- Date
- July 9, 1982, 16:09 local (21:09 UTC)
- Place
- New Orleans, LA
- Injuries
- 153 fatal, 9 serious; on the ground: 8 fatal, 9 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N4737Boeing 727-235
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 9, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19820709069969A
- Case key
- 69204
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-83-02. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm
The acft, pan am flt 759, was on a scheduled flt from miami, FL to las vegas, NV, with an en route stop at New Orleans, LA. With an acft gross wt of aprx 170,000 lbs, the capt was required to use rwy 10 for tkof. Vip lvl 3 wx echos were located east of the rwy, but no lightning or thunder was evident. There were showers ovr the east end of the rwy & the wnds were gsty, variable & swirling. Aftr takof, the acft climbed to aprx 95 to 150 AGL, then bgn to descend. The acft struck trees aprx 2376 ft byd the dep end of the rwy, about 50 ft AGL, then contd another 2234 ft, hitting trees & houses. The acft was destroyed by impact, explosion & fire. An investigation revealed the acft had enctrd a decreasing hdwnd shear caused by diverging flow from a microburst which occurred on the arpt. The wnd shear was not detected by the low lvl wnd shear alert sys til after flt 759 bgn its tkof.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4737
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-235
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19457
- Airframe hours
- 39,253
- Engine
- P & W JT8D-7B, 14,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Pan American World A/W
- Registered owner
- Pan American World A/W
- Departed
- New Orleans, LA
- Destination
- Las Vegas, NV
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- runway 10, 9,227 × 150 ft, concrete
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 11,727 total · 10,595 in this make and model · 212 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 70° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,100 ft broken
- Temperature
- 180 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N4737 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.