These are the tales of those who experienced the aftermath of the deadliest tragedy in United States. [2][7] The plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95ft (29m) wide and 279ft (85m) long. The subsequent negotiations resulted in a reduction of the weight of passengers and baggage and the charter flight was scheduled. . First Officer: Speed a little fast, looks good. New coach Jack Lengyel, Marshall University students, and Thundering Herd football fans convinced acting Marshall president, Donald N. Dedmon, to reconsider cancelling the program in late 1970. I learned QNH and to compare the ATIS-reported barometer setting with what I saw in the Kollsman window when I got into the plane and set the altimeter to the field elevation, so that I could correct for an imperfect altimeter when I got a destinations setting very early; this was in a military-based flying club, but I never got the impression the civil schools on the other side of the field, or anyone elsewhere in the northeast US, used QFE. Mendel: does modern TAWS (aka EGPWS) have a terrain database, or only an airfield database? Theres also the point that neither the crew nor the charter coordinator thought it was a big deal that the approach plate was out of date. This could be built into the planes so that this info is automatically displayed, along with a warning if the approach is closer to the ground than it should be. There were no survivors when Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed on Nov. 14, 1970. : 1 At the time of the accident, the Southern Airways . At 7:36pm, Southern Airway Flight 932, a chartered DC-9 carrying the Marshall University Football Team, crashed on approach to Huntington Tri-State Airport killing all 75 people on board. The latter does relate to the terrain surrounding the airport. "Kenova to dedicate crash memorial Monday." Il velivolo coinvolto era un Boeing 737-222, marche N9031U, numero di linea 19069, numero di serie 75.Vol per la prima volta il 24 settembre 1968 e venne consegnato a United Airlines il 30 settembre. On the other hand, when the investigators dropped the barometric altimeter from a height, the indicated altitude increased by about 1,000 feet. What you refer to has been in use for a very long time, especially in the miltitary, in the form of PAR or Precision Approach Radar. Hired in 1965, he held his commercial pilot certificate and had 5,872 hours, of which 1,196 were on the DC-9. Its beginning to lighten up a little bit on the ground here at ah seven hundred feet. Perhaps. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) in Ceredo, West Virginia.At 7:35 pm on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) in Ceredo, West Virginia. A modern TAWS has a terrain database and wouldve anticipated the impact, and also knows about glide paths. The first officer was clearly rounding so he may have called out shortly before or shortly after he believed that they had achieved those heights, adding another unknown factor. However, we can certainly see steps towards modern aviation when looking at the conclusion and the recommendations. Jeppesen also had VFR only sets. We kept Europe and Eastern Europe, our area of operations brought us frequently behind the Iron Curtain. This quote from the accident report is particularly interesting because later, the report concedes that it isnt at all clear that the first officer was calling out an airspeed here. Similarly, the use of out-of-date charts, laughed off by the crew as normal, wasnt followed up on in the recommendations, other than a vague statement that the FAA should keep a closer eye on airlines. [21], November 14, 2013, marked the first time that Marshall had played a road game on an anniversary of the disaster. The unit has sustained considerable impact damage to the electronics package, but there was no damage within the stainless steel case of the tape magazine. The landing gear was lowered but no statement was made by either crew member in the cockpit. Improved highways and an increasing willingness among passengers to drive to airports farther away for more convenient flights made many of Southern's routes obsolete. Malfuntion? The Chairman of the NTSB said of the accident: If it hadnt been for those trees, he probably would have made it. "[7]:36 At least one source says that water that had seeped into the plane's altimeter could have thrown off its height readings, leading the pilots to believe the plane was higher than was actually the case. 0. A VFR flight plan had to be filed. [10], The crash of Flight 932 so devastated the local community that it almost led to the discontinuation of Marshall's football program. First Officer: No, not yet. Welcome to the Southern Flight 932 Memorial Website! [15], Marshall University President John G. Barker and Vice President Dedmon appointed a memorial committee soon after the crash. Some points you make are plausible, but it seems that few readers understand: Well, we did find it, that was not the problem. [21] The ceremony featured guest speakers Dawson and Hardin. Itd be interesting to know which airports they were used to flying to, and how much experience they had with mountain operations. (bolding mine). southern airways, inc., dc-9, n97s, operating as charter flight 932, crashed during a landing attempt at the tri-state airport, huntington, west virginia, at approximately 1936 e.s.t., on november 14, 1970. all 75 occupants, including 71 passengers and four crewmembers, were fatally injured. The second and third calls are closer to the height over the terrain, that is, those could have been done using the radio altimeter. The A350 was performing a flight from Delhi to Doha as flight QR-579 when the occurrence forced it to divert to Karachi. The captain responded to ask, Is that the approach? The minimum descent altitude of 1,240 feet would be 400 feet above the runway (what Rudy and I would call the MDH). First Officer: Bug and five. Reading the report, there are some unexpected omissions in how the NTSB handled the investigation. The NTSB chairs comment amplifies what someone (Mendel?) The radio altimeter was used during Cat 2 or Cat 3 approaches. Categories: Aviation accidents and incidents in 1970. Then there was the annual checklist. The 2015 EUROCONTROL Terrain and Obstacle Data Manual mandates a 3 arc second grid that gets more accurate closer to airports. