On October 19, 1959, N7071, a Boeing 707, was on a demonstration and acceptance flight before being delivered to Braniff International Airways.

Captain John Berke, aged 49, was employed by Braniff International Airways and had logged 23,563 flight hours.

Captain Frank Staley Jr., age 43, was employed by Braniff International Airways and had accumulated 20,450 flight hours.

[3] The aircraft took off from Boeing Field at around 13:30 local time for a flight expected to last 4 hours and 15 minutes.

After takeoff a series of maneuvers were demonstrated by Baum after which Captain Berke executed them himself.

One of these maneuvers was the dutch roll which Baum initiated and Captain Berke then made recoveries from.

The aircraft spun around several times to the left, before the spinning settled as the plane was in an inverted position.

The left wing dropped and hit the ground, followed by the nose section, which was destroyed by the impact and ensuing fire, killing all 4 crew inside.

They determined that the accident was a result of the instructor pilot performing a dutch roll far too extreme.

The CAB determined that the probable cause of this accident was: The structural failures induced during an improper recovery attempt from a Dutch Roll which exceeded the angle-of-bank limits prescribed by the company.