What happened
On July 23, 1965, an Allegheny Airlines, Inc. flight operating a Convair 340/440, registration N8415H, crashed near Montoursville, Pennsylvania. The scheduled service was traveling from Pittsburgh to Newark, New Jersey, with several intermediate stops including Williamsport.
The aircraft departed from Runway 09 at approximately 15:03 e.d.t. Within minutes of the takeoff, smoke and flames were seen emanating from the right-side engine. At roughly 15:05:30, the pilot notified air traffic control that the flight was returning to the airport after feathering the right engine. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft struck a ridge located about 600 feet above the airport elevation. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in the total destruction of the plane.
While there were 40 survivors (comprising 36 passengers, 3 crew members, and one jumpseat occupant), all individuals on board sustained various injuries during the accident.
Findings
Investigations into the mechanical failure revealed that the right engine suffered a catastrophic breakdown involving the failure of the front row master rod along with its related link rods. Due to the extent of the damage to the rod ends, investigators could not identify the specific reason for the initial master rod failure. However, official findings concluded that the crew failed to follow established procedures for managing an engine failure during the takeoff phase.