Night Collision at O'Hare Involving a DC-9 and a Delta Convair CV-880 (N954N)

Incident Overview and Aircraft Involved During a night takeoff from runway 27L at O'Hare Airport, a DC-9 collided with the tail of a Delta Airlines Convair CV-880, registration N8807E. The Convair had just landed on flight DL954 from Tampa and was cleared to cross runway 27L to reach its gate. Visibility was limited to 250 feet by fog. ## Sequence of Events The DC-9 crew was cleared for takeoff. As the captain called for rotation, the copilot, who was the pilot-in-command, began the rotation. During this maneuver, one of the DC-9's wings struck the tail of the Convair. The impact tore off the Convair's tail. The DC-9 then landed back onto the runway, veered off, and came to rest in flames. ## Damage and Casualties The Convair was damaged beyond repair, while the DC-9 was destroyed by a post-crash fire. Ten people on board the Convair were injured. On the DC-9, 10 passengers were killed and 35 others were injured, some seriously. ## Official Findings The investigation attributed the accident to a failure of the air traffic control system to ensure separation of aircraft during restricted visibility. This failure included a controller omitting a critical word that made a transmission to the Delta CV-880 ambiguous, the controller not using all available information to determine the CV-880's location, and the CV-880 flight crew not requesting clarification of the controller's communications.