Unresolved Airliner Crash Near Battle Creek (152172)

Flight Details and Accident Sequence The crew departed Floyd Bennett Field Airport in New York for Moffett Airbase, California, with an intermediate stop at Glenview Airport, Illinois, operating under call sign PE-05. At 2035LT, while cruising at 22,000 feet, the crew reported its position to air traffic control. Shortly afterward, the aircraft entered a spin, crossed the last cloud layer at 3,000 feet in a right turn, and struck the ground with a 60-degree nose-down attitude at a speed of 800 km/h. The aircraft disintegrated on impact, killing all four crew members. The wreckage was located seven miles northeast of Battle Creek. ## Crew The crew consisted of Lt William E. Xiques, pilot; Lt John P. Fitzmaurice III, copilot; ADJ2 Charles J. Lurvey, flight engineer; and ADJ3 Larry W. Battson, flight engineer. ## Investigation Findings Official investigations determined that there was no in-flight fire and no major structural failure had occurred. The aircraft was only about a year old at the time of the accident. The only clues were unintelligible voice transmissions at 2037 and again at 2039, masked by extreme high-frequency background noise. Despite attempted computer analysis of the voice and an extended accident investigation, the cause was never determined. Investigators believed that some kind of catastrophic failure had occurred that incapacitated the crew. It was also surmised that the windshield may have failed in flight under decompression forces, producing sound comparable to high-velocity air in the cockpit. However, not enough of the windshield was recovered to perform an analysis and reach any conclusions about this possibility.