Passenger 51: The Thomas Moynihan Story
The Douglas DC-7B aircraft servicing the flight departed New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on runway 31L at 6:20 p.m. with continuing service to Richmond's Byrd Field (today's Richmond International Airport) on Monday, February 8, 1965, with 79 passengers and five crew members aboard. (It was an otherwise perfect night for flying, the moon was blocked by a few clouds, temperature 46F.)
The New York ARTCC responded that a Boeing 707 (Pan American World Airways Flight 212) was in the same airspace, descending to 4,000 feet in its final approach to JFK (runway 31R) from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The control tower replied that Eastern Airlines Flight 663 was already higher than Pan Am Flight 212.
The tower, however, was grossly mistaken.
"We're above him." (In reality, Flight 663 was well below Pan Am Flight 212 at the time—but the JFK air traffic controllers corrected their error almost instantly.)
"Traffic at eleven o'clock, six miles, south eastbound, just climbing out of three [3,000 feet]. (In reality, Pan Am Flight 212 was above Eastern Airlines Flight 663, descending from 5,000 feet.)
"Okay. We have the traffic (Pan Am Flight 212 approaching to land). Turning one seven zero, six six three... good night."
"Uh ... OK. We had a near miss here. Uh ... we're turning now to ... Uh ... three six zero and ... Uh ... did you have another target in this area at the same spot where we were just a minute ago?"
"It looked like he's in the bay then, because we saw him. He looked like he winged over to miss us and we tried to avoid him, and we saw a bright flash about one minute later. He was well over the top of us, and it looked like he went into an absolute vertical turn and kept rolling."
"There's a big fire going out on the water here about our two o'clock position right now. I don't know what it is. It looked like a big explosion."
As you will see, the captain of Pan Am Flight 212 later estimated that the two aircraft had passed between 200 and 500 feet of each other. (In comparison, the first officer estimated the distance between 200 to 300 feet.)
Eastern Airlines Flight 663 crashed almost vertically into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean: 6.5 nautical miles south-southwest of Jones Beach, Long Island, New York. The impact created a massive fireball.
The moon made an appearance.
Fifteen ships rushed to the crash scene as eleven helicopters skimmed low over the surface and dropped flares. They illuminated the search area with floodlights while rescue divers waited at the ready to plunge into the icy water should there be any sign of survivors. There were none, as the aircraft was destroyed on impact, killing everyone onboard.
Over two hours went by when the first debris of the ill-fated flight floated up to the surface. Search and rescue teams began fishing out the remains: shreds of metal covered with flesh, a child's mitten, a blue snowsuit, a flight attendant's jacket, a woman's coat, and a paperback book titled: "Call It Sleep."
Soon after, the body of a little boy appeared. Next, a section of the cockpit floated up. As rescuers began to lift it out of the water, the headless body of a crew member plopped into the water.
The next day, Coast Guardsmen used grappling hooks to drag the bottom of the ocean, but they came up short. (By sunrise, they had recovered seven bodies; recovery teams found three more bodies over the next three days.)
Navy divers using underwater equipment searched the bottom of the ocean on February 10.
The resulting explosion on impact was so massive that its heat scorched human flesh to the aircraft's seat covers.
Federal Aviation investigators worked to reconstruct the accident - a challenging task since the aircraft lacked an indestructible flight data recorder or "black box."
No data recorder meant the Civil Aeronautics Board had to rely on testimony, radio recordings, and a best guess on experience.
During his testimony, the captain of Pan Am Flight 212 said: "The clearest recollection I have at this point is seeing a bright row of cabin window lights - a great number of them. My impression was that the aircraft was in a vertical bank or close to a vertical bank and that I was looking at the right-hand cabin light on the side of the fuselage. I felt as though I saw a silhouette of the aircraft standing on its right wing. The aircraft passed over my aircraft at an altitude of something below 500 and maybe above 200 (feet). . . shortly after the crossover of the other aircraft we saw a very large red glow emanate from behind ... while we were still in the left wing-down condition turning to the new heading (360°). We were able to see the fire on the water."
The investigation concluded that the planes were at a safe distance. (Vertically 1,200 to 1,700 feet apart and three to four miles laterally.)
Distances can be very deceptive in the air; because of this, they recognized the possibility that the captain of Eastern Airlines Flight 663 may have believed an in-air collision was imminent, and to avoid it, he may have swung the aircraft into its fatal fall. (Eastern Airlines Flight 663 was turning away from the background lights of the Long Island shore and into a black area, so there was no horizon available to assist the crew in determining the relative altitude of the target airplane.)
