Tragedy at Sacramento: Emery Flight 17 Crashes
Flight 17 took off from Sacramento with 101,000 pounds of cargo. Seventeen seconds later, the crew radioed they were returning. The DC-8 had lost two engines on the right side during takeoff. They couldn't maintain altitude with asymmetric power. The plane crashed into an automotive recycling yard three miles from the runway. All three crew members died. The yard was empty — it was Sunday. The NTSB found catastrophic metal fatigue in both engines. They'd been operating past their safe life limits.
February 16, 2000
26 years ago
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