Pan Am Flight 806
Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 · Controlled flight into terrain due to bad weather
From Auckland International Airport (AKL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown
- Event fatalities
- 97 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 101
- Survivors
- 4
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 4
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Boeing 707
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 707
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N454PA
- Operator
- Pan American World Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Auckland International Airport (AKL)To Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 121: Air carrier (scheduled international passenger service)
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Undershoot
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Collided with trees
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Misjudged distance and altitude
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Pan Am Flight 806 was an international scheduled flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to Los Angeles, California, with intermediate stops at Pago Pago, American Samoa and Honolulu, Hawaii. On January 30, 1974, the Boeing 707 Clipper Radiant crashed on approach to Pago Pago International Airport, killing 87 passengers and ten crew members, making it the deadliest aviation incident in American Samoan history.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's tardy identification of microburst-induced wind shear. Other factors included poor visibility, a lack of altitude, and airspeed callouts by the aircrew.
Accident
At 20:14 (8:14 PM), Flight 806 departed Auckland with 91 passengers
and 10 crewmembers on board with an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan to Pago Pago.
At 23:34(11:34 PM), Flight 806 had descended to 5500 ft, and captured the 226 degree radial of the Pago Pago VHF omnidirectional range (VOR), and were flying the reciprocal heading of 46 degrees. Pago Pago Approach Control reported winds zero one zero(10) degrees at one five (15), gusting two zero (20).
The flight was receiving signals from the Localizer and was using the Instrument landing system (ILS) for runway 5. At 23:38 (11:38 PM), the approach controller informed the flight of a mean rain shower at the airport, and then at 23:39 (11:39 PM) stated the wind is zero three zero (30) degrees at two zero (20), gusting two five (25). The flight transmitted "Eight zero six, wilco" at 23:39:41. This was the last communication received from Flight 806.
The Cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded normal cockpit conversation during the last minute of the flight. At 23:40:22 the co-pilot said "You're a little high" and at 23:40:33 "You're at minimums." At 23:40:35 the first officer stated "Field in sight" then "Turn to your right" followed by "hundred and forty knots." No further conversation was recorded by the CVR.
At 23:40:42 the 707 came in contact with trees 3865 ft short of the runway 5 threshold. The aircraft first impacted the ground 236 feet further and plowed through dense vegetation for another 539 ft before crashing into a three foot high rock wall. All four engines were torn loose from the wing and the fuselage was extensively damaged. A post-impact fire consumed most of the aircraft.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The NTSB's final report dated October 6, 1977 determined that the probable cause of the accident was:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Pan Am Flight 806” (revision 1373235728, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB remarks
EXCESSIVE RATE OF DESCENT AFTR DH.VISUAL ILLUSIONS PRODUCED BY ENVRNMNT.VASI APPARENTLY NOT USED.
NTSB's remark from its 1962–1981 archive, as recorded (abbreviated, at most 98 characters): the archive has no narrative
Sources
Wikipedia article: Pan Am Flight 806
- Article
- Pan Am Flight 806
- Revision
- 1373235728 · 2026-09-04 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7129571
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record
- Event ID
- 19740130P052369
- Case number
- Unknown
- Dataset
- historical-pre1982
- Source SHA-256
- abe1a933b4b73583d61684309f7f0610c281e3c1de3537c6471bf2a98ba6481d
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Pan Am Flight 806" (page 18275437, revision 1373235728); merged with NTSB case NTSB19740130P052369 (PRE1982 tblFirstHalf (one row per aircraft, grouped by date, place and time))
- Date
- NTSB record NTSB19740130P052369: PRE1982 DATE_OCCURRENCE
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record NTSB19740130P052369
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record NTSB19740130P052369: PRE1982 REGIST_NO, ACFT_MAKE, ACFT_MODEL; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record NTSB19740130P052369: operated under Part 121: Air carrier (scheduled intl passg service)
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities (the NTSB's 1962-1981 record gives 96)
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (5)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Pan Am Flight 806" and NTSB case NTSB19740130P052369, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- The NTSB record (NTSB19740130P052369) gives 96 fatalities and the Wikipedia article 97; the article's figure is shown, as the NTSB's 1962-1981 archive often leaves out people killed on the ground and those who died later.
- From NTSB's 1962-1981 archive (PRE1982), which holds at most a short remark (98 characters, abbreviated) instead of a narrative; the accident type, phase of flight, causes and conditions are NTSB's codes, decoded as the archive defines them.
- Reviewed means this record passed the site's consistency check, not that it was checked against a narrative or report - there is none to check against.
- The operation category is mapped from the archive's operator and operation codes and has not been reviewed.