the flare as the co-pilot preferred. In this particular instance, the captain was piloting the landing and said, "All right. Give them to me on the flare. I have given up." This was not the pilots' usual routine. Sixty feet from the runway, the captain began to reduce power in preparation for the flare and said "Okay" to the first officer. The first officer immediately deployed the spoilers on the flare instead of just arming them. The aircraft began to sink heavily and the captain, realizing what had happened, pulled back on the control column and applied full thrust to all four engines. The nose lifted, but the aircraft still continued to sink, hitting the runway with enough force that the number four engine and pylon broke off the wing, and the tail struck the ground. Realizing what he had done, the first officer began apologizing to the captain. Apparently unaware of the severity of the damage inflicted on the aircraft, the crew managed to lift off for a go-around, but the lost fourth engine had torn off a piece of the lower wing plating and the aircraft was now trailing fuel, which ignited. The first officer requested a second landing attempt on the same runway but was told it was closed (because of the debris the DC-8 had already shed) and was directed to another runway. Two and a half minutes after the initial collision, the outboard section of the right wing above engine number four exploded, causing parts of the wing to break off. Six seconds after this explosion, another explosion occurred in the area of the number three engine, causing the combined pylon and engine to break off and fall to the ground in flames. Six and a half seconds after the second explosion, a third explosion occurred, destroying most of the right wing, out to the wing tip. The aircraft then went into a violent nose dive, striking the ground at a high velocity of about and killing all 100 passengers and the nine crew members on board. Wreckage, body parts, bits of clothing and personal effects were strewn for more than beyond the impact spot. The plane dug a furrow eight or ten feet deep, less than from the home of the Burgsma family, in which 10 persons lived, with the crash explosion blowing in their windows. The crash occurred in a farm field located