In 1959, an almost new Braniff L-188 Electra II aircraft, Lockheed’s first jet powered turbo-prop airplane, was flying from Houston to New York via Dallas.  After its brief stop in Dallas, the Electra II approached a line of thunderstorms near Buffalo, Texas.   At about 11pm in the evening, the aircraft suddenly disintegrated in the sky. 

A Northwest Airlines L-188 crashed a few months later over Indiana and there were peculiar similarities between the two crashes.  Both airplanes were essentially brand new and both lost their wings and disintegrated in the sky and rained parts of the aircraft over a large area.  People began to speculate that the L-188 was a death ship and some even made jokes that tickets weren’t sold on Electra flights, just chances.

These events and others made people afraid to fly the aircraft and there was a movement to ground the airplanes until the cause was found.  Instead, speed limits were imposed and a crash program initiated to find the problem or problems with this aircraft.  Nonetheless, Lockheed saw its good fortunes change to bad and the L-188 never saw the kind of commercial success that was Lockheed’s custom.

It was eventually discovered that the airplane had a problem with “whirl mode” flutter.  Because of the way the engine was mounted, certain gyroscopic movements of the engine weren’t adequately damped by the engine mounts and wing structure.  When these movements “coupled” with other harmonics of the airplane, the engine tore the wing apart in just seconds.  Ironically, the problem was solved primarily by placing weights on strategic parts of the mounts which then both dampened and changed the harmonic vibrations.

Despite that, a version of this airliner flies today as the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.  What is more remarkable is that NOAA flies two of these aircraft as “hurricane hunter” airplanes.  These planes have the mission of flying directly into and out of hurricanes at a variety of altitudes and speeds.  When a hurricane such as the one approaching the Florida Keys right now (Hurricane Ike / 2008) come along, these aircraft fly this mission into violent winds and rapidly changing conditions several times a day and they are not specially reinforced to withstand any greater loads except on their deck and only to hold the heavier loads of their instruments.

Ultimately the Electra II survives to still fly more than 50 years after its first flight and more than 45 years after its fatal flaws were discovered. 

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