Incident Overview
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 (EA 663) was a scheduled passenger service from Boston, Massachusetts, to Atlanta, Georgia, with intermediate stops including New York, Richmond, Charlotte, and Greenville-Spartanburg. The aircraft, a Douglas DC-7B, departed from runway 31L at New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) at 18:20 under an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) clearance to Richmond Airport. The crew executed a Dutch 7 Standard Instrument Departure.
Sequence of Events
At approximately 18:24, EA 663 was cleared to 8,000 feet and instructed to turn right to a heading of 150 degrees, which the crew acknowledged while reporting passing 3,000 feet. Shortly thereafter, they reported leaving 3,500 feet and were instructed to turn left to a heading of 090 degrees. At 18:25, while climbing through 3,700 feet, Departure Control directed EA 663 to "... turn right now, heading one seven zero to Victor one thirty nine, traffic 2 o'clock five miles northeast bound below you." The flight crew responded, confirming they had the traffic and were turning to 170 degrees.
The other aircraft was Pan American Flight 212 (PA 212), a Boeing 707 arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico. PA 212 was being vectored to intercept the final approach course for runway 31R. At approximately 18:24, Approach Control had instructed PA 212 to turn right to a heading of 020 degrees and to report each 500-foot level descent down to 3,000 feet. The controller also advised PA 212 of traffic at 11 o'clock, six miles southeast, climbing out of 3,000 feet.
Evasive Maneuvers and Collision
As the Eastern DC-7 turned from 090 to 170 degrees, the aircraft was in a 35-degree banked nearly level turn. With PA 212 approximately 700 feet lower and four miles away at 3 o'clock, the captain of EA 663 could not see PA 212 until nearly completing the turn. After roll-out, the two aircraft were on a nearly head-on, converging course. At that moment, PA 212 began a left turn to its assigned heading of 360 degrees, creating an illusion of an apparent collision track. Additionally, EA 663 was turning away from the background lights of Long Island into a dark area, removing the horizon as a visual reference for relative altitude.
Under these conditions, the Eastern pilot likely initiated a descent as a precautionary measure to increase observation time and vertical separation. Fearing a collision, PA 212 rolled rapidly to the right and also descended. The Eastern pilot then made a rapid roll to the right and/or a pull-up. This placed the DC-7 in an unusual attitude, leading to spatial disorientation of the crew, who were unable to recover from the vertical bank. The DC-7 subsequently struck the sea and disintegrated.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause stated: "The evasive action taken by EAL 663 to avoid an apparent collision with PAA 212. The evasive manoeuvre of EAL 663, prompted by illusion, placed the aircraft in an unusual attitude from which recovery was not effected."