Air Canada Flight 257

C-FTMK at Vancouver International Airport, Canada

### Stopover

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, KY, United StatesUnited States

### Survivors

39

Air Canada Flight 257 was a regular scheduled McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 flight operated by Air Canada from Toronto Pearson International Airport, ON, Canada with a stopover in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, KY, United States, to Cancún International Airport, QI, Mexico. On July 21st, 1979, Air Canada 257 crashes into a residential home at 1:06 PM, 12.6 kilometers northwest of Cancún Airport killing 74, 67 of them are Canadian citizens and the other 7 are American citizens.

## Backround of C-FTMK

The plane operating the flight is an McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 that was delivered on December 7th, 1968, registered C-FTMK. On June 12th, 1974. Air Canada Flight 721 operating the same plane was approaching to Charlotte International Airport, NC, United States when all of a sudden, a loud **BOOM!** was heard.

### CVR of AC 721

Captain: **AIR CANADA 721, Charlotte, approach plans?**

ATC: **AIR CANADA 721, Cleared to land at Runway 3-6 Center**

Captain: **AIR CANADA 721, Roger, Clear to land Runway 3-6 Center**

4 seconds after the ATC contact..

**BOOM!**

Captain and F/O: **Oh! What the hell was that?**

F/O: **Engine 1 is losing power! What the F\*\*\* is going on?**

F/O: **Charlotte AIR CANADA 721, Mayday! Mayday!**

ATC: **AIR CANADA 721, clear to land at any Runway.**

Captain: **OK, copy that!**

**minutes go by**

Captain: **Come on plane! FLY**

GPWS: **500**

F/O: **I see the Runway!**

GPWS: **400**

Captain: **S\*\*\*! Make it!!**

GPWS: **300, 200**

F/O: **Whoa, little high rate of descending, eh?**

GPWS: **100 (cuts here) 40, 30, 20, 10.**

Captain: **My f\*\*\*\*\*g god! Finally that hell of a ride is over!**

F/O: **Good we didn't crash... Let's park this plane next to the firetrucks...**

-**-End of Recording--**

After Flight 721, the NTSB and Canada's TSB investigated the incident and came to a conclusion that one of the engine fan blades was damaged.

Anyway, back to Air Canada 257!

## Toronto Pearson International Airport and Departure

Air Canada Flight 257 was parked at Terminal 2 with an Air Canada 727 parked next to it heading to Winnipeg.

After a few minutes, the boarding starts at 10:50 AM. Today, 108 passengers and 5 crew members are heading to Cancún for a summer vacation.

During boarding, an Air Canada DC-9 to Seattle taxis past Flight 257's gate.

The captain of today's flight is Richard "Rick" Thompson Murry, aged 49. He survived the crash with a left arm injury and retired in March 1983 with 12,327 total flight hours, 9,632 of which on the DC-9. He's an experienced captain

The first officer is Thomas "Tom" Gefferdson, aged 37, who unfortunately died in the hospital after having severe burns. He had ranked up 6,954 total flight hours, 227 of which on the DC-9. He was a junior pilot to the DC-9 whose dream was to fly the DC-9 but he lost his life while flying it. **R.I.P** him and 73 others

There were 87 Canadian citizens, 18 Americans citizens, 5 Mexicans, 1 Cuban refugee, 1 German tourist and 1 British tourist onboard Flight 257. The German and Brit are European tourists flying to Cancún for the summer.