The FAA reported that the captain of Easter Airlines Flight 663, given the illusion of a mid-air collision course, had acted appropriately in initiating the evasive maneuver.
The Douglas Aircraft Corporation manufactured the DC-7B (Registration #N849D) on May 1, 1958. The one-million-dollar propeller plane was delivered to Eastern Air Lines, Inc., in Miami, Florida, on May 15, 1958, with 9:05 hours on the aircraft. (By the time of the crash, Eastern Airlines was already phasing out the four-motor, piston-driven DC-7B.)
Captain Frederick Robert Carson (age 41)
Passengers included Thomas A. Moynihan of 142 Pineywood Street, Southwick, Massachusetts, who boarded the doomed flight in New York. The 38-year-old father of five was reportedly traveling on business to Charlotte, NC, for a brief single-night stay. (Moynihan was a foreman, technical supervisor, and research manager of the band saw department at the American Saw and Manufacturing Company of East Longmeadow. He was in the company's employ for more than 13 years.)
Thomas and his wife, Doris Lucille (Avery), had twins Jeffrey and Jerald (seniors at Southwick High School at the time) and Peter T., Susan E., and Paul A. (A baby or child, Jeanette Marie Moynihan, died on October 8, 1960.)
Doris was born in Springfield on July 12, 1927. For many years, she owned the former Ebb Tide Motel
at Misquamicut. She died in a Rhode Island hospital on June 16, 2003.
Thomas and Doris married on February 10, 1947. He was a World War II veteran who served in the United States Navy; she became a talented actress in local theater. Thomas was a former member of the American Legion Post 338 and the Southwick Lions Club.
A memorial service for Thomas Moynihan was held at 11:00 a.m. on February 17, 1965, at the Southwick Congregational Church.
Flight 663 was popular among business executives. Also onboard were two promising opera stars and a former beauty queen.
1. Mrs. Hylan Adams, Greenville, SC (heading home)
2. G. A. Assaf, Columbia, SC
3. Mrs. G.A. Assaf, Columbia, SC
4. J. Bawden
5. Morris Berg
6. Klaus H. Betterton, Columbia, SC (heading home)
7. B. Block
8. I. Block
9. Ralph E. Brookshire Jr., Simpsonville, SC (destination Greenville, SC)
10. Stanley W. Bubriski (destination Richmond, VA)
11. William Bullard
12. Carl H. Buck (destination Richmond, VA)
13. H. Caravati, Richmond, VA
14. Marcia Childress, Richmond, VA
15. J. Conrad, Stamford, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
16. Philip C. Cook (destination Richmond, VA)
17. Robert Craig, Bloomfield, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
18. D. Crissman (destination Richmond, VA)
19. R. Chille
20. Matt Callas, Danbury, CT
21. J. Daniels, Portland, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
22. Edward Davis, Brooklyn
23. Mr. G. Dickey Petersburg, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
24. Joseph D. Dimaria, Providence, RI (destination Richmond, VA)
25. Mrs. D. J. Donaldson, Whiteplains, NY (destination Richmond, VA)
26. C. Franz (destination Richmond, VA)
27. Robert P. Frigon, Attleboro, MA
28. Lillian Garabedian (destination Greenville, SC)
29. Capt. Venancio A. Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
30. Mrs. Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
31. Infant Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
32. S. Garrett (destination Greenville, SC)
33. Thomas Garvie, Beechhurst, NY
34. Joan Gavoorian, Medford, MA (destination Greenville, SC)
35. D. H. Gettinger, Columbus, OH (destination Greenville, SC)
36. Mrs. Robert R. Grimrod, Greene, NY (destination Greenville, SC)
37. Billie E. Hahn, Bayport, Long Island
38. H. Horton (destination Richmond, VA)
39. R. Hoskins (destination Richmond, VA)
40. Mrs. Arthur Hunstein, Elmont, Long Island
41. Ralph Klein, New York City (destination Richmond, VA)
42. Mrs. Ralph Klein, New York City (destination Richmond, VA)
43. S. Ledoux (destination Richmond, VA)
44. S. Ray Long, Manahin, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
45. C. R. McDonald (destination Richmond, VA)
46. Patrick McMahon (destination Richmond, VA)
47. L. Martel (destination Richmond, VA)
48. James Massenburg, Richmond, VA
