the pilots of flight 826 to identify the Preston intersection, beyond which it had not received clearance. At 10:25 a.m., ATC issued a revised clearance for the flight to shorten its route to the Preston holding point (near Laurence Harbor, New Jersey) by . That clearance included holding instructions (a standard "racetrack" holding pattern) for Flight 826 when it arrived at the Preston intersection. Flight 826 was expected to reduce its speed before reaching Preston to a standard holding speed of or lower. However, the aircraft was estimated to be traveling at when it collided with the TWA plane, several miles beyond the Preston clearance limit. During the investigation, United Airlines claimed that the Colts Neck VOR was unreliable. Preston was the point where airway V123—the 050-radial off the Robbinsville VOR—crossed the Solberg 120-degree radial and the Colts Neck 346-degree radial. However, the Civil Aeronautics Board's final report found no problem with the Colts Neck VOR. The prevailing conditions were light rain and fog, which had been preceded by snowfall. Collision and ground impacts According to the DC-8's flight data recorder, the aircraft was off course, and for 81 seconds it descended at while slowing from more than to at the time of the collision. One of the DC-8's starboard engines struck the Constellation just ahead of its wings, tearing apart a portion of the fuselage. The Constellation entered a dive, with debris continuing to fall as it disintegrated during its spiral to the ground. The initial impact tore the DC-8's engine from its pylon. Having lost one engine and a large part of the right wing, the DC-8 remained airborne for another 90 seconds. The DC-8 crashed into the Park Slope section of Brooklyn at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place (), scattering wreckage and setting fire to ten brownstone apartment buildings, the Pillar of Fire Church, the McCaddin Funeral Home, a Chinese laundry and a delicatessen. Six people on the ground were killed. The crash left the remains of the DC-8 pointing southeast toward a large open field at Prospect Park, blocks from its crash site. An occupant in one of the affected apartment buildings said that his family survived because they were in the only room of their apartment that was not destroyed. The crash left a trench covering most of the length of the middle of Sterling Place. Witnesses thought that a bomb had