[clarke]

What is the worst transportation accident ever occuring in your city/town (air/ground)

[Buckeye Native 001]

That Northwest Airlines flight that crashed during takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport back in 1987 was bound for Orange County.

[Tall Steel]

August/2001/This didn't exactally happen in my town but really close, one night a boat was going though the canal and the lift bridge didn't go up in time and the boat crashed into the bridge. The boat was a big cargo ship and this happend in Welland. The cause of this accident is that the lift-bridge operator was drunk.

In my hometown which is Port Colborne the only accident that I know of that was bad was that at the end the road which I live on, someone was trying to turn onto the highway and another driver hit him and the car fliped on it's side. It was a real mess.

[BamaGrad04]

March 20, 1995 - ~ 200 car pileup on Mobile Bayway. Largest auto pileup in US History. Extremely dense fog was the cause.

March 3, 2006 - Cargo ship ZIM MEXICO III miscalculated its turning radius in the shipping channel and knocked over a ship-to-shore container crane, killing a crane worker

[urbanflyer]

4/26/94 - China Airlines flight 140, an Airbus A300-600 coming from Taipei, crashed while making its second attempt to land at Nagoya Komaki International. The pilots incorrectly set the autopilot and were fighting it for control of the plane. They eventually overcontrolled, stalled and crashed. 264 of 271 were killed.

[Daquan13]

July 31, 1973, Logan Int'l Airport, Boston - A Delta Airlines DC-9 hit a seawall while trying to land in fog, flipped over and crashed on the runway that it was supposed to land on.

All 89 passengers and crew were killed instantly. Some of the passengers were found on the ground still strapped to their seats!

A report had said that the tower (ATC's) was confused for 6 minutes after the accident.
The FAA had questioned whether those 6 minutes were very crucial in getting help to the victims to try to save some of them.


January, 1982, Logan Int'l Airport, Boston - A World Airways DC-10 had skidded off the icey runway during an attempted landing, overshot the runway and came to rest partially submerged in the water.

The complete nose section along with the cockpit came off. Two male passengers were reported missing and to this day, were never found. Everyone else had survived the mishap.

[Justin10000]

1970.

Air Canada crash in a field in Castlemore just east of my shithole suburban City of Brampton.
(The crash area is now a subdivision).

[alps]

Halifax Explosion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion), 1917 - Two ships (one filled with munitions) collide in Halifax Harbour, causing a huge explosion, the largest before the atomic bomb tests. (~2000 fatalities)
Swissair Flight 111 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111), 1998 - Crashed into the sea while trying to land at Halifax International Airport (229 fatalities)
MK Airlines Crash, 2004 - 747 crashed at the end of a runway at Halifax International Airport, killing all 7 crew members (cargo plane).

[toddguy]

That Northwest Airlines flight that crashed during takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport back in 1987 was bound for Orange County.

The lone survivor of that crash( a four year old girl) happens to be doing well, graduated from college, and living in some southern city. She popped in on some site when the crash was being discussed, and even provided an email link.

[Buckeye Native 001]

September 10, 2006 Costa Mesa California:

My car's timing belt snaps, I lose power steering fluid and all other vital instrumentation on the northbound 55 Freeway. Final damage assessment: $3300 worth of work.

:P

[staff]

4/26/94 - China Airlines flight 140, an Airbus A300-600 coming from Taipei, crashed while making its second attempt to land at Nagoya Komaki International. The pilots incorrectly set the autopilot and were fighting it for control of the plane. They eventually overcontrolled, stalled and crashed. 264 of 271 were killed.

China Airlines. :yuck:

[Xelebes]

Wabuman Lake derailment of 2006

Train derailed right at Wabuman Lake, dumping thousands of tonnes of heavy bunker oil into the lake, making the whole towns nearby unhabitable for at least several months.

[Daquan13]

October, 1990, Back Bay Station, Boston - An Amtrak Train coming from New York City derails just before entering the station, crosses over onto one of the other tracks and slams into a commuter rail train.

The National Transportation Safety Board, upon final investigation, ruled that speed was the deciding factor. The Amtrak train was going way too fast before it entered the station. Also it was determined that an inexperienced driver was at the controls.

A support column was also knocked loose and had to be replaced. The service there for all trains except the Orange Line was shut down for months and was deverted over to the Midland Railroad that runs through Hyde Park. No deaths were reported, although there were some injuries.

