- ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date: April 01, 1956
Time: 1920
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Operator: Trans World Airlines
Flight #: 400
Route: Pittsburgh - Newark
AC Type: Martin 404
Registration: N40403
cn / ln: 14103
Aboard: 36   (passengers:33  crew:3)
Fatalities: 22   (passengers:21  crew:1)
Ground: 0
Summary: The aircraft yawed to the left and crashed shortly after takeoff after a fire warning occurred on the No.1 engine. The cause of the fire warning was a failed exhaust connector clamp in the left engine, which triggered an adjacent fire detecting unit. A windmilling left propeller, the extended landing gear, and the takeoff flaps produced sufficient drag to make the airplane lose altitude and strike the ground. An uncoordinated emergency action in a very short time available to the crew, which produced an aircraft configuration with insurmountable drag.
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