Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831

Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) Flight 831 was a flight from Montréal–Dorval International Airport to Toronto International Airport on November 29, 1963. The aircraft was a four-engine Douglas DC-8-54CF airliner, registered CF-TJN. About five minutes after takeoff in poor weather, the jet crashed about 20 miles (32 km) north of Montreal, near Ste-Thérèse-de-Blainville, Quebec, Canada, killing all 118 people on board: 111 passengers and 7 crew members. The crash was the deadliest in Canadian history at that time.[3] It was also the deadliest crash of a DC-8 at the time, and, as of 2019, the sixth deadliest.[4]

Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831
The aircraft involved in the incident, pictured six months before accident
Occurrence
DateNovember 29, 1963
SummaryUnknown; possible systems failure
SiteSte-Thérèse-de-Blainville (near Montreal-Dorval Airport), Quebec, Canada
45.6813°N 73.8984°W / 45.6813; -73.8984[1]
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-8-54CF Jet Trader[2]
OperatorTrans-Canada Air Lines
RegistrationCF-TJN
Flight originMontreal-Dorval Airport
DestinationToronto International Airport
Occupants118
Passengers111
Crew7
Fatalities118
Injuries0
Survivors0

Sequence of events

At 6:28 P.M., the DC-8 began its takeoff roll on Dorval airport's runway 06R. The crew reported back when they reached 3,000 feet (910 m) and were given clearance for a left turn. It was shortly after the clearance was given that the aircraft deviated from its expected flight path, and began a quick descent. At about 6:33 P.M. the jet struck the ground at an estimated 470–485 knots (870–898 km/h; 541–558 mph) while descending at about a 55-degree angle (± 7 degrees).[1]

The aircraft had plunged into a soggy field, in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, about 100 metres from the main highway that leads to the Laurentian Mountains. One witness said she saw what looked like "a long red streak in the sky" just before the crash.[5] The red-trimmed, silver jet dug a crater 6 feet (1.8 m) deep and 150 feet (46 m) wide in the ground that soon began to fill with rainwater.[6] Although parts of the plane were scattered over a wide area ahead of (and separate from) the crater, the commission of enquiry found that the aircraft was structurally intact when it struck the ground.[7]

Emergency response

The site of the crash was a flat field away from houses in the town of 12,000 people. The main sections of the wreckage lay about halfway between Highway 11, now Quebec Route 117, and the Laurentian Autoroute (Quebec Highway 15). Rescue parties were hampered by deep mud around the wreckage, and by a fuel-fed fire that lasted for hours despite heavy rain.[6]

Investigation

The plane was too badly damaged to determine a definite cause. Canadian aircraft were not required to carry voice cockpit recorders or flight data recorders at this point, complicating the investigation into the crash of TCA Flight 831. The official report released in 1965 pointed to problems in the jet's pitch trim system (the device that maintains a set nose-up or nose-down attitude) as a possibility, since a pitch trim problem caused the similar crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 304, another DC-8, three months later in 1964.[8] Other possible causes were put forward that could not be ruled out: 1) Icing of the pitot system; and 2) Failure of the vertical gyro.[1]

The crash site

Victims

The crash killed all 118 people on board: 111 passengers and 7 crew members.[1] Of the victims, 76 were from the Metropolitan Toronto area, while 3 were foreign nationals: two from the United States, and one from India.[5] A TCA official was quoted as saying that "the bodies were so badly smashed that identification was virtually hopeless."[5] The plane's flight crew included World War II bomber pilot Captain John (Jack) D. Snider, 47 years old, of Toronto; First Officer Harold (Harry) J. Dyck, 35, of Leamington, Ontario; and Second Officer Edward D. Baxter, 29, of Toronto.[5]

The casualty count could have been higher. Traffic congestion on Montreal's main expressway caused eight people to miss this flight.[9] The traffic congestion, which extended all the way into the downtown core, also delayed emergency vehicles from getting to the crash-site.[9]

Among the victims were two employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They had been in Montreal preparing a bilingual television variety show called A Show from Two Cities. As a consequence, the CBC public affairs series This Hour Has Seven Days began filming the aftermath, and the investigations into the crash. In November 1965 they broadcast their hour-long documentary.[10] It was watched by over two million Canadians but it appears that families directly affected avoided it, not wanting to revisit their tragedy.[11]

TCA, the predecessor to Air Canada, created a memorial garden near the site of the crash. The memorial is located at the Cimetière de Sainte-Thérèse.[12] The crash site is now within a residential neighbourhood.[13]

Though it is customary for airlines to retire a flight number after a major incident, Air Canada continued to use flight number 831 for a different route. Flight 831 originated in Geneva and terminated in Toronto with a stopover in Montreal. However, this route number has since been changed to flight 835.[14]

See also

References
  1. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas CD-8-54F CF-TJN Ste-Thérèse de Blainville, QC". Aviation Safety Network. Alexandria, Virginia U.S.A.: Flight Safety Foundation. Archived from the original on 2013-07-08. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  2. "Picture of the Douglas DC-8-54CF Jet Trader aircraft". Airliners.net. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  3. Wyatt, Nelson (2013-11-30). "Anniversary of 1963 Quebec plane crash helps bring some closure for victims' relatives". The Toronto Star. p. A18. Archived from the original on 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  4. Eastwood, Tony; John Roach (1992). Jet Airliner Production List. West Drayton, UK: The Aviation Hobby Shop. pp. 339–363. ISBN 978-0-907178-43-9.
  5. Bryant, George (1963-11-30). "Montreal TCA Crash Kills 118: 76 Victims From Metro Area". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  6. "Canada: Crater in the Field". Time. December 6, 1963. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  7. Report of Commission of Inquiry into CRASH OF TRANS-CANADA AIR LINES DC-8F AIRCRAFT CF-TJN AT STE. THERESE DE BLAINVILLE, P.Q. ON 29th November, 1963 ORDER IN-COUNCIL DATED 8 October, 1964, P.C. 1964-1544 Hon. GEORGE S. CHALLIES, Commissioner, Capt. WILLIAM S. ROXBOROUGH and Air Commodore RAYMOND H. BRAY, RCAF (retired), Technical Advisers reports.aviation-safety.net, accessed 1 December 2019
  8. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network for Eastern Air Lines Flight 304
  9. UPI (1963-11-30). "Traffic snarl made eight miss death flight". The Toronto Daily Star. Toronto. p. 5.
  10. Carney, James (1965-11-07). "At the Moment of Impact". This Hour Has Seven Days. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  11. Dick, Ernest J. (2009). Our Search for Memory: Flight 831 — Ste-Therese, Quebec, November 29, 1963.
  12. (in French) Cimetière de Sainte-Thérèse at Wikimapia   (English translation via Google Translate)
  13. "TCA 831 crash site as of 2013". Google Maps. Mountainview, California: Google Inc. 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  14. "Air Canada (AC) #831 Flight Tracker". Live Flight Tracker. Houston: FlightAware. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
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