Delta Air Lines Flight 723

Delta Air Lines Flight 723 was a DC-9-31 twin-engine jetliner, registration N975NE, operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Burlington, Vermont to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, with an intermediate stop in Manchester, New Hampshire. On July 31, 1973 at 11:08AM, while on an ILS instrument approach into Logan in low clouds and fog, the aircraft descended below the glidepath, struck a seawall with a landing gear and crashed, killing all but two of its 89 occupants. Both survivors later died of their injuries.

Aircraft

The DC-9-31, registration N975NE, serial number 47075, was manufactured in September 1967 and had 14,639 flight hours at the time of the accident. The jetliner was one of the aircraft that Delta acquired in their 1972 merger with Northeast Airlines, to whom the aircraft was originally delivered.

Accident sequence

The aircraft, flying at , had been vectored by Boston's approach control to intercept the final approach course to the ILS runway 4R approach at a 45 degree angle,According to the NTSB report, 30 degree is the normal recommended maximum ILS intercept angle near the outer marker. about outside the outer marker. As it was later revealed, the controller was busy handling a potential collision conflict between two other aircraft, and therefore neglected to clear Flight 723 for the approach. The flight crew had to ask the...
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