Southern Airways Flight 242 was a flight from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, with a stop in Huntsville, Alabama. On April 4, 1977, it executed a
forced landing
A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components, or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on ' ...
on
Georgia State Route 381
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
in
New Hope,
Paulding County, Georgia
Paulding County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. Part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, it had an estimated population of 168,661 in 2020. The county seat is Dallas.
History
Paulding County was created ...
, United States, after suffering
hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
damage and losing thrust on both engines in a severe
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
.
At the time of the accident, the
Southern Airways
Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with No ...
aircraft was flying from
Huntsville-Madison County Jetport to
Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.
Sixty-three people on the aircraft (including both pilots) and nine people on the ground died; 20 passengers survived, as well as the two
flight attendants
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
.
Flight
![Southern DC-9 (6149470722)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Southern_DC-9_%286149470722%29.jpg)
The flight crew consisted of Captain William W. "Bill" McKenzie (54), a highly experienced pilot with 19,380 flight hours (including 3,205 hours on the DC-9), and first officer Lyman W. Keele Jr. (34), who had 3,878 flight hours, with 235 of them on the DC-9.
The crew was advised of the presence of embedded
thunderstorms
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
and possible
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es along their general route prior to their departure from
Huntsville
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...
, but they were not subsequently told that the cells had since formed a
squall line
A squall line, or more accurately a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS), is a line of thunderstorms, often forming along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front (which often are accompa ...
.
The flight crew had flown through that same area from
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
earlier in the day, encountering only mild turbulence and light rain.
The
weather system
In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...
had greatly intensified in the meantime. The peak convective activity was later shown on ground
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
to be near
Rome, Georgia
Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...
, to which the flight was cleared to proceed by
air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
. The crew attempted to pick out a path through the cells using their on-board weather radar display, but they were apparently misled by the radar's
attenuation effect, and they proceeded toward what they believed was a low-intensity area, when in fact it was the peak convective activity point, attenuated by rain.
As the aircraft descended from its cruising altitude of near Rome
VOR
VOR or vor may refer to:
Organizations
* Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales
* Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster
* Volvo Ocean Race, a yacht race
Science, technology and medicine
* VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in a ...
, it apparently entered a thunderstorm cell and encountered a massive amount of rain and
hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
.
The hail was so intense that it broke the aircraft's windshield, and because of the ingestion of both water and hail, both
Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A engines
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
were damaged and underwent
flameout
In aviation, a flameout (or flame-out) is the run-down of a jet engine or other turbine engine due to the extinction of the flame in its combustor. The loss of flame can have a variety of causes, such as fuel starvation, excessive altitude, comp ...
.
The crew attempted unsuccessfully to restart the engines, gliding down unpowered, while simultaneously trying to find an emergency landing field within range. Air traffic control suggested
Dobbins Air Force Base
Dobbins Air Reserve Base or Dobbins ARB is a United States Air Force reserve air base located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb about northwest of Atlanta. Originally known as Dobbins Air Force Base, it was named in honor of Captain Charles M. ...
, about east, as a possible landing site, but it was beyond reach.
Cartersville Airport, a
general-aviation airport about north with a much shorter runway intended for
light aircraft
A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997.
Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...
was considered, but it was behind the aircraft and now out of reach. Before the aircraft turned toward Dobbins, the closest airport was another general-aviation airport, Cornelius Moore Airport (now Polk County Airport – Cornelius Moore Field), but the air traffic controllers did not know about it (it was just outside their area of responsibility and not shown on their screens), and it was not considered.
As the aircraft ran out of altitude and options, gliding with a broken windshield and no engine power, the crew made visual contact with the ground and spotted a straight section of a rural highway below. They executed an unpowered
forced landing
A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components, or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on ' ...
on that road, but during the rollout, the aircraft’s left wing collided with a gas station causing it to swerve to the left and crash into a wooded area. The pilots and 61 passengers were killed by impact forces and fire, but 20 of the passengers survived, as well as both
flight attendants
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
. Nine people on the ground were also killed, including a family of seven.
