American Airlines Flight 514

American Airlines Flight 514 was a training flight from Idlewild International Airport in Queens, New York, to the Grumman Aircraft Corporation airfield in Calverton, New York. On the afternoon of August 15, 1959, the Boeing 707 operating the flight crashed near the Calverton airport, killing all five crew members aboard. This was the first accident to involve a Boeing 707, which had only gone into service in October of the previous year, and the first of three accidents involving American's 707s in the New York area within three years, followed by Flight 1502 and Flight 1.

Crash

The 707 departed Idlewild at 1:40pm, accomplished high altitude air work after takeoff to permit sufficient fuel burn-off for airport transition training which was planned at Calverton, and arrived there around 3:11pm. Flight 514 accomplished several maneuvers, including full-stop landings, crosswind landings and takeoffs, a high off-set approach, simulated engine out landings, and a no-flap aborted approach to landing. The aircraft did not retract its landing gear following the last aborted approach to landing on Runway 23, but continued in the traffic pattern at an estimated altitude between 1,000 and 1,100 ft. The crew reported on left base leg for Runway 23, was given clearance to land, and was informed that the wind was from 230 degrees at 10 to 15 kn. As it approached the extended centerline of the runway, around 4:42pm, it made a left bank that reached approximately 45 degrees. The aircraft was then observed to recover immediately to level flight and to begin a bank to the right which became progressively steeper. The right bank continued until the aircraft was inverted, at which time the nose dropped and a yaw to the left was observed. The 707 then continued to roll to the right in a nose down configuration. Shortly before impact, the wings leveled one final time. Investigation revealed the aircraft struck the ground in a wings-level attitude, in a nearly stalled condition, yawed to the left approximately 12 degrees, with considerable and nearly symmetrical power. The aircraft crashed in a potato field, a fire erupted on impact, and all five aboard were killed. The crash occurred only a few miles from the Brookhaven National Laboratories, a site of key secret nuclear work.

The fire continued to burn for over an hour after the crash, hampering emergency crews in their efforts to remove the bodies of the crew. The Air Force sent several pieces of fire equipment to the scene. Eventually, a large crowd gathered at the crash site as word spread over radio and television newscasts, and people drove from resorts and towns in the area to see the wreckage. The crash followed a series of 707 emergencies, none involving fatalities, in recent weeks involving passenger flights, the first occurring on February 3, 1959, when a Pan Am 707 nose dived over the Atlantic and landed safely in Gander, the same day another American Airlines flight crashed in New York City. The incident with the Pan Am flight was followed by four landing gear breakdowns on jets operated by Pan Am and American Airlines.