[The Chemist]

China Airlines. :yuck:

Never flown on them. What's so bad about them?

[staff]

Never flown on them. What's so bad about them?
I think they have one of the worst accident records of any airline in the world. However, they went through some kind of change a number of years ago, and fired a lot of pilots among other things.

I've flown them HKG-TPE and it was an ok experience - although if you going to fly a Taiwanese carrier I'd suggest EVA Air instead.

[MayorOfChicago]

The steamboat Eastland rolled on its side on the Chicago river in downtown Chicago in 1915. 844 people died.

[Daquan13]

Boston, Dorchester Ave.

Just earlier this week on Dorchester Ave. in Dorchester, after dropping off an elderly passenger in front of a community center, a cab driver had allegedly mistakingly put the vehicle in reverse, stepped on the gas pedal and crashed into that passenger and two others, knocking over a bench and a fire hydrant and pinning the passenger under the vehicle.

The passenger later died at the hospital as a result of her injuries, and the other two people were reportedly in serious but stable condition. So far, no charges were filed against the taxi driver.

[hauntedheadnc]

July 1967 -- Piedmont Airlines Flight 22, a Boeing 727 en route from Asheville to Washington, DC collided with a Cessna over Hendersonville and crashed, with the whole mess slamming down not a hundred feet from a crowded summer camp. 82 people died, including John T. McNaughton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, who had flown in to pick up his son from another summer camp.

This was a particularly traumatic crash. It was messy -- there were body parts raining down all over the eastern end of Hendersonville, including one flight attendant who crashed through the roof of a house and landed neat as you please on the living room sofa with her legs crossed and her arms thrown back as though she was relaxing in front of the television.

[urbanflyer]

^ no thanks :uhh:

staff, most China Airlines crews are now foreign ex-pats. They fired most of their ex taiwan AF pilots and revamped their training program after that Mandarin Airlines HK crash landing in 1999. :tup: Korean Air has made similar changes.

[Daquan13]

July 2001, Logan Int'l Airport, Boston - A Cape Air 10-seat Cessna flips over on takeoff, catching fire.

Officials had ruled that it became caught up and stuck in the wake turbulence of a 757 whick took off just mere minutes before it. The pilot, the only one onboard, was able to get out and walk away from the smouldering wreckage virtually unharmed.

[staff]

staff, most China Airlines crews are now foreign ex-pats. They fired most of their ex taiwan AF pilots and revamped their training program after that Mandarin Airlines HK crash landing in 1999. :tup: Korean Air has made similar changes.
That's good to hear.
The descent to TPE was the worst I've experienced in my life on an airplane, but that was because of the typhoon that striked northern Taiwan the same evening. :)

The service was OK and their A330 had great IFE with AVOD in economy. Their B744 is another story though...

[jessie_sanchez]

I would say that LA's was the 2005 Metrolink De-railment. Killed i believe 12 people.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/01/26/train.derailment/story.vert.wreckage.jpg

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/01/26/train.derailment/story.vert.aerial.jpg

http://www.firegroundaction.com/train4117.jpg

http://www.firegroundaction.com/train4199.jpg

http://www.firegroundaction.com/train4236.jpg

http://www.firegroundaction.com/train4260.jpg

[Via Chicago]

The steamboat Eastland rolled on its side on the Chicago river in downtown Chicago in 1915. 844 people died.

The worst thing about it was entire families were lost: they'd have funerals for all the members at once. Lots of children since the ship was going to a Western Electric company picnic....the towns of Cicero and Berwyn were hit real hard because thats where almost all the workers lived. There are entire plots in cemeteries just for Eastland victims. Its a shame this disaster is forgotten in the national eye. Everyone knows about the Titanic. But outside of Chicago, few and far between know anything about this.

http://www.kinson.org/eastland/eastland2.jpeg

http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/stmaryofczestochowa.jpg

The disaster resulted in the largest death toll of any single event occurring in the continental United States in the twentieth century.


