Accident
American Airlines Flight 1502, a crew training flight, departed Idlewild International Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) at 11:00 a.m. EDT on January 28, 1961, under clear skies. Captain Lloyd Dute Reinhard was at the yoke. The aircraft made its last radio contact 57 minutes after departure.
At 12:20 p.m. EDT, witnesses observed the aircraft in distress. Airman First Class James F. Ross, driving on Montauk Highway, saw the Boeing 707 pass overhead at an estimated 100 feet (30 m) in a 60–70° dive. He pulled over as the aircraft disappeared behind sand dunes. Captain Frank Ward, a local fisherman, reported that the aircraft performed multiple rolls, straightened out before impact, and that an engine was reportedly on fire. The aircraft crashed in a steep, left wing low attitude into the shallow waters off Napeague Beach, killing all six occupants. Emergency crews found the aircraft extensively fragmented, with some seats reportedly split in half by the force of the crash.
Aircraft and Crew
The aircraft was a Boeing 707-123, registered as N7502A and named Flagship Oklahoma. It first flew on November 2, 1958, and was delivered new to American Airlines on January 23, 1959, valued at approximately $5 million. The crew consisted of captains Lloyd Dute Reinhard, Robert Hinman, John B. Coyne, Herbert J. Thing, Jr., flight instructor Harald Engh, and trainee Howard Loren Sturdy.
Investigation and Cause
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated the accident. One theory considered that the crew might have been engaged in an engine shutdown and restart, a canyon approach, or en route to engine-climb maneuvers. Canyon-approach procedures require a flap-setting of 30 degrees, and the wreckage seemed to corroborate this setting. However, evidence was inconclusive. There was also consideration that two engines were inoperative at impact, but this could not be conclusively proven. The FAA officially stated the probable cause as "A loss of control for an undetermined reason." As a result of this speculation and the crash of another American Airlines 707 on a training flight over Long Island in 1959, the FAA removed the requirement for all 707 flight crews to practice landings with two failed engines on the same wing.