Originally Posted by
Concours77
Whirl mode ending in fatal impact was well described in the two accidents I reviewed. My experience as pax in the Electra involved seated portside abeam the engines and witnessing it first hand. It is impressive.
I never saw it while flying in an Electra. After my dad's crash I was probably on one three or four times. Thought it was a good plane. A friend shared that he'd noticed it on at least one occasion. All I can say is that after the wing geometry changes there were no more catastrophic instances, and of course the P3 is still going strong.
Have you the logs and maintenance records? I would consider whirl mode, especially as one engine left the airframe before the others?
I have almost nothing. Got a whole bunch of manuals supplied by a few retired NWA pilots and from downloads. Got the press photos that triggered this whole thing. Got the official reports and a bunch of newspaper archive stories.
A friend has an in with some Lockheed folks; he hopes to shake something loose. Lockheed has a reputation for saving documentation, but they've never answered my requests. One reason for putting this project out in front of the public is to get some buzz going, and maybe a FOAF will come forward with some musty folders. Small hope, but that's about all I have.