Among the passengers killed was
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
singer
Annette Snell
Annette Snell (March 22, 1945 – April 4, 1977) was an American rhythm and blues singer who recorded in the 1960s and 1970s. She died in the Southern Airways Flight 242 crash.
Biography
She was born Annetta Snell in Sandersville, Georgia, a ...
.
NTSB investigation and final report
![Flight 242 tail and wing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Flight_242_tail_and_wing.jpg)
The
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
(NTSB) investigated the accident and concluded the following probable cause in its final report:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the total and unique loss of thrust from both engines while the aircraft was penetrating an area of severe thunderstorms. The loss of thrust was caused by the ingestion of massive amounts of water and hail which in combination with thrust lever movement induced severe stalling in and major damage to the engine compressors.
The DC-9 broke into several large pieces; the cockpit had separated mostly intact and came to rest upside-down. Both pilots had been ejected from it, still strapped into their seats, and died of massive blunt-force injuries. The cockpit windows had separated and were mostly intact except for the two that had been struck by hail. No fire damage occurred to the fuselage until behind the wings, which area had been subjected to an intense conflagration, but most of the passenger section up to the wings had been demolished by impact forces. Some passengers were killed on impact, while others were ejected from the fuselage alive but injured. A number of other passengers succumbed to inhalation of smoke and fumes, including some who were unable to escape due to their injuries. Flight attendant Catherine Cooper survived unscathed because she was sitting in an area that provided her with relative protection from impact forces. She found herself hanging upside-down while still strapped into her seat, unbuckled the seatbelt, and jumped from an opening in the fuselage when the main cabin door turned out to be jammed and inoperable. Afterwards, Cooper ran to a nearby house to find help and discovered that some of the passengers were already there.
Meanwhile, flight attendant Sandy Ward was seated in the back of the plane and reported it "bouncing up and down" several times during impact and that fire spread through the cabin. With a wall of flames blocking the way in front, she moved rearwards and tried to open the back cabin door, but it was also jammed. By now, the fire had died down and she was able to exit through the broken fuselage. Ward tried to assist passengers in escaping until an explosion forced her to run for cover.
As per standard emergency procedure, the flight attendants removed their shoes and ordered passengers to do likewise. This policy was due to the possibility of
high heels
High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels, are a type of shoe with an angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wearer appear taller, and accentuate the ...
causing damage to
evacuation slide
An evacuation slide is an inflatable slide used to evacuate an aircraft quickly. An escape slide is required on all commercial (passenger carrying) aircraft where the door sill height is such that, in the event of an evacuation, passengers wou ...
s.
This resulted in a number of people sustaining lacerations and bruises to their feet that would have been unlikely to have occurred otherwise, but since the attendants did not know the exact circumstances of the crash, they simply followed by-the-book emergency directions. The NTSB believed that the pilots should have informed the flight attendants and crew to cushion themselves with blankets, coats, and pillows, and not remove their shoes.
The
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR) data indicated at least two interruptions to power, one lasting for 15 seconds and the other almost two minutes following the complete loss of engine thrust until the crew switched to backup battery power. The best chance for a (reasonably) safe landing would have been at Dobbins Air Force Base in
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...
,
but why the crew did not attempt it is unclear due to the two-minute gap in CVR data.
Lacking CVR data, the NTSB concluded that it was most likely that the pilots turned away from Dobbins due to a combination of poor visibility and loss of electrical power, forcing the crew to turn the plane so they could maintain visual flight conditions.
The NTSB also included these contributing factors:
the failure of the company's dispatching system to provide the flight crew with up-to-date severe weather information pertaining to the aircraft's intended route of flight, the captain's reliance on airborne weather radar for penetration of thunderstorm areas, and limitations in the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system, which precluded the timely dissemination of real-time hazardous weather information to the flight crew.
Moreover, the crew had no training for a situation that involved total loss of engine thrust, nor did Southern Airways require such training.
FAA regulations had no such requirement either, because the possibility of complete failure of all engines on a jet-powered carrier aircraft was deemed so remote as to not require training or special procedures; the NTSB could not find a recorded instance prior to Flight 242 of a commercial jet aircraft experiencing such an emergency.
