747, Pan AM, 1971, KSFO

[PRB]

I'm reading this book called “747” by Joe Sutter. He was the lead engineer for that project, and he wrote the book to tell the story of the development of that plane. At one point, while making the case that the 747 was not “over engineered”, or that it was, but for a good reason, he mentioned an accident in 1971 involving a Pan AM 747 which wiped out a bunch of approach lights while taking off from San Francisco. The damage was quite extensive, main gear tore out, approach light steel beams driven into the plane's cargo area and cabin, three out of four hydraulic systems taken out, etc. But the ship landed and nobody died, although there were injuries. I hadn't heard of this accident before so I went Googling and found this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl_wXfSwRzM

Wow!