February 25, 1964, Eastern Air Lines, Inc., Flight 3041 a DC-8, N8607, crashed in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, approximately 19 miles northeast of the New Orleans International Airport, at approximately 0205 c.s.t., February 25, 1964. All 51 passengers and the crew of seven were fatally injured. The flight, scheduled from Mexico City to New York City, with several intermediate stops, had just departed New Orleans at 0200.

Three minutes later the captain acknowledged a request to change radio frequencies, but no further communications were received from the flight. At 0205:40 the radar target associated with Flight 304 had disappeared from the scopes of both the radar controllers who were observing the flight. Moderate to severe turbulence existed in the area at the time of the accident. The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was the degradation of aircraft stability characteristics in turbulence, because of abnormal longitudinal trim component positions.