Northeast Airlines Flight 823 /

Northeast Airlines Flight 823 was a scheduled flight departing from New York City's LaGuardia Airport en route to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida on February 1, 1957, but crashed shortly after takeoff. The equipment used on this flight was a Douglas Aircraft Company DC-6A four-engined propeller airliner, registration N34954, first placed into service in 1955. While originally scheduled to depart at 2:45pm, delays due to snowfall pushed departure back to 6:01pm. At takeoff, with a nearly full complement of 95 passengers and 6 crewmembers (3 flight crew & 3 stewardesses), the plane weighed in at 98,575 pounds, just 265 pounds below maximum takeoff weight. Despite some sliding of the nosewheel on snow-covered pavement, the airplane was cleared to take off via runway 04 (040° magnetic heading), departing to the northeast of the field. After what was described as a normal takeoff roll, the aircraft lifted off. Upon establishing a positive rate of climb, the landing gear and wing flaps were retracted, and the engine power was reduced to the maximum except for takeoff (METO) setting. The aircraft was now gaining altitude, flying on instruments without outside visibility as