(While other significant incidents involving loss of all engines in flight have occurred, including the
Gimli Glider
Air Canada Flight 143, commonly known as the Gimli Glider, was a Canadian scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on Saturday, July 23, 1983, at an altitude of , midway through the fligh ...
,
Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751
Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751 was a regularly scheduled Scandinavian Airlines passenger flight from Stockholm, Sweden, to Warsaw, Poland, via Copenhagen, Denmark. On 27 December 1991, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 operating the flight, r ...
, and the
Miracle on the Hudson
US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City (LaGuardia Airport), to Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States. On January 15, 2009, the Airbus A320 serving the flight struck a flock of birds short ...
, these happened after Flight 242's unpowered landing event in 1977.)
Concurring and dissenting statements
Three of the NTSB's four board members signed the final report.
Kay Bailey, who signed the final report, added a concurring statement, which reiterated the board's previous recommendations for improved real-time weather dissemination.
Francis H. McAdams, one of the four NTSB members, dissented from the other members. In his dissenting opinion, McAdams provided his alternate view of the probable cause:
the probable cause of this accident was the captain's decision to penetrate rather than avoid an area of severe weather, the failure to obtain all the available weather information despite having knowledge of the severity of the storm system, and the reliance upon airborne weather radar for penetration rather than avoidance of the storm system. The penetration resulted in a total loss of thrust from both engines due to the ingestion of massive amounts of water and hail, which in combination with advanced throttle settings, induced severe stalling in, and major damage to, the engine compressors, which prevented the crew from restarting the engines. Furthermore, if the company's dispatching system had provided the flight crew with timely severe weather information pertaining to the aircraft's intended route of flight, it is possible that the severe weather would not have been penetrated.
McAdams also wrote in his dissent that he would add, as a contributing factor, the "inadequacies of the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system, which precluded the dissemination of real-time hazardous weather information to the flight crew."
Flight attendants' commendation
The flight attendants on board were Catherine Lemoine Cooper (1950–2020) as senior flight attendant, and Sandy Purl Ward (born February 23, 1953), second flight attendant.
The NTSB noted in its report that despite the fact that the flight crew did not communicate with the cabin crew during the emergency sequence, the flight attendants on their own initiative briefed and prepared the passengers for an emergency landing as the plane glided down. Just prior to touchdown, with no prior notice or cue from the flight crew that the plane was about to crash land, the flight attendants "saw trees" in the windows, and immediately yelled to the passengers a final "brace for impact!" command. The flight attendants also helped evacuate the passengers from the burning plane after the crash landing. The NTSB concluded:
The flight attendants acted commendably for initiating a comprehensive emergency briefing of the passengers for their protection in preparation for a crash landing. This contributed to the number of survivors.
Purl wrote the book ''Am I Alive?'' about the experience, and is a motivational speaker. In her book, she tells the story of the crash and the history of critical incident stress management's entry into the aviation industry.
Purl retired from Northwest in 1994.
Accident location
![SA 242](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/SA_242.png)
The NTSB identified the accident site in its report as "Highway 92 Spur, bisecting New Hope, GA".
They also include the geographical coordinates. In addition, the NTSB report includes a depiction of the accident site, hand drawn as a circled 'X' on an aviation sectional chart. Highway designations have been changed as of 2006. The road section used for the forced landing, formerly called
Georgia State Route 92 Spur, is now called
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
–
Acworth Highway (formerly
Georgia State Route 381
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
).
[
The small Georgia community of New Hope, in Paulding County, where a memorial and reunion were held by survivors and family members 20 years after the accident in 1997,][ now hosts a memorial and reunion annually near the crash site.] The site is from Cartersville Airport and from Dobbins AFB
Dobbins Air Reserve Base or Dobbins ARB is a United States Air Force reserve air base located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb about northwest of Atlanta. Originally known as Dobbins Air Force Base, it was named in honor of Captain Charles M. ...
. Cornelius Moore Field, between Cedartown and Rockmart, was about behind them at the time of the crash.
Local residents and victims' family have formed the nonprofit New Hope Memorial Flight 242 Inc. to provide "an annual memorial service, survivor's reunion and a monument." New Hope Memorial installed a Georgia state historical marker at the southwest corner of the New Hope Cemetery, located about a half mile southwest of the crash site.
