Boeing 707 crash on takeoff - California - crew survive . .

[bizjets101]

Omega Air B707 tanker with 158,000 pounds of jet fuel - crashed on takeoff at Pt. Magu Naval Base just North West of Los Angeles, California. The crew of three - survived with minor injuries.

KTLA Local News

http://www.omegaairrefueling.com/vms/

[Changes in Latitudes]

NTSB sends team to investigate California crash of commercial refueling jet contracted to Navy

POINT MUGU, Calif. (AP) - A commercial aerial refueling tanker that burned on a Southern California Navy base experienced an engine fire during a takeoff attempt, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

The NTSB released no other details of how the accident occurred but said it had dispatched a team of investigators to the Naval air station at Point Mugu, where the four-engine jet was destroyed Wednesday.

The three-member crew escaped. The Naval Base Ventura County public affairs office initially said all three had minor injuries, but on Thursday spokesman Vance Vasquez said that only one actually was hurt.

The safety board said the Boeing 707 was registered to Omega Air Inc., a San Antonio, Texas-based contractor that uses converted civilian airplanes to provide aerial refueling services to the military.

A Federal Aviation Administration registry database shows that the aircraft was manufactured in 1969 and listed its engines as being from Pratt & Whitney. The NTSB said representatives from the FAA, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and the Navy Air Safety Center were participating in the probe.

According to an Omega website, the Boeing 707 was a former Pan American passenger jet that began flying as the world's first commercial aerial refueling tanker in 1999 and was certified in 2001 to refuel every kind of Navy and Marine Corps tactical aircraft.

The website said another company, Omega Aerial Refueling Services Inc. of Alexandria, Va., was created in 2004 to manage the refueling program and lease tankers from Omega Air.

Omega also has another Boeing 707 and a DC-10 that were converted to air tankers. Derivatives of both types of aircraft are also used by the U.S. Air Force in its aerial refueling fleet, where they are designated KC-135 and KC-10, respectively.

In addition to contracting to refuel U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, Omega said it has conducted refueling flights for Australian, British and Canadian aircraft.

Omega Aerial Refueling Services President W. Stewart Orr declined comment when reached by phone Wednesday night.
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Status: Preliminary
Date: 18 MAY 2011
Time: 17:25
Type: Boeing 707-321B
Operator: Omega Air Refueling
Registration: N707AR
C/n / msn: 20029/790
First flight: 1969
Engines: 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Airplane damage: Written off
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Port Hueneme-Point Mugu NAS, CA (NTD) (United States of America)
Phase: Takeoff (TOF)
Nature: Military
Departure airport: Port Hueneme-Point Mugu NAS, CA (NTD/KNTD), United States of America
Destination airport: ?
Flightnumber: 70
Narrative:
Went off the left side of runway 21 into a marsh area and caught fire.

[bizjets101]

N707AR B707-321B Omega Air Refueling

Aircraft had quit the history;

20 Jan 69 B707-321BA line number 790, was rolled out at Renton Reg: N892PA
20 Feb 69 First flight
04 Mar 69 Delivered to Pan Am as Jet Clipper Star King
01 Dec 69 Aborted takeoff due to bird strike and lost of #2 engine at Sydney. Extensive damage PHOTO after aborted takeoff
27 Jan 70 Test lfight after repairs by Boeing at Qantas Jet Base
30 Jan 70 reentered service
22 Mar 80 Removed from service, ferried to and placed in storage at Marana with 33,707 hours
29 May 81 Still at Marana. Total hours: 33,741 Cycles: 11,297
24 Mar 83 Purchased by Global International Airlines
20 Sep 83 Repossessed by Pan Am and placed in storage at JFK. 34,463 hours, 11,480 cycles
Feb 84 Resale of aircraft approved by federal bankruptcy court
03 May 84 Purchased by Falcon Aircraft International
08 May 84 Leased by New World Travel Club
23 May 84 returned to Falcon Aircraft International and ferried JFK-Marana for storage
26 Jun 84 Ferried Marana to Santa Barbara for hush kit modifications
Apr 85 Reregistered N729Q and modified with hush kit. Model number changed to 707-321BA(Q)
Jun 85 Leased by Senter AIr
Jul 85 Returned to Falcon and leased to Skystar International
05 Feb 87 Grounded by FAA for failing to maintain an adequate supply of spares
1987 Returned to Falcon and leased to Royal Atlantic Airways
05 Jun 87 Subleased to National Express to operate flight from JFK to LAX, MIA, and HNL. Aircraft painted but never flown for National Express
03 Sep 87 Returned to Royal Atlantic. Ferried to Stansted for installation of oak paneled library
15 Dec 87 Inaugurated Standset-JFK service. Ths was the only service flown
Jan 88 Returned to Falcon
15 Jun 88 Purchased by Jetran. Leased same day to PLUNA
Mar 91 Returned to Jetran. Purchased by Comtran and placed in storage in San Antonio
30 Apr 92 Purchased at San Antonio by Resolution Trust Co.
29 Jul 94 Purchased by Wilmington Trust Co.
1995 Purchased by Omega Air
19 Jun 95 Leased, reregistered EL-AKS by Liberian government. Ferried Shannon-Bucharest. All white color scheme. Placed in storage
25 Jun 96 Ferried Bucharest-Shannon
10 Jul 96 Returned to Omega Air at Shannon and reregistered N707AR
11 Jul 96 Ferried Shannon-Phoenix-Mojave for tanker modifications. Tracor did the tanker modifications and certification, Derian did system integrations, Able worked on the hoses and aerial refueling pumps, and West Coast Netting did the hose and drogue
29 Aug 96 Ferried Mojave-Phoenix enroute to Shannon with incomplete refueling boom. Omega Air Tanker Transport titles
01 Sep 96 Ferried to Farnborough for display at air show
Has been in storage in between contracts - at Mojave since July 1996.