Northeast Airlines DC3 Crash Site

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On November 30th, 1954, Northeast Airlines Flight 792, a twin-engine Douglas DC-3 departed Laconia, NH, at 10:37am bound for Berlin . Onboard were pilot Peter Carey, first officer George McCormick, stewardess Mary McEtrick, superintendant John C. McNulty, and three passengers: James Harvey, William Miller, and Daniel Hall.

The 35 minute flight became delayed when snow squalls around Berlin dropped visibility to near zero and closed the airfield. The plane, off-course and low on fuel, attempted to fly by instruments to the airfield anyway. Approaching from the southeast at 120 mph, the bare summit of Mount Success loomed into view. The pilot pulled the nose sharply up and converted the plane's imminent head-on crash into a belly landing in the dense evergreens just south of the summit. He had also flipped a switch to shut off all electrical power and prevent an explosion. Had the plane been a few hundred feet higher, they would have cleared the ridge and been able to proceed to Berlin as scheduled. Were it not for the quick thinking of the pilot, the head-on crash would have likely caused the fuel on-board to explode, killing all seven people on-board.

All seven people on-board survived the initial crash. McNulty and McCormick were knocked unconscious. While McEtrick cared for the two unconscious crew, Miller, Harvey, and Hall, along with the badly injured pilot Carey, worked to extinguish the left engine which had caught fire in the crash. The right wing and engine had been ripped off and came to rest a few hundred feet down the hillside. With daylight fading and conditions worsening, the survivors huddled together between seats to keep warm. During the night, McNulty and McCormick died from their injuries.

The next morning, the five survivors managed to build a fire to keep warm and restored electrical power enough to send a brief radio message. This is likely what saved them. The weather continued to be poor and the pilot was beginning to stiffen up from his injuries. No one knew where they were. They spent another night huddled together in the plane.

The morning of December 2 was clear, however, and McEtrick was finally able to see that they had crashed just below a broad, rocky summit. The passengers assembled a flag out of aluminum strips torn from the fuselage and blue fabric from the seats. When a plane finally appeared, they signaled with the flag and were spotted. More planes overflew them and finally a large Air Force helicopter was able to land on the summit. The five survivors were transported to the hospital in Berlin and treated for injuries and exposure from their ordeal.

The wreckage of Northeast Airlines Flight 792 is still in evidence today if you know where to look. Many prize pieces of wreckage have been carried off by scavengers in the past 50 years, but the main fuselage, wings, and tail are still quite recognizable. The main wreckage lies just south of the southern summit of Mount Success along the eastern boundary of the Appalachian Trail corridor. There are a set of rough blazes parallel to the AT which can be followed to a small glade where the remains of the plane still sit.

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planecrashinfo.com/1954/1954-51.htm