Southern Airways Flight 932

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southern Airways Flight 932

Summary
Date	November 14, 1970
Type	Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)
Site	Huntington, WV
Fatalities	75
Injuries	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	DC-9
Operator	Southern Airways
Tail number	N97S
Passengers	71
Crew	4
Survivors	0

Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 commercial jet flight. At 7:35 PM on November 14, 1970 ^[1] the aircraft crashed into a hill near the Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, West Virginia. All seventy-five people on the flight were killed. The plane was carrying the thirty-seven members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football squad, eight members of the coaching staff, twenty-five boosters, four flight crew members, and one employee of the charter company, home after a 17-14 loss against the East Carolina University Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina ^[2].

Contents 1 Aircraft 2 Events leading to the crash 3 The crash 4 Aftermath 4.1 Long term Memorial 4.2 Film 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a 95 seat, twin jet engine Douglas DC-9-31 with tail registration N97S. The airliner's crew was Captain Frank H. Abbot, 47; First Officer Jerry Smith, 28; Stewardesses Pat Vaught and Charlene Poat. All were qualified for the flight. Another employee of Southern Airways, Danny Deese, was aboard the flight to coordinate charter activities. This flight was the first flight that year for the Marshall football team. ^[1]

[edit] Events leading to the crash

The airliner left Kinston, North Carolina at a normal time for the charter flight and the flight proceeded to Huntington without incident. The airliner's crew had established radio contact with the controllers at the airport at 7:23 PM with the announcement that they were to descend to 5,000 feet ^[2]. The controllers had advised the crew that there was "rain, fog, smoke and a ragged ceiling" making landing more difficult but not impossible. At 7:34 PM, the airliner's crew reported passing the Tri-State Airport's outer marker for the runway; the controller gave them clearance to land.

[edit] The crash

The airliner was on its final approach to Huntington, West Virginia's Tri-State Airport when it collided with the tops of trees on a hillside 5,543 feet west of runway 11 ^[1][3]. As a result of the impact, the plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95 feet wide and 279 feet long. The fire was very intense, the fuselage being described as a "powder-like substance" by the National Transportation Safety Board; six remains that were discovered on the plane were never identified with names ^[2]. According to the official NTSB report, the accident was "unsurvivable."

The aircraft had "dipped to the right, (almost) inverted and (had) crashed into a hollow 'nose-first'" ^[2]. By the time the plane had come to a stop, it was 4,219 feet short of the runway and 275 feet south of the middle marker. The exact cause of the crash was never fully determined by the National Transportation Safety Board, although it was believed that the cause was due to "adverse operating conditions" and descent below "minimum descent altitude." ^[3]

[edit] Aftermath

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident. The report was issued April 14, 1972. In the report the NTSB concluded "...the accident was the result of a descent below Minimum Descent Altitude during a non precision approach under adverse operating conditions, without visual contact with the runway environment...". They further stated the "...two most likely explanations (for the greater descent) are (a) improper use of cockpit instrumentation data, or (b) and altimetry system error."

The board made three recommendations as a result of this accident, including equipment recommendations within aircraft for heads up display equipment, ground monitoring radar, and surveillance and inspection of flight operations.

On November 15, 1970 a memorial service was held at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse, where there were moments of silence, remembrances and prayers ^[2]. The following Saturday another Memorial Service was held at Fairfield Stadium. Across the nation many expressed their condolences. Classes at Marshall, along with numerous events, shows by the Marshall Artists Series and government offices were closed. A mass funeral was held at the Field House and many were buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery, some together.

The impact of the crash on Huntington went far beyond the Marshall campus. Because it was the Herd's only chartered flight of the season, many boosters and prominent citizens were on the plane, including a city councilman, a state legislator, and four of the city's six physicians. Seventy children lost one parent in the crash, and 18 were orphaned.^[4]

The crash of the DC-9 almost led to the university's football program being discontinued. The head coach of the program, Rick Tolley, was among the crash victims ^[5]. Jack Lengyel was named to take Tolley's place on March 12, 1971 after Dick Bestwick, the first choice for the job, backed out just after one week and had returned to Georgia Tech. Lengyel, who came from a coaching job at the College of Wooster, was hired by the recently hired athletic director, Joe McMullen. Lengyel had played for McMullen at the University of Akron in the 1950s.

Jack Lengyel, students and the Thundering Herd football fans, however, convinced the acting President of Marshall University, Dr. Donald N. Dedmon, to reconsider. In the weeks afterward, Lengyel, with the aid of receivers coach Red Dawson ^[6], a coach on the old staff who had recruiting duties in the area and had driven back from the East Carolina game and thus was not on Flight 932, brought together a group of players who were on the junior varsity during the 1970 season and other students and athletes in other sports ^[5]. Many of these players had never attempted to play football before and only won two games during the 1971 season; their wins coming against Xavier and Bowling Green ^[5]. Ultimately after four years, Jack Lengyel would lead the Thundering Herd to a 9-33 record during his tenure, which ended after the 1974 season.

[edit] Long term Memorial

Then Marshall University President Donald Dedmon appointed a Memorial Committee soon after the crash ^[7]. The committee decided upon one major memorial within the campus, a plaque and memory garden at Fairfield Stadium and a granite cenotaph at the Spring Hill Cemetery; the Memorial Student Center was also designated a memorial as well.

On November 12, 1972, the Memorial Fountain was dedicated at the campus entrance to the Memorial Student Center ^[7]. The sculpture's designer, Harry Bertoia, was an Italian artist who came up with the $25,000 memorial that incorporated bronze, copper tubing and welding rods. The 6,500-pound, 13-foot-high sculpture was completed within one-year-and-half of its conception. Employees from the F.C. McColm Granite Company installed a permanent plaque on the base on August 10, 1973. It reads,

“

"They shall live on in the hearts of their families and friends forever and this memorial records their loss to the university and the community." [7]

”

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. A number of the victims of the plane crash are buried in a grave site in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington; 20th Street, the road that leads from the cemetery to the campus, was renamed to Marshall Memorial Boulevard in their honor.

On November 11, 2005, the We Are Marshall Memorial Bronze was dedicated ^[8]. The bronze 17-by-23-foot statue was created by artist Burl Jones of Sissonville and cost $150,000. Its idea was founded upon those by John and Ann Krieger of Huntington was donated to the university by Marshall fans and is attached to the Joan C. Edwards Stadium on the west facade. It was unveiled to thousands only 90 minutes before the game with Miami University.

On December 11, 2006, a memorial plaque was dedicated at the plane crash site ^[9]. The ceremony featured guest speakers Red Dawson and Jack Hardin. The Ceredo and Kenova fire departments were recognized at the event. Another plaque memorializing the 1970 Marshall football team was unveiled at East Carolina University on the same day and can be seen at the guest team entrance of Dowdy Ficklen Stadium. Featured speakers were Chancellor Steve Ballard, Athletic Director Terry Holland, Pirates’ broadcaster Jeff Charles, and Marshall President Stephen Kopp.

A memorial bell tower is being planned for a location on WV 75 near exit 1 along Interstate 64 ^[9].

[edit] Film

We Are Marshall, a film dramatizing the crash of Flight 932 and its repercussions, premiered on December 12, 2006 in Huntington, WV. It stars Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel and Matthew Fox as Red Dawson.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Aviation Safety Network page for Southern Airways Flight 932
• Check-Six.com - Information about the 1970 crash with crew and passenger list at Check-Six
• Memorial page at Marshall University
• November 14, 1970 at Marshall University
• NTSB Crash Report
• Official site of "We Are Marshall"
• Various newspaper clippings

Coordinates: 38°22′27″N, 82°34′42″W