American Flyers Airline Flight 280 / D
| American Flyers Airline Flight 280 / D | |
|---|---|
_JP7374265.jpg) An identical Lockheed L-188 of the AFA. |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | CFIT |
| place |
Ardmore , Oklahoma , United States
|
| date | April 22, 1966 |
| Fatalities | 78 + 5 |
| Survivors | 15th |
| Injured | 15th |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lockheed L-188 C |
| operator | American Flyers Airline |
| Mark | N183H |
| Departure airport | Monterey Airport |
| Destination airport | Ardmore Airport |
| Passengers | 93 |
| crew | 5 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
American Flyers Airline flight 280 / D was a domestic flight of the American airline American Flyers Airline (AFA) on April 22, 1966. The plane crashed while attempting to land in front of the local airport of Ardmore in the US state of Oklahoma . To this day, this accident is considered the largest airplane crash in Oklahoma.
The course of the flight
The crew flew several rendition flights for the American military that day. The last flight was from Monterey, California to Columbus, Georgia with a stopover at Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore. The plane took off as scheduled at 4:32 p.m. from Monterey Peninsula Airport in Monterey and flew under visual flight conditions via Denver , Tuba City , Las Vegas , Amarillo , Altus to Ardmore.
The clouds were thickening over Amarillo and the weather was getting worse. During the approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport, the weather conditions were given to the crew on board with a visibility of 6 km, light rain and fog with 6 knots of wind. The crew confirmed this weather information and estimated the arrival time at 20:28. The last position information was given at 20:26 over the Ardmore beacon . About two minutes later, the air traffic control crew could see the landing lights of the machine north of the airport, which was moving east. At 20:29, the crew of the aircraft asked air traffic control to switch on the lighting for runway 12/30. At 8:30 p.m., the air traffic control crew to the northeast of the airport saw a ball of fire. When contact by radio failed, the fire brigade was alerted.
The aircraft crashed around 2.5 km northeast (coordinates: 34 ° 19 ′ 42.2 ″ N , 96 ° 58 ′ 55.5 ″ W ) of the airport. 18 survivors were rescued from the rubble, three of whom died in hospital a few days later.
root cause
The owner of the airline and the captain of the plane, Reed Pigman (59), suffered a fatal heart attack at the controls of the plane just seconds before the intended landing and lost control of the plane. The first officer was no longer able to increase the power of the engines in order to gain altitude. A memorial in memory of the victims was erected at the crash site and at the airport (coordinates: 34 ° 18 ′ 0.6 ″ N , 97 ° 2 ′ 11.8 ″ W ).
The aircraft
The Lockheed L-188C, a four-engine turboprop aircraft for transporting people and cargo on short and medium-haul routes, had flown 4019 flight hours by the time of the accident.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
- ^ Report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board NTSB (NTSB Identification: DCA66A0006)