| United Airlines Flight 624 |
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United Airlines Flight 624, a , 1948 at Mount Carmel , Pennsylvania . As a result of a what was believed to be a fire in the cargo hold, the plane was on an emergency descent when it hit a 60,000 volt power line and burst into flames then smashed through the trees of a wooded hillside. The crash killed the 4 crew members and 39 passengers including Broadway Theatre impresario Earl Carroll , and his girlfriend, actress Beryl Wallace , Henry L. Jackson, men's fashion editor of Collier's Weekly magazine, and Venita Varden Oakie, the former wife of actor Jack Oakie . The Douglas DC-6 plane had been grounded by Civil Aviation authorities for four months during the previous winter as a result of the fatal crash of United Airlines Flight 608 on October 24, 1947. It was determined that the crash had been caused by a design flaw that allowed vented fuel to be drawn into the heater air intake scoop that caused a fire in the cargo compartment. As a result, changes were made and a Fire Extinguisher system was installed on all DC-6 aircraft. However, the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into the June 17th, 1948 crash of Flight 624 revealed that after the fire extinguishers had been activated in the cargo hold in response to a fire warning in the cockpit, a design flaw in the newly-installed system allowed Carbon Dioxide from the extinguishers to seep into the cockpit which rendered the crew unconscious before they could land the plane. |
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