Plane Crash in French Pacific Kills 17

July 22, 1973 was one of my birthdays. I remember seeing the reports comes in as the party began. Thankfully my grandfather, uncle, wife and various other relatives were not on or piloting that flight. Ocean landings are difficult even from 500 feet and I don't really blame the pilot for making a divot

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pan-Am-Flight-8...

barbara millar wrote:

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Actually you are wrong. There WAS one survivor, my cousin, a Canadian. He's alive and well now in Canada. B. Millar in Ottawa

Thanks, Barbara. That information could be important for a book I'm writing about Neill James Campbell. I welcome contact about Flight 816 and your cousin: sbanks@uidaho.edu. Many thanks.

This plane had some problems before landing at fAA.
The captain reported that there was some type of bubbling on the left side of the side panel in the cockpit & also that the windshield was replaced from cracking enroute to papeete. The flight was delayed for about 35 to 40 mintues.
There was a video & audio of this accident that was seen in the background. There was a party of some sort I think was a wedding ceramony or something like that was winding down & video camera was still rolling. you can see in the far distence a red explosion & with a large bang echoing sounding like plywood crackling apart
In all there was a total of 4 who actually did survive this accidnet that were resuced by some boats but 1 who made it to that mamao hospital in papeete. His name was Neil James Campbell from arn prior in canada. Roughly 3 years later he past away from a bus accident.

yeah there's always a guy related to the matter like yeah im cousins with that guy im freinds with guy yeah i nearly went there yeah i walked out of that it happened 15 minutes after i left the place "-_-

from what i remeber there was only 17 or 27 people who where found in the water. One of them was a crew member the co-pilot. all the others were never found. it was rainning lightly during this time on sunday night & into the morning hours to sun light.

acemorgan wrote:

This plane had some problems before landing at fAA.
The captain reported that there was some type of bubbling on the left side of the side panel in the cockpit & also that the windshield was replaced from cracking enroute to papeete. The flight was delayed for about 35 to 40 mintues.
There was a video & audio of this accident that was seen in the background. There was a party of some sort I think was a wedding ceramony or something like that was winding down & video camera was still rolling. you can see in the far distence a red explosion & with a large bang echoing sounding like plywood crackling apart
In all there was a total of 4 who actually did survive this accidnet that were resuced by some boats but 1 who made it to that mamao hospital in papeete. His name was Neil James Campbell from arn prior in canada. Roughly 3 years later he past away from a bus accident.

Can you say how you found out there were four initial survivors and, particularly, how you know the person who turned out to be the only one to live very long after the tragedy was named Neil James Campbell? I also wonder where I can find any report on the bus accident that killed Neil James Campbell. Thanks.

billt6 wrote:

I hate to hear of airplane crashes or any accidental loss of life. My regards to those affected by this.

Very bad indeed

Cloudwatch wrote:

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Very bad indeed

Very bad chut loves around.

La Depeche newspaper of Papeete, Tahiti has the newspaper coverage available to anyone to view following the crash. I too believe in crashed into the ocean rather than on the reef. For the newspaper, follow all copies for four months before the coverage seems to end. Follows the survivor's recovery as well. In French only. Photos of personal effects piled on the dock, deceased woman in water and photos of survivor.

One interesting side note, the Los Angeles Times, and I believe Time or Life magazine were the only other publications I could find which covered the crash the next day with brief articles (I am sure France has many). Ironically, also on the front page of the LA Times, it is interesting to note another article about the French setting off an atomic (?) bomb test seven hours before, on the island of Muraroa of the Tuamotu Islands (also part of French Polynesia), which I believe was about 750 km southeast of Tahiti. I tried looking into the possibility of a magnetic pulse from the test affecting the flight, but was unable to confirm, probably just something from my imagination.

I believe many of the people on board were going on vacation and could have very well been a student trip as referred to earlier, not sure. People from Tahiti did grab their boats to try and help retrieve items and bodies that night.

Spatial disorientation referred to as a possibility on the Panam site or other sources, may have referred to a red light or other marker rumored to be on Moorea for the pilots guidance, and that night a boat with a red light may have helped the pilot steer incorrectly into the ocean. The story though about the drinking pilots seems to make much more sense. You might imagine Panam attempting to cover up the real reasons for the crash. The other rumor listed as a possibility was failure of instrument during the turn. Not sure.

