On 25 Feb 1964 Spencer was a passenger on board Eastern Airlines flight 304 (originating in Mexico City) which departed New Orleans International Airport at 01:59 CST en route to New York with scheduled intermediate stops in Atlanta, Washington-National Airport. The plane, a Douglas DC-8-21, carried 58 passengers and crew. En route from Mexico City the pilot reported an inoperative pitch trim compensator, with the flight completed at reduced airspeed. It was flagged for scheduled repairs at Kennedy Airport upon completion of this flight. The plane reached an altitude of 4,000' and encountered moderate to severe shear wind turbulence, crashing into Lake Ponchartrain at 02:05 CST at a dive angle in excess of 20-degrees. CAB reported probable cause: "The board determined the probable cause of this accident was the degradation of aircraft stability characteristics in turbulence, because of abnormal longitudinal trim component positions." (CAB report File # 1-1006) There were no survivors. It ranks as the worst accident involving a DC-8 in history and the 48th worst aircraft accident in U.S. history as of 7 Mar 2007.
