First fatal Boeing 737 plane crash saw US figure skating wiped out as 73 people killed

dailystar.co.uk:

crash of a Boeing 737 plane resulted in the United States’ entire figure skating team being tragically killed, along with 55 more people.A total of 73 people died after the plane travelling from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, crashed into the ground 62 years ago to the day (February 15), including a young farmer working on the ground who was killed by a piece of aluminium debris.Only one person was left alive but injured, a Belgian field worker who had part of his leg amputated by flying debris from the crash.READ MORE: Flight just 'five seconds from disaster' after 1,400ft horror plunge towards oceanThe plane bizarrely crashed less than three miles from Brussels Airport, despite being flown by two pilots each with more than 20 years of flight experience, who never reported any problems during the seven-and-a-half hour transatlantic flight.To this day, investigations have not determined an exact cause of the horrific crash.Several possibilities were examined, with the FBI even suspecting terrorism at one point.Authorities eventually agreed that the most likely explanation was a mechanical failure of one of the flight control mechanisms, but there was insufficient evidence to say for certain which mechanism had failed.The US’ figure skating team were travelling to Prague, Czech Republic, via Brussels with family, friends, coaches and officials for the World Figure Skating Championships.Despite several teams already being in Prague when the crash happened, organisers decided to cancel the tournament out of respect for the loss of the US team.Some of the biggest names in figure skating were on the fatal plane, including nine-time US ladies' champion Maribel Vinson-Owen and her two daughters Laurence Owen, 16, and her.