Sterling Place

Based on a True Story by Ray Garcia

December 16, 1960

On the morning of December 16, 1960, a TWA Lockheed Constellation plane, model 1049A, serial number N6907C, nickname the "Connie", and a United Airlines, a DC-8 serial number N8013U, collided in a blinding snowstorm over New York.

At the time of the accident it was considered the worst aviation disaster in the history of commercial flying. When it was over, one hundred and twenty eight people from both planes, plus six on the ground had lost their lives. After the collision the Connie broke into three parts, hurling forty-four people to their death. The plane or what was left of it, crashed in the fields of the Miller Army Base, in Staten Island, New York.

The other plane, United flight 826, with eighty-four people crashed eight miles from impact coming down on a intersection called Seventh Avenue, and Sterling Place, a quiet community in the Park Slope Section of Brooklyn.

The jet obliterated everything in its path, ejecting bodies out of the aft fuselage and onto the street and sidewalks. The cockpit, with part of its right wing, and the attached number three engine sliced through the Pillard of Fire Church, demolishing it on impact.

The next day the media came up with its own conclusion "Pilot Error." The pilot of United 826, Captain Robert H. Sawyer, was at blame. On May 9th 1962, the Civil Aeronautic Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was that United flight 826 proceeded beyond its clearance limit and the confines of the airspace to the flight given by Air Traffic Control, passing its holding pattern and therefore, ramming into TWA flight 266. I wasn't totally convinced.

In 1998, I decided to investigate, the probable cause of the collision, and why it happened, but most important, if it could have been prevented. Countless hours went into the research. Actual transcripts from the CAB were reviewed, as well as interviews with witnesses and family members whose loved ones perished on that cold and gray Friday morning.

My investigation revealed that while Captain Robert H. Sawyer went beyond his allocated airspace, he did not stand alone in the blame.

The results where very disturbing, the collision could have been prevented. there was plenty of fault to go around, leading to a possible cover-up.

In 1999, I decided to write my story, relating to the events that took place on December 16th 1960. The story is entitled "Sterling Place" The manuscript reveals who was at fault, why there was a cover up, and by whom.

In 2001, "Sterling Place" was copyrighted in the Library of Congress.

Synopsis

During a dinner with friends in Connecticut the topic of John Kennedy Jr's death came up. News of his death in a plane crash had stunned the world, and since I had pilot training I was immediately asked many questions. One particularly interesting one was Why do planes collide when there is so much air space?

As I tried to answer the question, I couldn't help but think of that horrifying December day when two planes did just that. It was the holiday season, one of the busiest times for commercial flying. With just nine days left before Christmas, Americans were taking to the skies to be with their loved ones. I always believed Christmas was a holy occasion. It's a time of giving, a time to thank the Lord, and a time to love one another. Nothing should go wrong, but it did.

On Friday, December 16, 1960, a Trans-World Airline plane, the Lockheed Constellation, and a United DC-8 jetliner collided in a blinding snowfall over Staten Island, New York, killing all 128 occupants aboard both planes was well as six on the ground, making this the worst air disaster in aviation history. TWA Flight 266 had departed Columbus Airport with a crew of five and thirty-nine passengers, including two infants.

Their destination was LaGuardia Airport in New York. United Flight 826 had originated as Flight 856 in Los Angeles, with a crew of three: Captain Robert H. Sawyer, First Officer Robert W. Fiebing, and Second Officer Richard E. Prewitt. They departed Los Angeles at approximately 3:20 A.M. inbound for Chicago, where they would pick up the rest of the crew and passengers for their final destination, Idlewild International Airport, New York.

When the planes were fifteen minutes from their destinations, both were ordered by air traffic controllers to hold their positions over New Jersey. TWA 266 held a pattern of 5,000 feet over Linden, and United 826 held position 6,000 feet over the Preston. Officials later stated that the TWA plane had been cleared to leave its holding pattern and make its landing approach when its last message was heard. Its flight path called for it to go across New Jersey, pass a checkpoint off Coney Island and then fly over the Prospect Park section of Brooklyn toward LaGuardia. When United DC-8 got permission to make its landing approach, it was to pass a checkpoint off the Rockaways and fly over Rockaway Beach and Jamaica Bay to Idlewild.

The ceiling for that day was six hundred feet, visibility was a mile. Visibility beyond that was minimal. According to reports issued by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Civil Aeronautic Board, both planes were under instrument flight rules, yet something went terribly wrong. With Captain Robert H. Sawyer at the controls, the DC-8 passed its assigned vector; perhaps he was disoriented, as he was flying with only one VOR (a very high frequency omni-directional range). The instrument flight data recorder indicated that the crew had changed airspeed seven times within minutes and that the plane reached speeds of over four hundred miles per hour and was eleven miles off course. LaGuardia radar indicated that the two planes made contact at approximately 10:33 A.M. over Miller Army Airfield in Staten Island, New York. After the collision, one plane continued northeast for a distance of eight or ten miles.

The other appeared to be nearly stationary for a moment, then commenced a slow right turn to a southwesterly heading and disappeared from radar. The Constellation fell in three parts over Staten Island, bodies spewing from its fuselage as it tumbled toward the ground, indicating that the propeller-driven plane had been rammed broadside. The crew of the DC-8 fought to land the crippled jet at Prospect Park, but the badly damaged plane fell onto a populated area of Brooklyn, disintegrating on impact and obliterating everything in its path.

It was a very cold morning, and there was a gusting wind, making it difficult to see. Snowbanks from the previous day lined the streets. My parents didn't know I was on my way to Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to look at some bikes. I was only fifteen and not allowed to travel in the trains by myself, so this would be a new experience. I was window shopping when a thunderous explosion shook the ground. There was a moment of silence that seemed to last and eternity. Suddenly people were running toward Seventh Avenue. Someone yelled that a building had collapsed. I ran with them to see. When I reached Seventh Avenue I stopped and stared, too young to understand the magnitude of what surrounded me. A chilling sensation gripped my entire body, for this wasn't just a building that came down. This was worse, much worse. This is my story...