Pan Am Jet Clipper Good Hope runway crash November 1986

Composite image of damage to Pan Am Airlines’ Clipper Good Hope following a collision with a Piper aircraft in November 1986. Gandy Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

The remains of the Piper aircraft sit on the taxiway following a collision with a Pan Am jet in November 1986. Gandy Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

One of the enduring legacies of the Gandy photography collection at the University of South Florida is to allow viewers a window into the past, whether for tragedies, celebrations, architecture, or civic milestones. It offers an unfiltered lens on Tampa’s social, cultural, and news history. Some stories may be familiar, but the only images the public has seen are grainy photographs in a newspaper. Gandy’s photographs restore the sharpness, detail, and immediacy of those moments—revealing the expressions on faces in a crowd, the architectural details of a long-demolished building, or the raw emotion in the aftermath of a disaster.

On the foggy morning of November 6, 1986, an Eastern Airlines pilot commuting to work flying a twin-engine Piper aircraft mistook the taxiway for the runway during his second attempt to land at Tampa International Airport. He collided with the nose of the Boeing 727 Pan Am Clipper Good Hope aircraft flight 301, igniting the small plane into a ball of flame as it skidded under the larger craft’s wing. The small plane’s pilot, William S. Bain, was killed instantly. Twenty-three people on the larger jet sustained minor injuries.

Aerial photograph of Pan Am Airlines’ Clipper Good Hope and a Piper aircraft following a collision with a Piper aircraft in November, 1986 Gandy Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

Damage to Pan Ams Clipper Good Hope following collision with a Piper aircraft in November, 1986. Gandy Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

Composite image of Pan Am Airlines Clipper Good Hope sitting on the taxiway following a collision with a Piper aircraft in the fog in November 1986. Gandy Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection