Date: 25 June 1975
Airline: Eastern Air Lines
Flight No.: 66
Aircraft: B727-100
Location: New York, NY
Fatalities: 115:124
Photographer: Unknown
The aircraft, on a flight from New Orleans to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, struck approach lights during a runway 22L ILS approach. The aircraft broke up and caught fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board's official accident report reads as follows: "The aircraft's encounter with adverse winds associated with a very strong thunderstorm located astride the ILS localizer course, which resulted in high descent rate into the non-frangible approach light towers. The flight crew's delayed recognition and correction of the high descent rate were probably associated with their reliance upon visual cues rather than on flight instrument reference. However, the adverse winds might have been too severe for a successful approach and landing even had they relied upon and responded rapidly to the indications of the flight instruments. Contributing to the accident was the continued use of runway 22L when it should have become evident to both air traffic control personnel and the flight crew that a severe weather hazard existed along the approach path."
