American Airlines Flight 383 was a nonstop flight from New York City to Cincinnati on November 8, 1965. The aircraft was a Boeing 727, with 57 passengers, and 5 crew on board. The aircraft crashed on final approach to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport located in Hebron, Kentucky, United States. Only three passengers and one flight attendant survived the crash. Aircraft The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-100 (registration number N1996), serial number 18901. The Boeing 727 was delivered to American Airlines on June 29, 1965, and had operated a total of 938 hours at the time of the accident. Events leading to the crash The flight was delayed for 20 minutes in New York. Until the landing attempt, the flight from New York to Cincinnati was uneventful. At 18:45 (6:45 PM) Eastern Standard Time, the crew contacted the airline via ARINC company radio to report a 19:05 (7:05 PM) estimated time of arrival at Cincinnati. The weather was fine near the airport except for thunder clouds developing northwest of the airport across the Ohio River valley. At 18:57 (6:57 PM), Flight 383 was cleared by the approach controller for a visual approach to Cincinnati's runway 18 (now runway 18C), and was advised of precipitation just west of the airport. The aircraft approached the airport from the southeast and turned to a northerly heading to cross the Ohio River. It turned west after crossing to the northern shore of the Ohio River, intending to make a final turn to southeast after crossing the Ohio River (which runs from northwest to southeast) again to the southern shore of the river. After that final turn, the aircraft would line up with the runway 18 of the airport to make the final approach. At 18:58 (6:58 PM), the approach controller transferred Flight 383 to the Cincinnati tower frequency. At 18:59 (6:59 PM), Flight 383 received clearance from the tower controller to land on runway 18. Crash The aircraft flew into thick clouds and a thunderstorm after flying toward the airport from the northwest. It descended more rapidly than it should have, without either pilot in the cockpit noticing. The airport is situated at an elevation of and the aircraft had descended to the level of above the airport while it was still about northeast of the airport. It descended to just 3 ft (per altimeter) above the airport while it was about 3