When I was young I saw a 727 go into Lake Michigan. We had wreckage washing up on the shore for quite a while. While this is a different situation as there were likely radio calls made from the airplane after it's landing, so it is it quite possible it was largely in tact after landing, I am guessing when I say, it would likely be shedding pieces that would wash up from time to time, even it were washed off of the reef mostly in tact.
NTSB Identification: DCA66A000214 CFR Part 121 Scheduled operation of UNITED AIR LINES INC
Aircraft: BOEING B-727, registration: N7036U
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FILE DATE LOCATION AIRCRAFT DATA INJURIES FLIGHT PILOT DATA
F S M/N PURPOSE
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1-0030 65/8/16 LAKE MICHIGAN ILL BOEING B-727 CR- 6 0 0 SCHED DOM PASSG SRV AIRLINE TRANSPORT, AGE
TIME - 2021 N7036U PX- 24 0 0 42, 17142 TOTAL HOURS, 82
DAMAGE-DESTROYED OT- 0 0 0 IN TYPE, INSTRUMENT
RATED.
OPERATOR - UNITED AIR LINES,INC.
TYPE OF ACCIDENT PHASE OF OPERATION
COLLISION WITH GROUND/WATER: CONTROLLED IN FLIGHT: DESCENDING
PROBABLE CAUSE(S)
MISCELLANEOUS - UNDETERMINED
FACTOR(S)
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS - AIRCRAFT CAME TO REST IN WATER
FIRE AFTER IMPACT
REMARKS- N7036U CRASHED INTO LAKE MICHIGAN.
Index for Aug1965 | Index of months
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Most experts thought that the pilot misread the altimeter by 10,000 feet, see attached image of the type of altimeter that was in use. In this image, the "minute" hand shows 180 feet and the "hour" hand which is really the "thousand foot" hand and shows zero "thousands" so the altimeter might be reading on 180 feet. but the triangle above the "1" is the "ten thousands" foot hand so the actual reading is 10,180. Apparently the 727 pilots didn't notice that the "ten thousands" foot pointer on their altimeter was not on the "1" but was on the "0."
There is an error in the attached image. The "barber pole" area seen at the bottom of the image should not be visible and should be covered by a shutter connected to the "ten thousand" foot pointer and is completely covered by this shutter above 10,000 feet so should not be shown in the image. As you descend below 10,000 feet, more and more of this barber pole area becomes visible and is there to warn the pilots that they are descending through the last 10,000 feet down to sea level. The pilots apparently did not notice this additional warning. Because the possibility of mis-reading these three pointer altimeters, jets today have switched to drum type altimeters like the second attached image.
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