Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 was a scheduled international flight from Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport (Denmark) to Los Angeles International Airport via Seattle—Tacoma International Airport. On January 13, 1969, the McDonnell Douglas DC-8 crashed into Santa Monica Bay at 19:21, approximately west of Los Angeles International Airport. The crash into the sea was caused by pilot error during approach to runway 07R; the pilots were so occupied with the nose gear light not turning green that they lost awareness of the situation and failed to keep track of their altitude. The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) aircraft had a crew of nine and 36 passengers, of whom 15 died in the accident.
The crash was similar to Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. The crash site was in international waters, but the National Transportation Safety Board carried out an investigation, which was published on July 1, 1970. The report stated the probable cause as improper crew resource management and stated that the aircraft was fully capable of carrying out the approach and landing. The aircraft was conducting an instrument approach, but was following an unauthorized back course approach.
Flight The accident aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62 with serial number 45822 and line number 270. It was originally registered in the United States by McDonnell Douglas as N1501U for testing before delivery to SAS.Hagby: 326 It was then registered as LN-MOD, but as SAS already had a Douglas DC-7 with that registration, it was re-registered as LN-MOO.Hagby: 228 The aircraft was registered on June 23, 1967, and named "Sverre Viking" by SAS. Five days later, it was reregistered with Norwegian Air Lines, the Norwegian holding company of the SAS conglomerate, as owner.Hagby: 230 The DC-8-62 model had been custom-made by McDonnell Douglas for SAS to operate to Los Angeles with a full payload in all wind conditions, although the model was later sold to other airlines as well. SAS took delivery of the first of ten DC-8-62 aircraft in 1967.Hall: 103–105 "Sverre Viking" had flown 6,948 hours as of January 7 and had met all maintenance requirements. The last overhaul had been carried out on April 3, 1968.National Transportation Safety Board: 13
Flight 933 was a regular, international scheduled flight from SAS's main hub at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It had a scheduled stopover at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in the state of Washington for change of crew and refueling. There were 45 people on board the aircraft at the time of the accidentNational Transportation Safety Board: 3 consisting of 36 passengers and nine crew members.National Transportation Safety Board: 2
The crew outbound from Seattle had flown a flight from Copenhagen on January 11 and had about 48 hours of rest before the flight. The crew consisted of a captain, a first officer, a flight engineer and six flight attendants. Captain Kenneth Davies, a 50-year-old Briton, had been employed by SAS since 1948 and had a past in RAF Coastal Command. He had flown 11,135 hours with SAS and 900 hours in the DC-8.National Transportation Safety Board: 11 First Officer Hans Ingvar Hansson was 40 and had worked for SAS since 1957. He had flown 5,814 hours for the airline, including 973 hours in the DC-8. Flight Engineer Ake Ingvar Andersson, 32, had worked for SAS since 1966. He had flown 985 hours, all on a DC-8. All three had valid certificates, training, and medical checks.National Transportation Safety Board: 12
The cabin crew consisted of Renning Lenshoj, Arne Roosand, Peter Olssen, Marie Britt Larsson, Susanne Gothberg-Ingeborg, and Ann-Charlotte Jennings. A steward and two stewardesses were killed in the crash, though remains of only one of the three were found.
The flight to Seattle had gone without incident. The landing took place with an instrument landing system (ILS) approach, with the autopilot being used down to before a manual completion. The aircraft had three maintenance issues at Seattle consisting of a non-functioning fast–slow airspeed function, low oil on the number one engine, and a non-functioning lavatory light. The final crew arrived at Seattle–Tacoma an hour before the flight and was given necessary documentation. Flight time was estimated at two hours, 16 minutes. All preflight checks were concluded without discrepancies. The aircraft was de-iced and the altimeters set and cross-checked.National Transportation Safety Board: 4 The flight departed Seattle at 15:46 Pacific Standard Time (PST), one hour and eleven minutes after schedule. The first officer was designated as pilot flying. The altimeters were recalibrated and the autopilot was used for the climb and cruise.National Transportation Safety Board: 5
Approach and landing
Slightly after 17:20, an airline dispatcher confirmed that the weather was suitable at LAX for the landing. The aircraft made contact with Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center at 17:32 and were told to hold at Bakersfield. This holding was confirmed at 17:47. At 18:39, the aircraft was cleared to descend via Fillmore and to maintain an altitude of via the newly designated Westlake Intersection, which was not yet on the charts. The crew was to conduct a back course ILS at LAX, although they lacked authorization and plates to conduct this.National Transportation Safety Board: 6 The weather at 19:00 consisted of scattered clouds at , ceiling-measured overcast, visibility of and light rain and fog.National Transportation Safety Board: 15
The sky was dark and the pilots lacked any visual ground references. Descent was controlled through the use of the vertical-speed wheel of the autopilot combined with an altitude preselect (which illuminated a light when reaching preselected altitudes) in manual mode. While retaining use of the autopilot, the pilots reduced their speed to at the request of air traffic control at 19:07. At this point the pilots were working through the approach checklist. The captain halted the checklist at the point regarding the radio altimeter as the aircraft was above its operational limit and he wanted to control the plane's operation during further descent. At 19:11, the aircraft received permission to bear 180 degrees and descend to and maintain of altitude. Both navigational receivers were tuned to the ILS frequency.National Transportation Safety Board: 7
At 19:17:55, the controller requested that SK933 reduce its speed to which was confirmed. At 19:19:05, the controller confirmed that the aircraft was cleared for approach for Runway 07R. At the time, the first officer thought the aircraft was from the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) transmitter, while the captain thought they were away. The first officer therefore disconnected the autopilot. The captain put the landing gear down and the first officer asked for the landing checklist to be completed. This was interrupted by radio traffic and cockpit activities. The aircraft then descended to a minimum altitude of .
