SIX KILLED IN CRASH OF BIG JET.

AIRLINER ON TRAINING HOP PLUNGES INTO OCEAN OFF LONG ISLAND.

NO PASSENGERS

$5 MILLION CRAFT 'ROLLED OVER AND OVER' BEFORE IMPACT.

Amagansett, N. Y. (AP) -- A $5 million jet airliner on a training flight rolled over in the air yesterday and crashed into the Atlantic ocean off the eastern tip of Long Island with a loss of six lives.
No passengers were in the plane.
The victims aboard the American Airlines Boeing 707 were three instructors and three jet trainees. There were no survivors.
Cause Still Unknown.
What caused the crash was not known immediately. Planes normally are put through more strenuous maneuvers on training flights than in regular passenger service.
The huge airliner, capable of carrying 179 passengers, had taken off from New York's Idlewild airport, about 100 miles west of here, and crashed at about 1:15 p.m., in clear weather.
"The plane rolled over and over," said Capt. FRANK WARD, a Montauk Point fishing boat owner, who saw the aircraft's last moments as he was driving west on Old Montauk highway.
"It straightened out and then I saw an engine on fire," he said. "It headed toward the ocean."
He said he drove to a point opposite where the plane crashed and ran to the beach.
"I saw nothing but wreckage," he said.
ADOLF NOTEL, who operates a restaurant near the crash site, said the plane broke into countless pieces, even to the extent that seats split in half.
Victims Are Listed.
Those aboard the plane were identified as:
Capt. LLOYD REINHARD, of Glen Cove, N. Y.
Capt. ROBERT HINMAN, of Sparta, N. J.
Capt. HAROLD ENGH, of Clinton Corners, N. Y., all instructors.
Capt. JOHN COYNE, of Sparta, N. J., trainee.
HOWARD STURDY, of Chicago, a flight engineer trainee.
The accident was the fourth involving a modern jetliner in the New York area in the last two years -- two of the planes on training missions. They cost 149 lives.
A jet airliner and a piston plane collided over New York last month with a loss of 134 lives.
A Mexican airliner with 105 persons aboard crashed on take-off last week with a loss of four lives.
Five men were killed on a training flight in a Long Island crash in 1959.
The Civil Aeronautics board in Washington said it had sent investigators from its New York office to the scene of yesterday's crash. It also was assembling a team of specialists from its Washington and regional offices.

Bridgeport Post Connecticut 1961-01-29
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!