Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501

Common card · No. 362865

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 was a DC-4 operating its daily transcontinental service between New York City and Seattle when it crashed in Lake Michigan on the night of June 23, 1950. The flight was carrying 55 passengers and three crew members; the loss of all 58 aboard made it the deadliest commercial airliner accident in America at the time. According to the Civil Aeronautics Board report, the aircraft was at approximately 3,500 feet (1,100 meters) over Lake Michigan, 18 miles (29 kilometers) north-northwest of Benton Harbor, Michigan, when flight controllers lost radio contact with it soon after the pilot had requested a descent to 2,500 feet (760 meters). Numerous witnesses reported hearing engine sputtering noises and a flash of light around the time of the last radio transmission. A search was commenced by the Navy including using sonar and dragging the bottom of Lake Michigan with trawlers, but to no avail. The Coast Guard, using four large vessels, found and recovered considerable...

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