The flight accepted the clearance and stated it would remain at 14,000feet a little longer. James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard station at New Orleans, said the plane might have exploded when it struck the water. Thats not necessarily so. He was not a licensed MD, and his license to practice naturopathy had been revoked in 1957. Radar operators at a military station at Houma, Louisiana, picked up the flight at 12:46 AM. I've never heard of this and I love aviation mysteries. The aircraft was crossing an area of severe weather and possibly flew into a waterspout. Suddenly his strange behavior all made sense to her--her hapless ex-husband was a puppet, under Dr Spearss spell. Pertinent details are: William Allen Taylor, of Tampa, Florida, disappeared November 15, 1959, after telephoning his employer he would be late for work. During this period an underwater television camera was lowered twice on the contact from the VIGOR but only marine life was observed. Taylor, investigators discovered, was wanted in Washington DC and Philadephlia under a variety of assumed names at the time of his disappearance. Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. Texas International walked away from their foiled attempt with a multi-million dollar stock profit and was poised for Lorenzo's next venturesa startup airline in the high-density East coast corridor (New York Air), and subsequent acquisition of Continental Airlines. With this information, Mrs Taylor's lawyer called the Tampa police department and the newspapers. The cause was suspected to have been an attempted case of Insurance fraud; . From January 9, 1960 to January 15, 1960, the U.S.S. The line between the airports does. This website uses cookies. The scenes in this video are from the documentary series Air Crash Investigation.None of them belong to me.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_. Taylor's not going to let himself get talked into something as crazy as getting on a plane that's about to blow up. Some small quantity of clothing and other personal effects and several mail bags were also found. Select the responses you agree with. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. The tower is about 30 miles west of the crash site. Forty-two people were on board, and less than 1% of the wreckage was recovered. Spears disappeared after the accident but was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, with Taylor's car in January, 1960. National Airlines records do not show a ticket issued in his name and he was not carried on their records as a passenger on Flight967. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD-KVCT) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. Crew qualifications and experience were amply high in all respects and an investigation disclosed no irregularity in this connection. Quickly purchase historical reports delivered via email. National Airlines operated the first two legs between Miami and Tampa, and Tampa and New Orleans. It turned out Mr Taylor was not just a gullible friend of Dr Spears--he was a criminal himself, Spears partner in crime for many years. [] Then you also have to think about the fact that Al Taylor was his friend since 1928. She also said she had begged him to turn himself in but he refused. American Airlines Flight 320 was a scheduled flight between Chicago Midway International Airport and New York City's LaGuardia Airport.On February 3, 1959, the Lockheed L-188 Electra performing the flight crashed into the East River during its descent and approach to LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. [1], Investigators learned that William Taylor, a fellow felon and longtime criminal accomplice of Spears,[1] had boarded Flight 967 using a ticket made out to "Dr. Start your trial now! Sun 4/2. 03 hrs 40 mins . After several decades of false names, new identities, fresh starts, abandoned wives, abandoned lives--he had spent the last years running "a lucrative underground abortion business". There was no radio message of impending trouble. Flight crew []. After forging several checks, he had skipped town and completely abandoned his first family. Due to lack of evidence, however, Spears was never charged with any offense in relation to the Flight 967 crash. 432 in 1951, 905 in 1955, 1041 in 1960, 2663 in 1965, 2643 in 1970, 3865 in 1975. Taylor apparently agreed to this, and boarded the flight that night with nothing more than a briefcase containing the dynamite. But where had he been? [Some context here: In the 50s, life insurance vending machines were commonplace in airports. Immediately they concentrated their efforts on this area, eventually retrieving: "nine bodies, a portion of a tenth body, five life rafts, five life vests, and a highly diversified quantity of buoyant debris.". Dr Spears (who was calling himself Dr Rhodes) had tried to file down the numbers on the cars registration numbers and had even used dynamite to damage the car's crankcase. Flight hour logbooks will be required at time of your Flight Assessment for verification. * Lockheed Super H Constellation Taylor's body was not among those recovered. The Flightpath. Frank E. Todd of Miami, the pilot, radioed his last message at 12:44a.m. Spears immediately said he had made the whole thing up after the reporter had pressured him to tell him something new. November 16, 1959: National Airlines Flight 967 on a flight from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Investigation has disclosed certain details in regard to a last minute boarding of the aircraft at Tampa by a person using another person's ticket. He also had convictions for drunk driving and drug possession. Robert Vernon Spears, a nationally known naturopathic doctor from . Cheapest ticket price on Dubai to Toronto Skycraft Air Transport flight air ticket at MakeMyTrip UAE. I was kind of expecting to hear Spears was somehow involved in JFK's assassination. Explosive decompression makes a plane crash look like the plane was blown up with a large bomb, but minus any larger pieces of wreckage as well as explosive residue proving it. No seat belt abrasions were found. Otherwise, the loading of the aircraft was normal with the center of gravity located within prescribed limits and the gross weight some 11,000pounds under maximum permissible for takeoff. BOLIVIA, N.C. (WECT) - Shortly after 2:31 a.m. on Jan. 6, 1960, the peaceful night sky over the mouth of the Cape Fear River was rocked by a large blast. National Airlines merged with Pan Am in 1980. