Delta Air Lines Flight 9877

Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 was a crew training flight operated on a Douglas DC-8. On March 30, 1967, it lost control and crashed into a residential area during a simulated engine-out approach to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Aircraft
N802E was a Douglas DC-8-51. It was purchased by Delta Air Lines on September 14, 1959 and had since then accumulated a total of 23,391 flight hours. The aircraft was originally manufactured as a DC-8-11 with four Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojets, and later modified to a model 51 with JT3D turbofan engines. The plane was configured for takeoff with an acceptable center of gravity and MTOW.

Crew
Captain Maurice G. Watson, age 44, had accumulated 19,008 flight hours, of which 475 were in the DC-8. He held ratings for the DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, DC-9 and CV 240/340/440. He was hired on June 3, 1949.

Captain James W. Morton, age 48, had accumulated 16,929 flight hours, of which 15 were in the DC-8. He held ratings for the DC-3, DC-6,DC-7, DC-9 and CV 240/340/440. He was hired on March 13, 1951.

Captain William T. Jeter, Jr., age 33, had accumulated 2,715 flight hours as a flight engineer, of which 529 were in the DC-8. He held ratings for the DC-6,DC-7, DC-9 and CV 240/340/440. He was hired on October 9, 1959.

Flight engineer David E. Posey, age 25, had accumulated 1,371 flight hours as a flight engineer, of which 667 were in the DC-8. He was hired on November 14, 1964.

Flight engineer George Plazza, age 30, had accumulated a total of 802 flight hours as an engineer. He was hired on May 3, 1965.

Flight
The aircraft left the ramp at 00:40 CST. Flying in the left seat was the captain in training and in the right seat was the check captain. The pilots being trained on that day were a captain-trainee and a flight engineer-trainee. Additionally, the flight engineer-instructor was being given a proficiency check. At 00:43 the pilots informed the controller that they were ready for take-off and would like to circle and then land on runway 1. At V1, an engine was shut down as part of the check procedure, and the takeoff continued normally. During climbout the second engine was shut down. At 00:46 the captain-trainee was informed that the rudder power was lost, which was only indicated by a warning light, rather than the actual removal of power to the rudder. At 00:47 the tower cleared the flight for landing on runway 1. The crew would simulate a two-engine out approach, make a full stop landing, and then take off again from runway 19. The altitude decreased to 900 feet, and flaps were set to 25 degrees. The altitude then increased to 1,100 feet, causing the airspeed to decrease to 180 knots. Shortly afterwards, landing flaps were lowered, and the plane descended through 650 feet at 165 knots. From that point, the airspeed decayed to around 136 knots. The crew increased the power on engines 3 and 4, since engines 1 and 2 were not running. This caused the airplane to enter a continuously-increasing left bank, which reached a maximum of 60°, with a descent angle of 14°. The aircraft struck power lines and trees around 2,300 feet short of the runway threshold, before slashing through the corner of a house and a vehicle. Upon striking the ground, it skidded, destroyed/severely damaged 2 houses, and came to rest against the buildings of a motel complex. Thirteen people on the ground were killed, along with all six crew members.

Investigation
The instructor lowered full landing flaps, on his own initiative, too early in the approach. The drag caused by the flaps caused the airspeed to decay, and rate of descent to increase, to which the captain-trainee responded with pitching the nose up, instead of using thrust. The instructor failed to intervene, which was probably a result of his confidence in the captain-trainee. The crew was also probably affected by fatigue.

Probable cause
The investigators concluded that the probable cause of the accident is: "Improper supervision by the instructor, and the improper use of flight and power controls by both instructor and the Captain-trainee during a simulated two-engine out landing approach, which resulted in a loss of control."