The Toronto Star of 25 June 1973 ran a feature article on the person identified as the sole survivor of Flight 816, including a photo of him in hospital. Some purported facts about the crash reported in that article are at odds with what I've read here.

Yank Oliver wrote:

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I was on the plane but jumped out with a parachute before it crashed.

That's the stuff the cops like to see, keep it up sucker LMFAO~!

lexiconefx wrote:

My grandfather was the pilot on 816. There are definately some claims here that I haven't heard before.

Robert Evarts was also my grandfather and I have not heard these claims. Though who is this?

Robert Evarts is also my Grandfather and I have been reading this chain to my mother who also has not heard many of these stories. BTW, who are you?

ALL THOSE WHO TORTURE AND HARM ME FROM PLANES AND HELICOPTERS SHALL ALL PERISH NOW FOR THIS IS MY WILL SO MOTE IT BE rite now rite now rite now GOD I PRAY YOU CRASH A PLANE EVERYDAY WITH THOSE WHO STALK AND HURT ME WITH ENERGY WEAPONS THIS IS MY ONLY PRAYER ONLY CURSE ONLY WISH GOD SO MOTE IT BE www.cointelpro.com www.electronictorture.com www.gangstalker.com KILL THEM FOR ME GOD KILL THEM ALL NOW FOR THIS IS MY WILL SO MOTE IT BE

SCREW CALIFORNIA THE HOME OF GANGSTALKING A TORTURING GOVERNMENT I WOLDNT SEND MY DOG TO CALIFORNIA. PIECE OF CRAP LAND FULL OF KILLER COPS AND THEIVING BEANERS WHO TAG AND TRASH THE STREETS. SCREW LA WHERE PEOPLE STALK AND TORTURE YOU WITH ENERGY WEAPONS SCREW THAT OVER RATED SMOG FILLED HAZARDOUS WASTE LAND. I WOULDNT SEND MY WORSE ENEMY TO THAT TINSEL CRACK TOWN. www.cointelpro.com www.electronicharassment.com www.gangstalker.com

Yank Oliver wrote:

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That's the stuff the cops like to see, keep it up sucker LMFAO~!

COP NUTS IN YOUR MOUTH. SUCKER NO ONE CARES WHAT COPS LIKE TO SEE COPS GET NO RESPECT. WHY DONT YOU EAT A ROTTEN COP MALE ORGAN PEANUT BUTTER TRICK. IF YOU ARE A COP THEN GO KILL YOOURSELF LIKE RIGHT NOW. lame sucker

Somehowsomewhere wrote:

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Thanks for this info. My uncle and his new wife were on that plane coming home from their honeymoon and I've been dying to find out who survived. Thanks

If this was the couple from the Mankato wedding, she was my dear friend as is her family. Don't know how to do this, but would love to chat with you. After the crash, returned to the same church for the memorial. Her wedding dress still hung in her closet door. Breaks my heart to this day.

Hello,
I was friends with the sole survivor Neil james Campbell while he lived in Cairnes and Sydney Austrlia. So far I haverecived an email with information about his 2011 phone number and address. However, the phone number is no longer in operation. If anyone has contact information more recent than April 2011 I would greatly appreciate receiving it. He was a dear friend and making contact would be wonderful.
Neil and I both left Australia to retun to our home land in 1973. I returned to the U.S. by Cruise Ship. I had heard of his survival but until internet have had no good way to contact him these almost 40 years.
Thank you for any help in my quest,
Dayle

(sorry for my bad written english)

One year before (30 june 1972) the french air force lost one of its boeing KC-135 n° 473 just after take-off at HAO (tuamotu_island close to mururoa), in similar conditions (one or more engines shut down /no more hydraulics/no controls; altrought crew made maximun efforts to drive it home, in vain)
As the aircraft sunk deep in the ocean with all its crew, no serious investigations could be made by french military.
By checking the engines on the second KC-135 on the ground, they report serious corrosions of its engines.
They concluded that could be the cause of the lost of the first one