Clipper Victor
| Clipper Victor | |
|---|---|
| |
| A Pan Am Boeing 747, similar to Clipper Victor. | |
| Other name(s) | Clipper Young America |
| Type | Boeing 747-121 |
| Manufacturer | Boeing |
| Construction number | 19643 |
| Registration | N736PA |
| First flight | December 24, 1969 |
| Owners and operators | Pan American World Airways |
| In service | 1970 to 1977 |
| Fate | Collided with a KLM 747 on March 27, 1977 in the Tenerife airport disaster |
Clipper Victor was a Boeing 747-121 which began service with Pan American World Airways in 1970. It was the first Boeing 747 to operate a scheduled commercial service and is notable for its brief but significant history.[citation needed]
The aircraft's tail number was N736PA, and Clipper Victor was its original name. Renamed Clipper Young America, N736PA was the first Boeing 747 to make a commercial flight, flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to London Heathrow Airport, after the planned aircraft (N733PA, originally also named Clipper Young America) developed a mechanical problem.[1]
In its first year of service, N736PA also became the first 747 to be hijacked.[2] It left JFK for San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 1:07 am on August 2, 1970, with 359 or 360 passengers and 19 crew.[2] One hour and forty minutes later, a young man named R. Campos produced a gun and a bottle that he claimed contained explosives and hijacked the airplane to Havana, touching down at Jose Marti Airport at 5:31 am.[2] The first 747 to land in Cuba, it was met by Cuba's Premier Fidel Castro.[2]
On March 27, 1977, Clipper Victor was destroyed in the world's deadliest aviation accident, the Tenerife airport disaster, when a KLM Boeing 747 attempted to take off at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, Canary Islands without clearance from the airport's air traffic controllers and collided with Clipper Victor on the runway. Out of the 396 people on board Clipper Victor, 335 were killed.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ↑ UPI (22 January 1970). "Trouble plagued 747 lands in London with 352 aboard". The Bryan Times. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "A Day of "Firsts"". Pan Am Historical Foundation.
External links[edit]
- Clipper Victor accident on PanAmAir.org
- Clipper Victor accident on PanAmAir.org old site
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