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. This indicated to him that the explosion took place after the plane hit the water. Such a bummer. DL967 Flight Tracker - Track the real-time flight status of Delta Air Lines DL 967 live using the FlightStats Global Flight Tracker. Search and rescue aircraft spotted scattered debris and a number of bodies in the vicinity of the last radar return, about 35 miles east of Pilottown, Louisiana; the remains of 10 individuals were eventually located. There was nothing immediately remarkable about Dr Spears. The only noteworthy observation from the gate agent in Tampa was "a man in a brown or tan suit, carrying a newspaper but no luggage, hurrying toward the Flight 967 gate right at closing time". A strong sharp contact, definitely bottom and metallic, was made at position 2911.6'N, 8838.2'W at a depth of 245feet. In this interview, he told a completely different story about what had happened. Track N967WN flight from Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport to Reagan National Note the use of the word accident, which is used throughout the report. Logan points out that much of the public demonization of Spears resulted from the fact that he performed abortions--something that is viewed very differently in todays political discourse. A considerable amount of the floating debris also exhibited signs of burning but only above waterlines. * Douglas DC-7B I can understand him taking out an insurance policy. "[citation needed]. The passenger manifest for Tampa-New Orleans listed 36passengers. Rescuers went out in aircraft and boats, arriving before dawn and still combing the cold, rough seas as the sun came up. Economy. According to Alan C. Logans book, Taylor had also met with Frank in New York (though Logan does not explain why). February 1, 1960 LINK. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Taylor apparently then he called his boss at the tire company and asked for the next day off work. Acknowledging "there is little or no physical evidence on which to explain this accident", the CAB was forced to conclude, after nearly three years of investigation: Because of lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. Great attention to detail. . A personalized flight-following experience with unlimited alerts and more. This position is six miles south and about five miles east of the radar-observed descent. According to the hotel staff, Taylor was talking about boarding a flight to Dallas--the waitress specifically remembered making small talk about Dallas. No seat belt abrasions were found. 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD . For most of its existence the company was headquartered at Miami International Airport, Florida. Posts about National Airlines Flight 967 written by The Flightpath. On October 5, 1945 National Airlines Flight 16, a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar (registered NC18199) crashed into a lake near Lakeland, . Please note . Mrs Spears replied that she had not. With so many tantalizing details about Spears and Taylor, its easy to forget we know next to nothing about this plane crash. Investigators found less than 1% of its structural components and no conclusive evidence that a bomb was used. I think the plane crashing was more or less a red herring in this case. At 0014, while between Crab and NL1, the flight received the 0600 New Orleans weather from National Flight968, which was: "M700 overcast; 2-1/2 miles visibility; very light drizzle; fog; temperature 54; dewpoint 52; wind northeast 3; altimeter 30.14; ceiling ragged; obstruction lights out of service; see NOTAMS.". She called Spearss wife (who was still grieving at that time) and asked if she had seen or heard from Taylor. Delta Air Lines was scheduled to operate the flight between New Orleans, and its next stop, Dallas, TX, where American Airlines was to take over and operate the same aircraft from Dallas nonstop to Los Angeles. A problem was discovered (broken window . If it had been, I doubt there would be much mystery as to what happened. Turska participated in a few interviews about the case--notably in Life Magazine--in which he played the part of a bemused bystander. That crash remains officially unexplained also. * Douglas DC-10-10/30, AviationExplorer.com - The Website For Aviation Enthusiasts, NATIONAL AIRLINES HISTORY FACTS AND PICTURES, Aviation Military and Police Phonetic Alphabet, NTSB Aviation Accidents From Last 10 Years, High Resolution Military Aviation Desktop Wallpapers. Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. The other plane crash remains unexplained despite the apparent presence of dynamite and that it happened over land where, presumably, most or all of the wreckage was recovered. This search was also unsuccessful. The ultimate flight tracking suite for small aircraft/general aviation (GA) owners and operators. November 10 of 1958, National became the first airline to introduce domestic jet service in the United States, with a flight between Miami 's international airport and Idlewild International Airport in New York. Tampa Police Detective John C. Daniels was among those who did not buy the hypnosis theory: Taylor was in debt over his head. Another friend of Taylor reportedly told police that he had seen Al Taylor on Christmas Eve, 1959, in a crowd of Christmas shoppers in Nashville, Tennessee. There are a thousand ways of connecting the dots, and a thousand other explanations out there. He was cleared by the New Orleans Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC - ZNO) located in the terminal building at New Orleans Lakefront Airport to descend to and maintain 5,000 feet and to report leaving 8,000 feet.