Pan American Flight 843 Loses an Engine and Half of its Wing!

On Monday, June 28, 1965, Clipper Friendship, a Boeing 707-321B operated as Pan American Airlines Flight 843 departed from San Francisco International Airport carrying 143 passengers and 10 crew members on a scheduled flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Under the command of Captain Charles Kimes, 44, Pam AM Flight 843 was climbing out after takeoff with First Officer, Fred Miller, 48, at the controls. Moments after the Boeing 707 left the runway, at an altitude of only 800 feet, Flight 843 suffered from an uncontained engine failure. The number-4 engine exploded, rupturing the right outboard fuel tank and igniting fuel that was now spewing out of the right wing. The outboard engine then tore away from the wing, taking over 30% of the right wing alng with it…

The number-4 engine fell away from the stricken airliner, falling towards the city below, falling through the roof of a cabinet shop in San Bruno, and slashing through a wooden beam, the jet engine then penetrated an 8-inch thick concrete wall and came to rest on a mound of soil.

The large 25-foot section of Flight 843’s wing came down on Grand Avenue in South San Francisco, starting a grass fire as it was drenched in burning fuel that was meant to bring Flight 843 across the Pacific. Another 6-foot section of the wing came to rest in Holy Cross Cemetery and a final charred chunk of Pan Am's engine exhaust slammed into the backyard of a housing area, also in South San Francisco. No injuries were reported on the ground.

Now bleeding fuel, trailing smoke and fire, and missing almost half of its right wing, Captain Kimes radioed San Francisco International tower

"I don't know whether I can keep it in the air or not.”

The crew of Flight 843 managed to extinguish the wing fire, then performed an immediate emergency diversion to Travis Air Force Base with what was left of their aircraft.

The emergency extension of the landing gear was performed manually as Flight 843 was on final approach to Travis AFB with a full complement of Air Force Crash trucks waiting for the Pan American 707.

Now only 34 minutes after Flight 843 departed San Francisco International, Flight 843 touched down gracefully with all 153 souls on board without a scratch. The professional conduct of the flight crew and the successful landing of Clipper Friendship was described as nothing short of a "miracle" by the media.

With the passengers of Flight 843 now stranded at Travis AFB, Pan Am quickly dispatched another 707 to Travis to collect the weary passengers and continue across the Pacific.

Well, that was the plan…but most unfortunately, as the second Pan AM 707 touched down at Travis, the nose gear collapsed on the runway dropping the nose of the airliner onto the ground as the aircraft screeched along the runway surface in full view of the shocked awaiting passengers of Flight 843…