Boeing 307 Crash--Forgot gas? 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Subject: Boeing 307 Accident
Interesting insights into the Boeing 307 Accident.
This email contains more information on the Boeing 307 Stratoliner that was ditched in the Seattle Harbor last weekend. The aircraft was owned by the Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum, but was being operated by Boeing, whose employees had restored it to "like new" condition, pending the completion of the new
National Air and Space Museum facility at the Dulles airport.
See attached copy of an update to the initial FAA flash report. See also several other websites that have come in to me in recent days, such as:
http://airlinebiz.com/wire/04022002#MAIN, http://airlinebiz.com/wire/04022002, http://airlinebiz.com/wire/04022002#MAIN, http://airlinebiz.com/wire/04022002. This
has several pages listed with more details http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.aspev_id=20020401X00435
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020401X00435&key=1 If the story out of Boeing Field "sources" is true, there will obviously be hell to pay!! I would
think that the crew involved would be ideal nominees for this year's Darwin Awards. For those of you who are not familiar with the Darwin Awards, they are
awarded (usually posthumously!!)to individuals who have endeavored to improve the gene pool by removing themselves from it, or at least seriously attempted to do so,
by performing some totally stupid act!!
The story from our "spies" at Boeing are about 3rd or 4th hand by now, and there are still some things that don't add up in my mind. I am still harboring the impression
that the gear on B-17s (and thus Stratoliners) is electric, not hydraulic....but it may just be that Jerry Janes simply assumed that most airplanes use hydraulic gear and
flaps. However, looking at the FAA report, note that it was the LEFT gear that initially would not extend and had to be cranked down, but it was the No. 3 engine
(inboard RIGHT) that first acted up and was shut down and feathered (as I noted when I saw the salvage operation on TV).
JCJ's story says it was the RIGHT gear that wouldn't go down....perhaps just his assumption?? Perhaps the gear problem was totally coincidental to the fuel
starvation problem?? Ah...note the term "hand cranked".....
I would normally associate "cranked down" with an electric gear system (as on a Beech 18) and "pumped down" with an emergency hydraulic system.
I could go and dig through some books on the B-17, and probably find the answer....perhaps one of you out there knows it and could save me the trouble. The FAA
report (as per the 2nd website quoted above)....
==========================================================
SEA02FA060NTSB Identification: SEA02FA060 Accident occurred Thursday, March
28, 2002 at Seattle, WA Aircraft: Boeing S-307, registration: N19903 Injuries: 4 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors.
Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On March 28, 2002, approximately 1305 Pacific standard time, a Boeing S-307 Stratoliner,N19903, registered to the National Air & Space Museum, operated by The
Boeing Company, as a 14 CFR Part 91 maintenance and proficiency flight, ditched in the waters of Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington, following a loss of engine power.
Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft was substantially damaged.
The two airline transport pilots and two flight engineers were not injured.
The flight departed from Everett, Washington, and was destined for Seattle, Washington. During an interview, the flight crew reported that the purpose of the flight
was for maintenance/systems checks and crew proficiency.
The flight departed from Boeing Field (BFI), Seattle, approximately 1230 en route to Everett, Paine Field (PAE). The Captain reported that he made a full stop landing
at PAE without incident. The aircraft was taxied back to the runway and the takeoff was initiated. Shortly after lift-off, the number three engine experienced a
momentary surge, and then normalized. Due to this anomaly, the flight crew decided to discontinue the flight activities and return to BFI. In preparation for landing at
BFI, the landing gear was lowered, however, the left main gear did not fully extend. The approach was aborted to orbit the area to try and remedy the situation. The
Captain reported that the flight engineer at the radio station left his station to try and manually hand-crank the left gear down. After a few minutes, the flight crew
reported a green (fully extended) light for the left main.
The flight then headed back to BFI when a low fuel pressure light was noted for the number three engine followed by a loss of power. The flight crew feathered the
engine when low fuel pressure was noted to the remaining three engines which all subsequently began to lose power. The Captain reported that he did not believe that
the aircraft could make it safely to BFI and opted to ditch the aircraft in Elliott Bay near the shoreline. The aircraft impacted the water in a slightly right wing low,
level attitude and remained upright. The aircraft remained afloat and all four flight crew members safely exited the aircraft and were rescue within minutes of the
accident.
===============================================================
And now for the REST of the story........ I just talked to Jerry Janes today, who had just finished talking to his "mole" at Boeing...
Someone in the maintenance department, who was in on the Boeing interview of the pilots afterwards...
The story is that these highly trained Boeing test pilots decided they'd take this airplane out for a flight, to do some circuits.
They were paying for it themselves, out of their own pockets, so elected to only put *300 gallons* of gas in it when they were on the ground at Boeing Field. They
were hoping to avoid Galvin Flying's extra $0.04/gallon by putting more in when they got to Paine Field (where gas was cheaper) to do circuits. Somewhere enroute to
Paine Field, the fuel situation was driven from their mind, probably because they were having so much fun flying.....so they did circuits at Paine until the #3 engine
coughed, then died. They feathered the prop, and decided they should probably land to investigate.
