Capital Airlines Flight 300
Vickers Viscount and USAF Maryland Air National Guard Lockheed T-33 · Mid-air collision
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
- Event fatalities
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 13
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- 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
- Military
Aircraft 1 · Vickers Viscount
- Aircraft type
- Vickers VISCOUNT
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- N7410
- Operator
- Capital Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 11
- Occupants
- 11
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)To Martin State Airport
Aircraft 2 · Lockheed T-33
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed T-33
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- 53-5966
- Operator
- USAF Maryland Air National Guard
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- Not stated
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On May 20, 1958, a Vickers Viscount airliner operating Capital Airlines Flight 300 was involved in a mid-air collision with a United States Air Force Lockheed T-33 jet trainer on a proficiency flight in the skies above Brunswick, Maryland. All 11 people on board the Viscount and one of the two crew in the T-33 were killed in the accident.
Flight 300 was the second of four fatal crashes in under two years involving Capital Airlines Viscounts; the others were Flight 67 (April 1958), Flight 75 (May 1959), and Flight 20 (January 1960).
An investigation of the accident concluded that the pilot in command of the T-33 failed to see and maintain a safe distance from other air traffic.
Accident
Capital Airlines Flight 300 was a regular scheduled flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Baltimore, Maryland, with an intermediate stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The flight from Chicago was uneventful, and at 10:50 local time the airliner departed Pittsburgh bound for Baltimore. At 11:25 while cruising at 11,000 ft Washington Air Traffic Control cleared Flight 300 to descend and maintain 7,000 ft. At 11:26 the Viscount crew reported descending through 10,000 ft over Martinsburg, and radar contact was made by ATC. 48 seconds later flight 300 reported leaving 9,000 ft with clearance to 5,000 ft. This was the last radio transmission from the Viscount.
The T-33 jet trainer launched from Martin State Airport at 11:07 for a VFR familiarization flight; its air speed was significantly higher as it approached the Viscount from the left and behind. The Viscount's indicated air speed was 235 kn, while the T-33's was 290 kn with a closing rate of approximately 195 kn. While slowly climbing through 8,000 ft at 85 percent engine power, the jet banked slightly to the right and impacted the left side of the airliner forward of the wing. The airliner pitched up, its air speed decreasing, then the nose dropped and the aircraft entered a steep spin to the right, slowing to a flat spin before it struck the ground. The T-33 pilot was thrown clear of the flaming jet and parachuted safely to the ground but was badly burned. The jet disintegrated after the collision and the passenger was fatally injured.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident and released a report on January 9, 1959. It determined that the collision happened during VFR conditions, and that both aircraft would have been in clear cloud free air nine-tenths of the time. The report noted that it is the overtaking aircraft's responsibility to see and avoid a collision. A contributing factor in the accident was that the small size of the T-33 made it difficult to pick up on radar.
The board attributed no blame to the Viscount crew and stated in conclusion that "The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the T-33 pilot to exercise a proper and adequate vigilance to see and avoid other traffic."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Capital Airlines Flight 300” (revision 1364130178, 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
Sources
Wikipedia article: Capital Airlines Flight 300
- Article
- Capital Airlines Flight 300
- Revision
- 1364130178 · 2026-07-14 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q20743315
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Capital Airlines Flight 300" (page 56477825, revision 1364130178)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.