Airlines flight from Dallas to Orlando was diverted to an airport in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, March 2, 2023, after a battery from a passenger's item caught fire in an overhead bin . Absolutely fascinating mystery. Among the 42 names of the dead--there was a passenger named Dr Robert Vernon Spears--a distinguished naturopath from Dallas, Texas. The ultimate flight tracking suite for small aircraft/general aviation (GA) owners and operators. Shortly thereafter a Coast Guard helicopter arrived. To have a definitive answer I would have to do research that I am far too tired for at the moment, but I wanted to relay what little information I could think of before I passed out and forgot to come back and do it. Boeing. There was nothing immediately remarkable about Dr Spears. James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard station at New Orleans, said the plane might have exploded when it struck the water. With more than 800 employees worldwide, the National Family offers rewarding opportunities for professional growth through our affiliate organizations National Air Cargo and National Airlines.We invite you to become a part of our award-winning team, and contribute to meaningful work in aviation, transportation, and global logistics. Investigation disclosed no significant weather condition in the form of fronts, squall lines, thunderstorms, turbulence or icing affecting the route of flight. But even then there would be no point in destroying the plane or himself. In this case, the plane likely suffered the same fate. Spears died in Baylor Medical Center, Dallas on May 2, 1969 of coronary thrombosis. GADSS-compliant global tracking and alerting for airlines and aircraft operators. Turska? National Airlines Flight 967 of November 15, 1959, was scheduled between Miami, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, with a stop at Tampa, Florida. Sun 4/2. Acknowledging "there is little or no physical evidence on which to explain this accident", the CAB was forced to conclude, after nearly three years of investigation: Because of lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. The point of fade from the scope was normal and within correlation limits. I have not yet been back in that direction, but in my few decades of air travel, every flight to Tampa meant a stop in Houston before moving on, and the same can be said for the return flight. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD-KVCT) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. ", Alan C. Logans book also cites a vague remark by Mr Turska that Spears was not alone when he showed up in Arizona after the crash. He ran unsuccessfully for Idaho County Coroner in 1972 on the Republican ticket. A check by the company at this time showed that FAA, New Orleans Approach Control, and ARTC were also out of contact with Flight967. As Mrs Spears described it, "He saw an opportunity to leave me and the babies with some financial security. Lt. James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard air detachment at New Orleans, said the wreckage was spread over a comparatively small area of two to three miles. Because of the lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. This all changed two months after the crash, on January 20, 1960, when Robert Vernon Spears was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, in possession of a stolen car--a salmon-pink Plymouth. Members of the party hunting in the shark-infested waters for bodies believe there was an explosion. Capt. "Turska was the one to fear, not Bob, Mrs Spears once said. DL967 Flight Tracker - Track the real-time flight status of Delta Air Lines DL 967 live using the FlightStats Global Flight Tracker. 46 people perished. A problem was discovered (broken window . Sometimes passengers even boarded the wrong planes by accident. In that interview, Turska said he now thought Spears had been lying to hm, and implied Spears's wife was in on the whole scam--accusing her of faking her reaction to seeing him. Posts about National Airlines Flight 967 written by The Flightpath. These were determined, the aircraft were spiralled down to the same site, and the bearings were radioed to the Coast Guard and plotted on their charts as 2907'N and 8833'W. However, the search party aboard the National Convair had decided that the last known radar position (2913'N, 8840'W) should be searched first. After several decades of false names, new identities, fresh starts, abandoned wives, abandoned lives--he had spent the last years running "a lucrative underground abortion business". Who hatched the plot--Spears? Link. * Convair CV-440 Though no longer married to Al Taylor, Alice later told reporters they had been amicably divorced, and were still close. 14 relations. Carefully the investigators went through the flight manifest. On January 20, when she was informed that her husband was alive, Mrs Spears struck a very different tone. Charts used during the several searches, with search areas well delineated, were coordinated within the various agencies to preclude duplicative and omissive effort. The Coastguardsman on duty saw an unusual light in the sky at an angle which he estimated as about 15 degrees above the horizontal and in the general direction of where N4891C was lost and at about the time it was lost. Many sonar contacts were obtained by both ships but all were evaluated as marine life. Turska also gave wildly conflicting accounts of his involvement in the affair. Streaming flight data feed for enterprise integrations with real-time, historical and predictive flight data. but he would have had to have done some rushing to get aboard the plane because it taxied away at 12:25 am. In the weeks after the crash, the mystery of Flight 967 deepened. He moved to California and took up hypnotism, his business was with a doctor performing abortions (which were then illegal in the U.S.). The other plane crash remains unexplained despite the apparent presence of dynamite and that it happened over land where, presumably, most or all of the wreckage was recovered. In that interview, he said he knew about the plane crash, admitted taking Spears to see his wife, and said that Spears had confided in him that he wanted to start a new life: He wanted to change his character, Turska said, change his fingerprints, change everything.. He also cites the testimony of Spearss wife, neighbors and friends who spoke of him as a lovely person and a gentleman and expressed utter disbelief that he would be capable of doing something so heinous as taking down a passenger aircraft. I've never heard of this and I love aviation mysteries. * Boeing 727-235 It was determined that Taylor had boarded the flight using a ticket issued for Spears. Note the use of the word accident, which is used throughout the report. Flight 967 Hardcover - January 1, 1963. Alice was not to be dissuaded. At first, Turska downplayed his association with Spears, saying they were merely acquaintances and that Spears had showed up out of the blue. This page was last edited on 5 May 2019, at 15:31. The flight had been on its way from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans. [1] November 16 National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7B, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico with the loss of all 42 people on board . If he were not, I don't know anything I could do about it. [Here she began choking back tears] "I know one thing, we had planned on celebrating my son's birthday and we had bigger plans for Christmas. He was "100 percent" certain it was Taylor, and when he called out "Hey Al" he said the man turned, but then hastily slipped away into the crowd. We appreciate you trying our new Live Surface Map feature. CAB Accident Report, National Airlines Flight 967.pdf 1,091 1,4818 556 George T Baker 1940.jpg 600 49636 MM00013951 (8091335494) (2).jpg 1,259 1,371428 February 1, 1960 LINK. This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Networks opinion as to the cause of the accident. * Lockheed L-188 Electra Company calls to 967 continued without result for some time. A tragic accident due to some unforeseen mechanical malfunction or even pilot error?
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