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field near Kenova and Ceredo, West Virginia. The larger folded airway charts still would arrive by mail. that the aviation industry continue to focus on the unique demands for crew coordination and vigilance during non-precision approaches, particularly with emphasis on developing area navigation systems with vertical guidance capability and heads-up display. The point I am trying to make is: If a crew wants to do something that is legal, but not conform to normal standard practise, at least they should have discussed it before initiating the approach. They were not, the captain had a lot of experience dating back to post-war pioneering days. I find this only slightly better than an explanation that the plane crash was caused by impact with the trees, to be honest. Your email address will not be published. This meant that at the critical decision altitude his eyes had already made the transition. [13][14], The Marshall University football team only won two games during the 1971 season, against Xavier and Bowling Green. On a precision approach we use either DA or DH, same principle. That game did not occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am the daughter of Danny Deese, Charter Coordinator for Southern Airways Flight 932. That the FAA evaluate the need for the installation and use of ground proximity warning devices on air carrier aircraft. A second possibility is that he was not using his barometric or radio altimeter, but rather was relying solely on the first officer for altitude information. CHip, an old-style GPWS wouldnt have helped, as the aircraft was already configured for landing, with gear down and flaps 25. All seventy-five that had been on the plane were pronounced dead at 7:36 pm on November 14, 1970 when the plane had clipped a tree on its landing, crashing into the woods. Although the Safety Board has been unable to determine the probable reason for the unrecognized descent below MDA in this instance, the Board wishes to reiterate its concern with the general problem of landing and approach accidents and to re-emphasize its interest in the various preventive measures which might proof useful in reducing the rate of these kinds of accidents. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) near Kenova and Ceredo, West Virginia. Although the chart didnt give detailed terrain information, Rudy shows in the comments of the previous post that it certainly made the high points clear. However, no one appears to have followed up on this, for example speaking to pilots at Southern to test their understanding of the radio altimeters weaknesses or interviews from the flight crews colleagues to discover if these actions during the descent were typical. It is certainly possible that all of the calls after the first one were made using the radio altimeter. But if the crew had prepared for this approach, concentrated and followed it, with proper adherence to the step altitude minima as clearly prescribed and shown in the approach plates, the accident would not have happened. [8], The board made three recommendations as a result of this accident, including recommendations for heads-up displays, ground proximity warning devices, and surveillance and inspection of flight operations. [18], Each year on the anniversary of the crash, those who died are mourned in a ceremony on the Marshall University campus in Huntington, West Virginia. SAR or Surveillance Approach Radar has also been used, but did not show the aircraft height of course. forever. The reports main argument against this explanation is that a qualified pilot would not make this mistake, knowing they were flying over uneven terrain. Except this time, it didnt: very uneven terrain, poor visibility, and a mountain in their path. The runway was at 828 feet. Mike, [1][2], The plane was carrying 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, two pilots, two flight attendants, and a charter coordinator. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. As a memorial to the 75 victims, the Marshall players wore the number 75 on their helmets. 1970 in aviation. Id think a terrain database would take up a lot of memory even with the huge capacity of modern RAM. The aircraft was destroyed. This flight was the only flight that year for the Marshall University football team. [1]:1 [3] Why does he call out the height above ground at all? The Europe set low) was bad enough, the USA was divided over many more volumes, per state. Cockpit Voice Recorder Database. Southern Airways - Flight #242 - DC-9-30 - New Hope, GA - April 4, 1977 - "I was in the training department at the time - while I didn't go to the crash site, I was responsible for all Flight Attendant training records, and also was called in to assist when Sandy Purl wanted to listen to the cockpit voice recorder," Gloria recalled. Some can have been related to altitudes or speeds. The crash of Flight 932 almost led to the discontinuation of the university's football program. The pilot had his barometric altimeter, vertical