49. W. Mellick, New Canaan, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
50. Ravon V. Miller, Charlotte, NC (heading home)
51. Tom Moynihan, Southwick, MA
52. Gregory C. Neehan, Queens Village
53. Mrs. Murray Nemeroff, Queens (destination Greenville, SC)
54. Mrs. N. Pease, Eastchester, NY
55. Derwood L. R. Phipps, Lewisboro, NY (destination Richmond, VA)
56. P. Piduch, Richmond, VA
57. W. H. Powell, Waynesboro, GA
58. W. H. Powell III, Waynesboro, GA
59. D. Ramacco (destination Richmond, VA)
60. J. H. Reinhart (destination Richmond, VA)
61. Mrs. E. Rivas, Jamaica, NY
62. Mrs. Ida Rosen*, Brooklyn, NY (destination Greenville, SC)
63. R. Salmon
64. George R. Samuel
65. 2nd Lt. O. A. Sanda (destination Richmond, VA)
66. Mr. J. Schumacher, Masaspequa Park, Long Island
67. Jerry Suckle, Rydal, PA (destination Richmond, VA)
68. Selig Suckle, Chase City, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
69. H. Thompson, Ardsley, NY
70. John M. Torre, Smithtown Branch, Long Island
71. E. Twaits (destination Richmond, VA)
72. Carl H. Wagner, Queens Village
73. Miss B. Waldrop, Laurens, SC (destination Greenville, SC)
74. Nelson M. White Jr., Greenville, SC (heading home)
75. Dr. Ennion S. Williams, Richmond, VA (heading home)
76. R. F. Warren, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
77. Bruce Wirth (destination Richmond, VA)
78. W. P. Woodrow (destination Richmond, VA)
79. Roy D. Woodward, Lynnfield, MA (destination unknown)
New York ARTCC to JFK Control Tower (6:19 p.m.)
"All right, at three miles north of Dutch is Clipper [Pan American Flight] 212 descending to 4,000."
(A minute later, the Eastern Airlines Flight 663's aircraft rose over the ocean).
New York ARTCC to JRK Control Tower
"How does he shape up with that boy coming in . . . the guy at his 1 o'clock position?"
JFK Control Tower to New York ARTCC
"We're above him." (In reality, Flight 663 was well below Pan Am Flight 212 at the time—but the JFK air traffic controllers corrected their error almost instantly.)
JFK Control Tower to Pan Am Flight 212
"Traffic at eleven o'clock, six miles, south eastbound, just climbing out of three [3,000 feet]. (In reality, Pan Am Flight 212 was above Eastern Airlines Flight 663, descending from 5,000 feet.)
Pan Am Flight 212 to JFK Control Tower
"We have traffic."
JFK Control Tower to Pan Am Flight 212
"Uh ... affirmative, however, not on my scope at present time."
Pan Am Flight 212 to JFK Control Tower
"Is he still on the scope?"
JFK Control Tower to Pan Am Flight 212
"No sir."
JFK Control Tower to Eastern Airlines Flight 663
"Traffic two o'clock, five miles, northeast bound, below you."
Eastern Airlines Flight 663 to JFK Control Tower
(abt. 6:25p.m.)
"Okay. We have the traffic (Pan Am Flight 212 approaching to land). Turning one seven zero, six six three... good night."
Pan Am Flight 212 to JFK Control Tower
"Yeoh!"
(23-second time lapse)
Pan Am Flight 212 to JFK Control Tower
"Uh ... OK. We had a near miss here. Uh ... we're turning now to ... Uh ... three six zero and ... Uh ... did you have another target in this area at the same spot where we were just a minute ago?"
JFK Control Tower to Eastern Airlines 663
"Goodnight, sir."
Pan Am Flight 212 to JFK Control Tower
"It looked like he's in the bay then, because we saw him. He looked like he winged over to miss us and we tried to avoid him, and we saw a bright flash about one minute later. He was well over the top of us, and it looked like he went into an absolute vertical turn and kept rolling."
Air Canada Flight 627 to JFK Control Tower
"There's a big fire going out on the water here about our two o'clock position right now. I don't know what it is. It looked like a big explosion."
As you will see, the captain of Pan Am Flight 212 later estimated that the two aircraft had passed between 200 and 500 feet of each other. (In comparison, the first officer estimated the distance between 200 to 300 feet.)
Eastern Airlines Flight 663 crashed almost vertically into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean: 6.5 nautical miles south-southwest of Jones Beach, Long Island, New York. The impact created a massive fireball.
 |
| Eastern Airlines Flight 663 |
Aftermath
The moon made an appearance.
