On Wednesday, December 23, 1964,
Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 arrived at
San Francisco International Airport from Japan. Filled with a cargo of electronic equipment, bolts of fabric, women's scarves, bandannas, purses, and costume jewelry for the
Christmas holiday, the craft was refueled and then departed just after midnight with a crew of three, of cargo, of mail, and 5,000 gallons of high-octane
aviation fuel. There crewmen aboard were:
pilot Jabez A. Richards, 49, of Bayhead, New Jersey; Daniel W. Hennessy, 33, of Hillsborough, California, as co-pilot, and Paul M. Entz, 37, of North Hollywood, California, as
flight engineer. The weather was heavy
fog and rain. A large
cold front was moving onshore; it had already caused the loss of a
Coast Guard helicopter. Going northwest from
San Francisco Bay, Flight 282 was to head out over the ocean to circle and gain altitude, then travel east toward its destination of
JFK International Airport in
New York City. Shortly after takeoff, however, the plane veered to the left of its planned course. The pilot subsequently asked the
tower for permission to change his radio setting from takeoff to departure frequency. Seconds later, the plane vanished from the tower's radar scope. The "Super Connie" crashed near the top of Sweeney Ridge in
San Bruno, very close to the site of a Coast Guard radio station. All three crew members aboard were killed. No one on the ground was killed or injured. The
Civil Aeronautics Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was that the pilot, for undetermined reasons, deviated from departure course into an area of rising terrain, where downdraft activity and turbulence affected the ability of the craft to climb. ==References==