Passengers 31 Fatalities 25 Aircraft type Convair CV-240 Number of deaths 25 Injuries (nonfatal) 9 | Crew 3 Survivors 9 Date 15 August 1958 Summary Pilot error Location Massachusetts | |
Site Near Nantucket Memorial Airport, Massachusetts Destination Nantucket Memorial Airport Similar 1958 London Vickers Vi, 1958 Channel Airways d, 1958 Central African Ai, 1958 Dan‑Air Avro York, KLM Flight 607‑E | ||
Northeast Airlines Flight 258 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New York's La Guardia Airport that crashed while trying to land at Nantucket Memorial Airport, Massachusetts, at 11:34 on the night of August 15, 1958. All three crew-members and 22 of the 31 passengers were killed, among them Gordon Dean, former chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
The accident aircraft, a Convair 240, commenced a non-precision VOR approach to the uncontrolled airport despite the fact that visibility, at one-eighth of a mile in fog, was below the legal minimum required for such an approach. The aircraft flew into the ground a third of a mile short of the Runway 24 threshold and some 600 feet to the right of the extended centre-line. A post-crash fire ensued; most survivors as well as many of the dead were ejected from the wreckage.
A Civil Aeronautics Board investigation found that the captain of the aircraft failed to acknowledge transmissions warning him of the deteriorating weather conditions in the minutes before the crash. The CAB also criticised Northeast's training and operational procedures, noting deficiencies in aircrew proficiency, recordkeeping and monitoring of company radio frequencies.