Fifteen ships rushed to the crash scene as eleven helicopters skimmed low over the surface and dropped flares. They illuminated the search area with floodlights while rescue divers waited at the ready to plunge into the icy water should there be any sign of survivors. There were none, as the aircraft was destroyed on impact, killing everyone onboard.
 |
| Debris from Flight 663 |
Soon after, the body of a little boy appeared. Next, a section of the cockpit floated up. As rescuers began to lift it out of the water, the headless body of a crew member plopped into the water.
The next day, Coast Guardsmen used grappling hooks to drag the bottom of the ocean, but they came up short. (By sunrise, they had recovered seven bodies; recovery teams found three more bodies over the next three days.)
Navy divers using underwater equipment searched the bottom of the ocean on February 10.
The resulting explosion on impact was so massive that its heat scorched human flesh to the aircraft's seat covers.
The Investigation
Federal Aviation investigators worked to reconstruct the accident - a challenging task since the aircraft lacked an indestructible flight data recorder or "black box."
No data recorder meant the Civil Aeronautics Board had to rely on testimony, radio recordings, and a best guess on experience.
During his testimony, the captain of Pan Am Flight 212 said: "The clearest recollection I have at this point is seeing a bright row of cabin window lights - a great number of them. My impression was that the aircraft was in a vertical bank or close to a vertical bank and that I was looking at the right-hand cabin light on the side of the fuselage. I felt as though I saw a silhouette of the aircraft standing on its right wing. The aircraft passed over my aircraft at an altitude of something below 500 and maybe above 200 (feet). . . shortly after the crossover of the other aircraft we saw a very large red glow emanate from behind ... while we were still in the left wing-down condition turning to the new heading (360°). We were able to see the fire on the water."
The investigation concluded that the planes were at a safe distance. (Vertically 1,200 to 1,700 feet apart and three to four miles laterally.)
Probable Cause
Distances can be very deceptive in the air; because of this, they recognized the possibility that the captain of Eastern Airlines Flight 663 may have believed an in-air collision was imminent, and to avoid it, he may have swung the aircraft into its fatal fall. (Eastern Airlines Flight 663 was turning away from the background lights of the Long Island shore and into a black area, so there was no horizon available to assist the crew in determining the relative altitude of the target airplane.)
The FAA reported that the captain of Easter Airlines Flight 663, given the illusion of a mid-air collision course, had acted appropriately in initiating the evasive maneuver.
The Aircraft
The Douglas Aircraft Corporation manufactured the DC-7B (Registration #N849D) on May 1, 1958. The one-million-dollar propeller plane was delivered to Eastern Air Lines, Inc., in Miami, Florida, on May 15, 1958, with 9:05 hours on the aircraft. (By the time of the crash, Eastern Airlines was already phasing out the four-motor, piston-driven DC-7B.)
The Crew
 |
| Carson, Dunn, Lord, Durkin |
First Officer Edward Robert Dunn (41)
Second Officer Douglas George Mitchell (24)
Stewardess Judith Ann Durkin (23)
Stewardess Linda Lord
The Southwick Connection
Passengers included Thomas A. Moynihan of 142 Pineywood Street, Southwick, Massachusetts, who boarded the doomed flight in New York. The 38-year-old father of five was reportedly traveling on business to Charlotte, NC, for a brief single-night stay. (Moynihan was a foreman, technical supervisor, and research manager of the band saw department at the American Saw and Manufacturing Company of East Longmeadow. He was in the company's employ for more than 13 years.)
Thomas and his wife, Doris Lucille (Avery), had twins Jeffrey and Jerald (seniors at Southwick High School at the time) and Peter T., Susan E., and Paul A. (A baby or child, Jeanette Marie Moynihan, died on October 8, 1960.)
Doris was born in Springfield on July 12, 1927. For many years, she owned the former Ebb Tide Motel
at Misquamicut. She died in a Rhode Island hospital on June 16, 2003.
Thomas and Doris married on February 10, 1947. He was a World War II veteran who served in the United States Navy; she became a talented actress in local theater. Thomas was a former member of the American Legion Post 338 and the Southwick Lions Club.
A memorial service for Thomas Moynihan was held at 11:00 a.m. on February 17, 1965, at the Southwick Congregational Church.
Thomas Austin Moynihan
December 10, 1926 - February 8, 1965
Flight 663 was popular among business executives. Also onboard were two promising opera stars and a former beauty queen.