The DC-8 was following a Cessna 177 Cardinal, designated 67T, also conducting a back-course approach, Airspeed . All communication between the two aircraft and air traffic control were occurring on the same frequency. Air traffic control asked SK933 at 19:19:35 to reduce its speed further due to the Cessna ahead. The pilots reduced their speed to . This speed requires the full extension of the flaps, but this step was not carried out. The nose gear was showing an unsafe indication; should the flaps be extended fully without the nose gear down, a horn would sound which could not be silenced without retracting the flaps. The captain recycled the gear, but the indicator light still showed an unsafe condition. Meanwhile, the first officer believed that the flaps were fully extended and started reducing speed to . After the flight engineer confirmed that the nose gear was down and locked, the captain fully extended the flaps.National Transportation Safety Board: 8
The flight engineer carried out a systems check, first from memory and then after consulting the flight manual. At this time, 19:20:42, the captain informed air traffic control that he was experiencing nose-gear problems that, if not resolved by the time the aircraft reached minimum altitude, would force him to cancel the landing and divert to the designated alternate, McCarran International Airport (now Harry Reid International Airport) in Las Vegas. This was the last transmission from Flight 933. The flight engineer conducted a manual check of the landing gear from the cockpit peephole confirming it was down and locked. At this time, the aircraft had an altitude of . The lowest speed that the pilots remembered was with full flap extension.National Transportation Safety Board: 9
Minutes before impact, the aircraft had an altitude of . It descended to in the next 26 seconds, leveled for 16 seconds, then descended to sea level in one minute and 16 seconds.National Transportation Safety Board: 17 The pilots did not have control over the rate of descent and the next thing remembered by the first officer was seeing the altimeter approaching zero. He attempted to pull up through back pressure and adding power, but the aircraft hit the water before he was able to execute this maneuver. The impact took place at 19:21:30 PST (03:21:30 on January 14 Coordinated Universal Time) in Santa Monica Bay, about west of LAX, in international waters where the sea is deep. The crew did not recall any unusual sink rate, buffeting, or yawing, nor were there any instrument warnings except a last-moment flashing of the heading-difference light.
The aircraft hit the water with the tail first.National Transportation Safety Board: 20 The impact caused the fuselage to break into three main parts. The largest was the forward section of the aircraft from the nose to the trailing edge of the wings. It remained afloat after the accident for about twenty hours. The midsection was long from the trailing edge of the wing to the rear pressure bulkhead. The aft section consisted of the tail cone including all of the horizontal stabilizers and the vertical stabilizers. The engines and landing gear separated from the aircraft at the time of impact.National Transportation Safety Board: 18
Rescue and salvage Three cabin crew and twelve passengers were killed in the impact. Of these, four were confirmed drowned while eleven were missing and presumed dead. Eleven passengers and the remaining six crew members were injured while thirteen passengers reported no injuries. Thirty people survived the crash. The passengers were distributed throughout the aircraft, although there was a slightly higher proportion of survivors forward than aft. The surviving three cabin crew, an off duty captain and flight attendant, evacuated the passengers onto the wings and into liferafts.National Transportation Safety Board: 21
When the first two life rafts were filled, they were tied together and rowed from the port wing toward the nose of the aircraft. One of the rafts scraped against a piece of metal and deflated rapidly with its passengers falling into the water. Other passengers launched a life raft from the starboard wing, but it was also punctured. A search and rescue mission was quickly initiated by the United States Coast Guard. It took between 45 and 60 minutes before the rescue team was able to pick up the survivors. The Coast Guard stayed for hours searching for survivors.
The forward part of the aircraft was towed toward Malibu Beach where it sank. It was later raised and brought to Long Beach Terminal Island Naval Shipyard for investigation. All flight instruments were recovered. The remaining other two sections, along with the engines and landing gear, were not recovered.
Investigation