40th anniversary Air Canada 621 crash Castlemore, ON

[palisadesk]

40 years ago today, on a bright July morning, Air Canada Flight 621, bound for LAX from Montreal with a stopover in Toronto, crashed a few km north of the airport in what was then the farming village of Castlemore, Ontario , now swallowed up by the City of Brampton, killing all 109 passengers and crew on board.

The site was never really cleaned up. No whole bodies were recovered from the site. The largest pieces of fuselage were towed away, but human remains, personal effects and pieces of the aircraft remained embedded in the soft soil for decades and are still turning up -- recognizable skull bones, kneecaps, femurs, Air Canada cutlery. The field is still under cultivation, but has been purchased by property developers for a subdivision.

Outraged local citizens have been working to secure a proper cleanup of the site for years, and have met with no co-operation from Air Canada (which never so much as apologized to families of the victims) or the Ontario government. However, the desired memorial will now finally be erected, and the remains given proper burial. The hero of the piece? The private developers and the City of Brampton. The developers commissioned a survey of the crash site and determined the extent and depth of the debris field. All the topsoil in the identified area will be removed and properly interred in a 1/2 acre area at the site of impact, where a memorial garden will be built.

Background information on the flight:
http://www.bramptonguardian.com/feature/article/842288--40th-anniversary-of-flight-621-crash

Notice of the memorial and its background from the City of Brampton:
http://www.brampton.ca/en/City-Hall/Office-Mayor/building-better-brampton/Pages/Brampton-Remembers-AC621.aspx

Some eyewitness accounts of the 1970 accident here:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/print.main?id=1642655

Update on the memorial, with some witness and family memories:

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/07/02/14584701.html

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mike_strobel/2010/07/04/14607066.html

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/831554--40-years-later-a-memorial-to-gta-s-worst-plane-crash

Paul Cardin's blog, "Never Was An Arrow" contains several very informative posts on the accident and its aftermath, including suggestions that "pilot error" was not the sole cause:
http://neverwasanarrow.********.com/2008/07/air-canada-254-do-you-see-traffic-at-1.html
http://neverwasanarrow.********.com/2010/05/air-canadas-galaxy-flight-621torontos.html

He's also asking for knowledgeable input on identifying specific parts of the DC-8:
http://neverwasanarrow.********.com/2010/05/flight-621-picking-up-pieces-dc-8-dc-8.html

I'm not sure why, but when I "preview" the post, the word"b-l-o-g-s-p-o-t" has been removed from the URL's to Paul Cardin's blog. Just replace the asterisks with the word"b-l-o-g-s-p-o-t" making sure to have the full stop on either side, and omit the dashes I put in. Or go directly to Google and type "neverwasanarrow" and "flight 621" He has some very interesting posts on this and other aviation topics.

[IGh]

Structures Group narrative available

TW Heaslip [then of MOT's Accident Investigation Division, Ottawa] did a detailed presentation of this investigation at IASAI 1973, the Proceedings are now available on the web:
ISASI--Air Safety Through Accident Investigation pgs 88-105.

Beyond the sequencing of the fractures, and explosions, his presentation offers reconstruction of the flight-path (upset-impact).

Here are a few notes on that DC-8 mishap:

Air Canada AC621 / 5Jul70, DC8-63 CF-TIW on final @ Toronto, crew improperly delayed arming spoilers, then attempted to "Arm" Spoiler handle while passing over threshold; inadvertently DEPLOYED Ground Spoilers, SINKING, pitch-up with Elevator, impacted (tail/wing) Abnormal Rwy Contact, #4 Eng separated, attempted G/A, raised LG, retracted Flaps, Retracted Spoilers, three minutes later inflight explosions and inflight breakup.

See DGero's "AD", pg 94. \\\ Isasi Procedings 1973, Heaslip (pdf pgs 88-105, detailed presentation of Structures Group’s investigation):

“… the accident … involve premature deployment of ground spoilers, a subsequent heavy touchdown on Runway 32, in-flight explosions during the go-around, and finally loss of control approximately 7 miles north of the airport … crashing …”]

See also Alitalia 618 / 15Sep70 DC-8 ALA-ARC hard landing JFK [ThRvrs deployed by Capt at 600'] NTSB/AAR-71-09 (lost three engines at impact); and see ValueJet / 7Jan96 DC9-32 N922VV hard landing at Nashville: on final approach to Rwy 2R Ground Spoilers deployed while still airborne; high sink rate; landed short of threshold; substantial damage to aft fuselage, empennage, flaps, slats, and both engines. Erroneous Ground-shift signal to activate Ground Spoilers.