Passenger List
(as released by Eastern Airlines)
Note: the destination is Charlotte, NC, unless otherwise noted
1. Mrs. Hylan Adams, Greenville, SC (heading home)
2. G. A. Assaf, Columbia, SC
3. Mrs. G.A. Assaf, Columbia, SC
4. J. Bawden
5. Morris Berg
6. Klaus H. Betterton, Columbia, SC (heading home)
7. B. Block
8. I. Block
9. Ralph E. Brookshire Jr., Simpsonville, SC (destination Greenville, SC)
10. Stanley W. Bubriski (destination Richmond, VA)
11. William Bullard
12. Carl H. Buck (destination Richmond, VA)
13. H. Caravati, Richmond, VA
14. Marcia Childress, Richmond, VA
15. J. Conrad, Stamford, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
16. Philip C. Cook (destination Richmond, VA)
17. Robert Craig, Bloomfield, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
18. D. Crissman (destination Richmond, VA)
19. R. Chille
20. Matt Callas, Danbury, CT
21. J. Daniels, Portland, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
22. Edward Davis, Brooklyn
23. Mr. G. Dickey Petersburg, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
24. Joseph D. Dimaria, Providence, RI (destination Richmond, VA)
25. Mrs. D. J. Donaldson, Whiteplains, NY (destination Richmond, VA)
26. C. Franz (destination Richmond, VA)
27. Robert P. Frigon, Attleboro, MA
28. Lillian Garabedian (destination Greenville, SC)
29. Capt. Venancio A. Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
30. Mrs. Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
31. Infant Garcia, Craig AFB, Selma, AL
32. S. Garrett (destination Greenville, SC)
33. Thomas Garvie, Beechhurst, NY
34. Joan Gavoorian, Medford, MA (destination Greenville, SC)
35. D. H. Gettinger, Columbus, OH (destination Greenville, SC)
36. Mrs. Robert R. Grimrod, Greene, NY (destination Greenville, SC)
37. Billie E. Hahn, Bayport, Long Island
38. H. Horton (destination Richmond, VA)
39. R. Hoskins (destination Richmond, VA)
40. Mrs. Arthur Hunstein, Elmont, Long Island
41. Ralph Klein, New York City (destination Richmond, VA)
42. Mrs. Ralph Klein, New York City (destination Richmond, VA)
43. S. Ledoux (destination Richmond, VA)
44. S. Ray Long, Manahin, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
45. C. R. McDonald (destination Richmond, VA)
46. Patrick McMahon (destination Richmond, VA)
47. L. Martel (destination Richmond, VA)
48. James Massenburg, Richmond, VA
49. W. Mellick, New Canaan, CT (destination Richmond, VA)
50. Ravon V. Miller, Charlotte, NC (heading home)
51. Tom Moynihan, Southwick, MA
52. Gregory C. Neehan, Queens Village
53. Mrs. Murray Nemeroff, Queens (destination Greenville, SC)
54. Mrs. N. Pease, Eastchester, NY
55. Derwood L. R. Phipps, Lewisboro, NY (destination Richmond, VA)
56. P. Piduch, Richmond, VA
57. W. H. Powell, Waynesboro, GA
58. W. H. Powell III, Waynesboro, GA
59. D. Ramacco (destination Richmond, VA)
60. J. H. Reinhart (destination Richmond, VA)
61. Mrs. E. Rivas, Jamaica, NY
62. Mrs. Ida Rosen*, Brooklyn, NY (destination Greenville, SC)
63. R. Salmon
64. George R. Samuel
65. 2nd Lt. O. A. Sanda (destination Richmond, VA)
66. Mr. J. Schumacher, Masaspequa Park, Long Island
67. Jerry Suckle, Rydal, PA (destination Richmond, VA)
68. Selig Suckle, Chase City, VA (destination Richmond, VA)
69. H. Thompson, Ardsley, NY
70. John M. Torre, Smithtown Branch, Long Island
71. E. Twaits (destination Richmond, VA)
72. Carl H. Wagner, Queens Village
73. Miss B. Waldrop, Laurens, SC (destination Greenville, SC)
74. Nelson M. White Jr., Greenville, SC (heading home)
75. Dr. Ennion S. Williams, Richmond, VA (heading home)
76. R. F. Warren, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
77. Bruce Wirth (destination Richmond, VA)
78. W. P. Woodrow (destination Richmond, VA)
79. Roy D. Woodward, Lynnfield, MA (destination unknown)
* mother of Mrs. Murray Nemeroff