View source for KLM Flight 633

{{short description|1954 aviation accident}}

{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Accident
| name            = KLM Flight 633
| date            = {{start date|1954|09|05}}
| image           = Super_Constellation,_Heathrow,_1960_(299298405).jpg
| caption         = A KLM L-1049 similar to the one involved in the crash.
| type            = Mechanical failure
| site            = [[Shannon, Ireland]]
| passengers      = 46
| crew            = 10
| injuries        = 20
| fatalities      = 28
| survivors       = 28
| aircraft_type   = [[Lockheed Constellation|Lockheed L-1049C-55-81 Super Constellation]]
| aircraft_name   = ''Triton''
| tail_number     = PH-LKY
| operator        = [[KLM]]
| origin          = [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Schiphol Airport]], [[Amsterdam]]
| stopover        = Shannon, Ireland
| destination     = [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|Idlewild Airport]], [[New York City]]
}}
'''KLM Flight 633''' was a passenger flight from [[Amsterdam]] to [[New York City]]. On 5 September 1954, immediately after takeoff from [[Shannon Airport]], the Super Constellation Triton ditched on a mudbank in the [[River Shannon]]. 28 people were killed in the accident. It was caused by an unexpected re-extension of the landing gear, possibly compounded by pilot error.

== Triton disaster ==
The [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] [[Lockheed Constellation|Super Constellation]] ''Triton'' ([[Aircraft registration|registration]] PH-LKY) was piloted by {{interlanguage link|Adriaan Viruly|nl}}, one of the airline's most senior pilots. After a refuelling stop at Shannon, the plane took off for the transatlantic leg of the flight at about 02:40.<ref name=SvD>{{cite news |date=Sep 6, 1954 |title=25 dödsoffer vid flygkatastrof |trans-title=Death toll 25 at air disaster |url=https://tidningar.KB.se/1767385/1954-09-06/edition/11643/part/1/page/3/ |language=sv |journal=Svenska Dagbladet |volume=1954-09-06 |pages=3, 7 |access-date=May 27, 2020}}</ref> There were 46 passengers and ten crew on board. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot reduced power from maximum to METO (Maximum Except Take Off). The pilot was unaware that the landing gear was not retracted, and as result the aircraft descended to touch down in the Shannon estuary. It turned around on impact and broke into two sections.

The aircraft was partially submerged, and at least one of the [[Aircraft fuel tanks|fuel tanks]] had ruptured during the crash. The fuel fumes rendered many passengers and crew unconscious, who then drowned in the rising tide.<ref name=SvD/> In the end, three crew-members and 25 passengers perished.

Even though the crash occurred less than one minute after the plane took off from Shannon Airport, airport authorities remained unaware of the disaster until the mud-caked third pilot (navigator) of the craft, Johan Tieman, stumbled into the airport and reported, "We've crashed!" That was {{frac|2|1|2}} hours after the plane fell.<ref name=AB>{{cite news |date=Sep 6, 1954 |title=25 satt fastspända inne i katastrofplanet |trans-title=25 belted inside plane wreck |url=https://tidningar.KB.se/4112678/1954-09-06/edition/0/part/1/page/4/ |language=sv |journal=Aftonbladet |pages=4 |access-date=May 27, 2020}}</ref> Mr. Tieman had swum ashore and floundered painfully across the marshes to the airport, whose lights were clearly visible from the scene of the crash. It was not until 7 o'clock in the morning - {{frac|4|1|2}} hours after the crash - that the first launch reached the survivors, who were huddled on a muddy flat in the river.

== Cause of the accident ==
The official investigation concluded that the accident was caused by an unexpected re-extension of the landing gear and the captain's incorrect behaviour in this situation. Viruly, who had been only one year from retirement, rejected the responsibility for the crash and was bitter about his subsequent treatment by KLM. In an interview he later stated that there simply had not been enough time to react.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Portal bar|Ireland|Netherlands|Aviation}}
* {{ASN accident|id=19540905-0}}
* [http://www.aviacrash.nl/paginas/triton.htm Dutch site dedicated to the crash]
* {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608183144/http://www.dutch-aviation.nl/index7/index7-Ongevalsonderzoek.html|title=Dutch site dedicated to Viruly}}

{{Lockheed Constellation family}}
{{KLM Royal Dutch Airlines}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1954}}
{{Commercial ditchings}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Ireland}}

{{coord missing|Ireland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klm Flight 633}}
[[Category:1954 in Ireland]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1954]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Ireland]]
[[Category:KLM accidents and incidents|633]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents involving ditching]]
[[Category:1950s disasters in Ireland]]