They selected gear down, to find that the gear leg under the #3 engine wouldn't lower, because the hydraulic pump needed to do that was powered by the #3 engine
(now feathered). So they lowered the gear leg manually, but decided (get this) to fly *back to Boeing Field* to park the plane, rather than land at Paine Field. Shortly
after making that bright decision, the other engines started failing. No engines were running by the time it ditched, and three of the four props weren't feathered. The
kicker here: The Stratoliner's maintenance base is apparently *at Paine Field*. Any maintenance to be done would require that it be brought back to Paine Field
anyway (or a bunch of equipment moved to Boeing Field). When asked why they wanted to bring it back to Boeing Field, the response was "Well, our cars were at
Boeing Field". Someone should have asked where their *boats* were. A detail that may be useful, if you're keeping track in your head:
According to Jerry, these engines, at 30" manifold and 2000 rpm, would burn about 50 gal/hr each in cruise, and would average more like 70-80 gal/hr each if you were
doing circuits. Some things that weren't reported in the article below: When they peeled back the interior linings, they found that "it's all twisted at the bulkhead where
the spar attaches to the fuselage"
(Jerry's words). I didn't think to ask whether Jerry meant that the spar is twisted, the bulkhead is twisted, or what. Jerry said that both main gear legs were both
ripped off by the ditching, and were found floating next to the aircraft... I thought I saw one hanging from the engine in the photos that Mark sent the link to, but I
could be wrong. The official explanation to date is that the engines failed due to "air in the fuel lines". I guess that's one way of putting it. My take is that the dipsticks
were in the cockpit, and not in the fuel tanks... Rob Prior
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ark Munzel wrote: A Seattle Times article stolen from cyberspace...
I wonder -- did the FAA investigator at the end say "they may have run out of fuel" on his own volition?
Or did the reporter put into his mouth the words everybody else is thinking?
Tests begin on cause of Stratoliner crash in Elliott Bay Kyung M. Song, Seattle Times, 04/03/02 Divers are expected to return today to the spot where pilots ditched a
Boeing Stratoliner in Elliott Bay on Thursday, scavenging for missing parts that could make the one-of-a-kind vintage plane nearly whole.
Investigators also today will begin tests to determine, among other things, whether the four-engine aircraft went down because the fuel tank had run empty. Boeing is
still mulling whether it would be feasible to restore the plane to flight-worthy condition.
Yesterday, the company gave Associated Press and KING-TV journalists, selected as pool reporters, a close-up look at the Stratoliner 307, which has been hauled to a
hanger behind Boeing's former corporate headquarters building on East Marginal Way. The Clipper Flying Cloud, first delivered to Pan Am in 1940, is structurally
intact.
But the accident - and the subsequent daylong immersion in salt water -
left it looking hardly like a pampered airplane whose band of 30 volunteer restorers had formerly required onboard visitors to slip paper booties over their shoes. The
damage tally included torn skin behind one wing, dented cowlings, swollen wooden flooring and doors, a corroded aluminum skin and stained wall fabric.
The AP reported that the sea has left its mark in gray streaks and the threat of internal corrosion. The crews are doing their best to counter that with fresh water, a
soap solution and Fels Naptha soap, a World War II-vintage remedy. Inside, the carpeted wooden floors are spongy underfoot.
The cockpit is bare with a few dangling wires, its instruments and radio among the first essentials to be removed, dried and cleaned. The instrument panel had to be
recovered quickly; it's irreplaceable. All the blue-and-white-upholstered bench cushions on the starboard side have been removed, though the roomy blue leather single
seats on the port side were still in place yesterday - along with the rich leathery smell, despite the damp. The embossed beige wall fabric - rewoven for this plane in
Pan Am's signature global-map pattern and hand-sewn into place - was stained by the mix of salt water and hydraulic fluid that poured through the interior as the plane
was lifted out. The hope is to remove the fabric for cleaning before the damage becomes permanent. Boeing said it received dozens of e-mails from people offering
to help make the Stratoliner fly again.
Boeing built just 10 Stratoliners before World War II interrupted the airliner market, and the Clipper Flying Cloud is the sole surviving version.
Boeing used its own employees, volunteer labor and donated materials during the seven-year restoration. Douglass Interior Products of Bellevue donated blue Scottish
leather for the single seats as well as carpet. John Hroncich, Douglass's vice president of sales and marketing, said the company "most definitely" again would provide
the material for free. Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board continues its probe into why the Stratoliner's third engine surged unexpectedly before all
four engines failed. Kurt Anderson, a senior air-safety investigator with the Seattle office of the safety board, said investigators will test the plane's fuel gauge as well
as the fuel-tank senders, which measures fuel levels and relays the signals to the fuel gauge, for possible malfunction. Anderson said one possible cause of the
accident under examination is that the aircraft simply ran out of fuel, but he said investigators are also looking at other possibilities. Submitted on 04/16/2002
Submitted by:
Bill Crapo
Reference:
arch 28, 2002 FAA
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