The runner up would have to be the American Airlines Flight 191 crash in 1979. It remains the most deadly single-aircraft accident in United States history. 273 people were killed.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Aa191_ohare.jpg

http://katrinadisability.info/images/1977airlinecrashchicago.jpg

[skymetalscraper]

the only transportation accident occourred in my city (not counting car accidents of course..) is:
october 17, 2006 .. two subway trains chrashed near the "vittorio emanulele II" station . one woman killed other 200 pepole injuried

(sorry for my english ^^)

[Daquan13]

The worst thing about it was entire families were lost: they'd have funerals for all the members at once. Lots of children since the ship was going to a Western Electric company picnic....the towns of Cicero and Berwyn were hit real hard because thats where almost all the workers lived. There are entire plots in cemeteries just for Eastland victims. Its a shame this disaster is forgotten in the national eye. Everyone knows about the Titanic. But outside of Chicago, few and far between know anything about this.

http://www.kinson.org/eastland/eastland2.jpeg

http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/stmaryofczestochowa.jpg

The disaster resulted in the largest death toll of any single event occurring in the continental United States in the twentieth century.


The runner up would have to be the American Airlines Flight 191 crash in 1979. It remains the most deadly single-aircraft accident in United States history. 273 people were killed.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Aa191_ohare.jpg

http://katrinadisability.info/images/1977airlinecrashchicago.jpg



I remember looking at those horrifying pics of Flight 191 after loosing the left engine.

December, 2004. Logan Int'l Airport, Boston - A Delta Airlines ramp worker was killed almost instantly when the driver of a de-icing truck lost sight of him in his side view mirror while backing up, ran him over and crushed him to death.

OSHA, upon final investigation, ruled that it was an accident. Stricter safety measures were then put in place after the tragic accident, up to and including all airline employees wearing bright yellow reflective jackets while on duty.

It was raining hard that early morning at about 0600, which might have contributed to the accident.

[Daquan13]

Yesterday, Tobin Bridge, Chesea - A deadly accident occured on the upper deck the southbound road that resulted in two deaths. A state police officer was one of them.

[DrumCorpsAlum]

Camden, SC (Lugoff) had a major Amtrak derailment a while back.

[justin00]

Okay Daquan, the question was the worst accident. Not every accident that has ever happened in your city. If everyone posted every accident for their city i'm sure this thread would be a hell of a lot more lengthy and probably more boring as well.

[The Cheat]

Market Street Subway Crash, 1990 (http://www.svmetro.com/septawatch/market-st-subway-crash.php)

On the morning of March 7, 1990, at 8:21 AM, a SEPTA Market-Frankford line train derailed and crashed at a crossover in the subway tunnel going west just after a leaving the underground 30th Street station. A traction motor on the third car of the six-car train was being dragged along the ground, between the tracks, and damaged the switch points, causing the rear truck of the fourth car to take the diverging route and derail, throwing the car sideways into the steel columns in the subway tunnel. There were four fatalities and 158 injuries.

According to the NTSB report, SEPTA could have avoided the accident had they "properly inspected the motor mount and safety connection on the No. 2 traction motor" during its regularly scheduled inspections. According to SEPTA's records, there were three inspections (1/4/90, 2/10/90, and 3/2/90) before the crash, but the NTSB says that for each one, the "possibility exists that the inspection was never peformed." The investigation exposed many issues with SEPTA's procedure for inspections and the quality of maintenance, including the low priority for maintenance because of the need to make cars available for peak service, the lack of formal training on maintenance procedures, and the lack of supervisor oversight and inspection of the work performed.

The NTSB report says, "Postaccident testing for 88 days has shown that it would take a great deal of time for the horizontal safety rod to completely wear through the motor support brackets. If any of these inspections had been thoroughly and conscientiously performed, the condition of the motor support bolt brackets would have been detected and this accident prevented."

These Market-Frankford "M-3" cars were built by the Budd Car Company and delivered in 1961. The economic life of these cars is typically 30 years with proper maintenance, and these cars were approaching the end of the economic life. However, they continued to serve until about 1999, when the new AdTranz "M-4" cars were delivered, and there were no further major incidents with those Budd cars.

The NTSB report says that Lou Gambaccini had become general manager about 1.5 years before the crash, and had already started to reform SEPTA management and the organization when the crash took place. Between 1984 and 1989, SEPTA went through several general managers, and the organizational chaos that likely resulted could have been a factor in the poor maintenance procedures.

The NTSB report also revealed other issues at SEPTA that were not factors in the crash, but which were important on their own, including problems with SEPTA's drug testing program at the time, and problems with the emergency response in the aftermath of the crash due to poor communications. The NTSB report includes recommmendations for providing a reliable emergency public address system, providing crews with portable radios, and improving coordination between the Philadephia Fire Department and SEPTA in the event of an emergency evacuation of in a subway.

Sources: NTSB report number RAR-91-01, letter R91-1-8.