speed indicator, airspeed indicator, and radio altimeter to aid him in establishing the desired descent profile. [7], The airliner continued on final approach to Tri-State Airport when it collided with the tops of trees on a hillside 5,543ft (1,690m) west of runway 11 (now runway 12). The weather was awful, we only saw the runway at the last moment, just when we had initiated the missed approach. It was a day that changed a university, a town, a nation and the lives of so many people forever. For a private owner it was a near impossibility to keep abreast. In the following weeks, Lengyel was aided in his attempts by receivers' coach Red Dawson. I am still confused about the altimeter setting. It was unveiled to thousands 90 minutes before the game with the Miami University RedHawks. December 11, 2006, Last edited on 27 December 2022, at 20:03, Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field, Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, 38 22' 27" N. latitude and 82 34' 42" W. longitude, 2013 Conference USA Football Championship game, 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, Wichita State University football team plane crash, "Marshall crash still looms after 36 years", "Plane crash devastates Marshall University", "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash", "Tragedy litters the sports landscape: Marshall remains the worst sports-related air disaster", "Reporter recalls memories from worst sports- related air tragedy in US history", "NTSB Aircraft Accident Report Southern Airways Inc. DC-9, N97S, Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, November 14, 1970", "People have not forgotten Marshall Crash 30 years ago", "Emotions of tragedy drew Lengyel to Marshall", "Marshall football, 50 years after plane crash, carries on, and remembers", "Akron Alum Jack Lengyel to Receive AFCA's McLaughry Award", "Memorial Fountain designed to represent 'upward growth, immortality, eternality', "Marshall Memorial Bronze unveiled to mix of emotions", "Marker placed at site of crash, Dec. 11, 2006", "43 years later, Marshall still honors memory of fallen players", "Marshall Football to Don '75' Helmets for Remainder of Season", "ECU, Marshall game postponed due to pandemic", Aviation history synopsis of Southern Airways Flight 932 (with photographs), List of victims of Southern Airways Flight 932, PlaneCrashInfo.Com Southern Airways Flight 932 entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_Airways_Flight_932&oldid=1129926926, This page was last edited on 27 December 2022, at 20:03. Even in 1970, the radio altimeter was of NO USE in an approach, other than for some additional information. In the transcript of their cockpit communications in the final minutes, the pilots briefly debated that their autopilot had "captured" for a glide slope descent, although the airport was only equipped with a localizer. They were more than a movie. My boss was going make a business visit. Visiting unfamiliar airports was of course a matter of routine for a corporate pilot, we could even be sent to a destination that we never had heard of before, without much in the way of notice. What remains obvious: Human resource management and crew coordination were slack, even by the standards of 1970. According to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), at 1555:58 the captain remarked, "Well the radar is full of it, take your pick." At 1556:00, the controller told Flight 242 that his radarscope was showing heavy precipitation and that the echos were about 5 nmi ahead of the flight. Aviation is at a virtual standstill. Both systems were used to talk-down an aircraft. [16], Every year, on the anniversary of the crash, the fountain is shut off during a commemorative ceremony and not activated again until the following spring. Does that make sense to you? [7]:37, On November 15, 1970, a memorial service was held at the indoor, 8,500-seat Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse with moments of silence, remembrances, and prayers. They were our fathers, mothers, grandparents, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Book a flight with Southern Airways Express and discover what sets this well-known airline apart. They were more than a movie. It is not too farfetched to say that aviation will never be the same again. I mentioned that in 1970, cockpit resource management was nothing like as important an aspect of aviation as it is now. I did use QFE when skydiving but that always involved landing next to the runway Id taken off from; ISTM it would add an unnecessary complication to flying from one field to another, but Ive never discussed it with pilots who learned on that system. But it's also a month of mourning: on November 14, 1970, on a dark, wet, cold night just after 7:35 p.m., Southern Airways Flight 932 went down in a field near Kenova, killing all 75 people . and the height over the runway, by subtracting the runway elevation (828) from the flight recorder altitude. [16] The sculpture's designer, Harry Bertoia, created the $25,000 memorial that incorporated bronze, copper tubing, and welding rods. [5] The accident is the deadliest tragedy to have affected any sports team in U.S. I find the emphasis on GPWS fascinating. In the next second, though, the co-pilot quickly calls out new readings, "hundred and twenty-six hundred", and the sounds of impact immediately follow. Rudy: I remember paper Jeppesen charts very well, including how massively detailed they were about airports proper; there was a period of 6-8 successive weeks when I had replacements for several of the Pittsburgh (IIRC) plates because various runway lights were being overhauled.
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