The text of the marker states:New Hope resident fatalities included Kathy Griffin Carter and son Jeffrey Richard Carter, Faye Robinson Griffin and son Larry Allen Griffin, Edna Griffin Gamel, son John T. Gamel and daughter Courtney A. Gamel, Berlie Mae Bell Cranton, and Ernest L. Prewett.
In March 2015, the organization announced plans to build a permanent memorial to honor the victims of the crash. In March 2019, the group announced that sufficient funds had been raised for a larger memorial. On April 4, 2021, the memorial was dedicated on the tragedy's 44th anniversary with nearly 100 in attendance including survivors and family members spanning four states.
Cultural references
The Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is a Canadian specialty television channel owned by CTV Speciality Television Inc. (a joint venture between Bell Media/ESPN Inc. (80%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns the remaining ...
/ National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
TV series ''Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'' depicted the accident in a 2007 episode titled "Southern Storm". The episode featured interviews with witnesses and accident investigators, and a dramatization of the accident.
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...
featured the crash in an episode of its TV series ''Why Planes Crash
''Why Planes Crash'' was an aviation documentary TV mini-series based on aircraft accidents and crashes. The series was created and named by producer Caroline Sommers, on behalf of NBC Peacock Productions. The series premiere on July 12, 2009, fe ...
''.
See also
*Tornado outbreak of April 1977
A violent severe weather outbreak struck the Southeast on April 4–5, 1977. A total of 21 tornadoes touched down with the strongest ones occurring in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The strongest was a catastrophic F5 tornado that struck the N ...
– the storm system responsible for bringing down the flight
*Garuda Indonesia Flight 421
Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia travelling about from Ampenan to Yogyakarta. On January 16, 2002, the flight encountered severe thunderstorm activity during approac ...
– lost power in both engines shortly after entering a hail storm
*List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...
*List of airline flights that required gliding
Airplane gliding occurs when all the engines shut down, but the wings are still functional and can be used for a controlled descent. This is a very rare condition in multi-engine airliners, though it is the obvious result when a single-engine a ...
*Southern Airways Flight 932
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 ...
– the only other fatal Southern Airways
Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with No ...
accident
*TACA Flight 110
TACA Flight 110 was an international scheduled airline flight operated by TACA International, traveling from Belize City to New Orleans. On May 24, 1988, the flight encountered severe thunderstorm activity on its final approach to its destinat ...
– 737 that lost thrust in a similar incident
*West Caribbean Airways Flight 708
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 was a West Caribbean Airways charter flight that crashed in northwest Venezuela in the early hours of Tuesday, 16 August 2005, killing all 160 passengers and crew on board. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, ...
- an MD-80 (the DC-9's successor aircraft) crash involving heavy weather and engine problems
*Aeroflot Flight 7841
Aeroflot Flight 7841 was a scheduled Soviet domestic passenger flight from Minsk to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), which crashed on 1 February 1985 killing fifty eight people on board. Twenty-two people (including three crew members) survived t ...
, a flight that had a dual engine failure after both engines ingested ice.
* Air Wisconsin Flight 965, an accident where a turboprop suffered dual engine failure due to poor weather.
*Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751
Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751 was a regularly scheduled Scandinavian Airlines passenger flight from Stockholm, Sweden, to Warsaw, Poland, via Copenhagen, Denmark. On 27 December 1991, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 operating the flight, r ...
, a flight that lost engine power shortly after takeoff when the engines ingested ice.
Notes
References
External links
New Hope Memorial for Flight 242
Aerial view of disaster site
(including cockpit voice recorder transcripts)
Pre-accident photo of accident aircraft N1335U on ASN
Another photo of N1335U
New Hope Memorial Page
*
{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1977
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1977
1977 in Georgia (U.S. state)
Southern Airways accidents and incidents
Airliner accidents and incidents in Georgia (U.S. state)
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure
Disasters in Georgia (U.S. state)
Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Paulding County, Georgia
1977 meteorology
April 1977 events in the United States