Pan Am Flight 121

Pan Am Flight 121 was a scheduled Pan American World Airways flight from Karachi to Istanbul. On the evening of 18 June 1947, the Lockheed L-049 Constellation serving the flight, known as the Clipper Eclipse (previously Clipper Dublin), suffered an engine failure. This led to the overheating of the remaining engines until one caught fire, which spread to the aircraft. The heat from burning magnesium parts separated the engine from the aircraft, leaving it unable to maintain altitude. Early in the morning of 19 June 1947 the plane crashed in the Syrian desert 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town of Mayadin. Fifteen people were killed, including 7 crew and 8 passengers. The three surviving crew members were third officer Gene Roddenberry (who went on to create the original Star Trek television series), the chief purser, and one flight attendant. After rescuing passengers from the burning wreckage, Roddenberry took control as the ranking flight officer and organized scout parties to find aid. By midday, the Syrian Army took the survivors to the hospital at Deir ez-Zor. The majority returned to the United States quickly while Roddenberry remained in Syria for two weeks to answer questions about the crash from the local government.

Flight history

Prior to the fatal flight, the Lockheed L-049 Constellation known as the Clipper Eclipse had suffered engine problems during a flight earlier that week. This had required it to turn back near Gander, Newfoundland on the outbound leg of the journey, and delayed it for two days. A cylinder was replaced in the number 2 engine, as a failure in the top piston ring was found. A further problem was found in that engine later in the week while in Rome. Captain Joseph Hart Jr., 42, and chief purser Anthony Volpe were walking under the wing when Volpe spotted what he thought was oil dripping from the engine. It turned out to be hydraulic fluid and required a replacement pump to be installed.

Captain Hart's flight crew included first officer Robert McCoy, 25, from Maugansville, Maryland, and third officer Gene Roddenberry, 25, of River Edge, New Jersey. Roddenberry had no role on the plane to perform, as he was "deadheading" – riding as a passenger on the flight without any set duties – although that changed during the flight. There were a total of 36 passengers and crew on the plane.

The plane departed Karachi at 3:37 pm on a flight to Istanbul. This was the first leg on the return journey to New York. The flight was expected to take ten and a half hours, and fly at a cruising altitude of 18500 ft. Five hours into the flight, Roddenberry took over from Hart at the yoke to give the Captain a break. While Hart was out of the cockpit, the number one engine developed a fault with an exhaust rocker arm, and so Roddenberry shut the engine down.

Hart returned to the cockpit and evaluated the situation. Knowing that the plane could fly on three engines, and that the local airstrips would not be able to make immediate repairs, he decided to continue on to Istanbul. The remaining engines, however, could not take the increased load and began to overheat. Hart descended the plane in an attempt to cool them, also reducing the power in order to keep them going. At 10 pm, he ordered radioman Nelson Miles to advise local fields of their position, which was recorded as being at 14000 ft, and 50 mi east of Baghdad, Iraq. The Royal Air Force field at Habbaniya suggested that the Eclipse should land there, but Hart was worried once again about repair facilities and decided to press on. A cockpit alarm activated at around 11:30 pm, indicating that the number 2 engine had caught fire.

Fire suppressant measures failed to extinguish the fire, and the engine quickly became so hot that the magnesium components began to burn. Hart sent Roddenberry back to the passenger compartment to ready them for a crash landing, knowing that the engine would quickly fall from the plane. Hart wanted to take the plane to the airstrip at Deir ez-Zor, Syria, but it became apparent that he did not have sufficient time to make it there. So he began to take the plane down, and ordered Miles to radio a distress message. Roddenberry reassured the passengers that everything was under control. He ordered the flight attendant to stay in her seat while he and Volpe reiterated the crash procedures to the passengers. The chief purser sat next to the flight attendant near the front of the plane, while Roddenberry sat three rows from the rear.

The fire spread to the wing and shortly afterwards, the engine separated from the plane. This ruptured the gasoline lines, feeding the fire. As the plane was descending, a passenger screamed loudly and Roddenberry moved to comfort her; seconds later the plane struck the ground. Roddenberry suffered two broken ribs, not having been strapped down. The aircraft crashed near Mayadin and the Euphrates river at around 3:30 am local time.

The pilot's attempt to bring the plane down safely in the desert was later praised by one of the surviving passengers. A passenger said that the landing would have been successful had an engine on the port wing not dug into the ground, dragging the plane in that direction in a ground loop and breaking it in two. There were 15 people killed in the crash, 8 passengers and 7 crew members. The impact killed the crew in the cockpit, and ripped the sides of the fuselage away from the plane. This enabled some of the passengers to jump directly from the burning plane to the ground.

Roddenberry plus the surviving crew members began evacuating the injured from the burning plane. Injured passengers were handed over to the uninjured passengers who took them further away. A passenger's seatbelt would not release until Roddenberry forced it open and helped her to safety. He continued to help passengers, and attempted to extinguish fires with a pillow as they spread through the passenger cabin. Soon the fire had spread so much that further trips couldn't be made into the aircraft for survivors. "The last passenger Roddenberry pulled out died in his arms."