Mohawk Airlines Flight 121

Mohawk Airlines Flight 121

Accident summary
Date	July 2, 1963
Summary	Pilot error, bad weather as a contributing factor
Site	Rochester, NY
Passengers	40
Crew	3
Injuries (non-fatal)	36
Fatalities	7
Survivors	36
Aircraft type	Martin 404
Operator	Mohawk Airlines inc.
Registration	N449A

Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 crashed during takeoff from Rochester-Monroe airport for Newark International Airport on July 2, 1963, killing 7 people and injuring 36.

The aircraft, a Martin 404 with a total of 15,970 hours in-flight, attempted to take-off on runway 28 into a heavy thunderstorm. The pilot was unable to maintain control, and the plane came back down. The left wing impacted ground and the aircraft cartwheeled wing-over-wing and caught fire, killing seven people on board: two crewmembers and five passengers. The weather forecast at the time was found to be entirely accurate. The NTSB found the cause of the accident to be the pilot's poor decision to take off in bad weather, and cited the weather itself as a contributing factor.

References

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Summary by National Transportation Safety Board
• 420 F.2d 115 136 U.S.App.D.C. 273 Joan S. NEFF, Administratrix of the Estate of John W. Neff v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellant. No. 22262. United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

External links

• 1963 Mohawk Airlines Crash at Monroe County Airport Professional Firefighters