Southern Airways Flight 932

Southern Airways Flight 932

N1334U, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in Orlando, Florida in April 1973.
Accident summary
Date	November 14, 1970
Type	Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)
Site	Wayne County, near Ceredo, West Virginia, United States 38°22′27″N 82°34′42″W / 38.37417°N 82.57833°W / 38.37417; -82.57833
Passengers	71
Crew	4
Fatalities	75 (all)
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-9
Operator	Southern Airways
Tail number	N97S

Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 internal 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.^[1] The plane was carrying 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, four flight crew members and one employee of the charter company. The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.^[2] At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, since most away games were within easy driving distance of the campus. The team originally planned to cancel the flight, but changed plans and chartered the Southern Airways DC-9.^[3]

Aircraft

The aircraft 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; flight attendants 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 that year for the Marshall football team.^[1]

Events leading to the crash

The airliner left Stallings Field at Kinston, North Carolina at a normal time^{[clarification needed]} and the flight proceeded to Huntington without incident. The crew established radio contact with air traffic controllers at 7:23 pm with the announcement that they were to descend to 5,000 feet.^[2] The controllers 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 Tri-State Airport's outer marker. The controller gave them clearance to land.

Crash

The airliner was on final approach to Tri-State Airport when it collided with the tops of trees on a hillside 5,543 feet (1,690 m) west of runway 12.^[1][4] As a result of the impact, the plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95 feet (29 m) wide and 279 feet (85 m) long. According to the official NTSB report, the accident was "unsurvivable". The aircraft "dipped to the right, almost inverted and had crashed into a hollow 'nose-first'".^[2] By the time the plane came to a stop, it was 4,219 feet (1,286 m) short of the runway and 275 feet (84 m) south of the middle marker. The fire was very intense, the fuselage being described as a "powder-like substance" by the NTSB. The remains of six individuals on the plane were never identified.^[2]

Aftermath

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident, and their final report was issued on April 14, 1972. In the report the NTSB concluded "...the accident was the result of a descent below Minimum Descent Altitude during a nonprecision 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 an improper use of cockpit instrumentation data, or (b) an altimetry system error". At least one source says that water which had seeped into the plane's altimeter could have thrown off its height readings, leading the pilots - who had never before flown into Tri-State Airport - to believe the plane was higher than was actually the case.^[5]

The board made three recommendations as a result of this accident, including equipment recommendations within aircraft for heads up display equipment, ground proximity warning devices, 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 and shows by the Marshall Artists Series (and the football team's game against the Ohio Bobcats) were canceled 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 physicians. Seventy children lost at least one parent in the crash, with 18 of them left orphaned.^[6]

The crash of Flight 932 almost led to the discontinuation of the university's football program. Head coach Rick Tolley was among the crash victims.^[7] 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 returned to Georgia Tech. Lengyel, who came from a coaching job at the College of Wooster, was hired by recently-hired athletic director Joe McMullen. Lengyel played for McMullen at the University of Akron in the 1950s.

Jack Lengyel, Marshall University students, and Thundering Herd football fans convinced acting Marshall President Dr. Donald N. Dedmon to reconsider in late 1970.^{[clarification needed]} In the weeks afterward, Lengyel was aided in his attempts by receivers coach Red Dawson.^[8] Dawson was a coach from the previous staff who had driven back from the East Carolina game along with Gail Parker, a Freshman coach. Parker was the only person who flew to the game, but didn't fly back. Dawson and Parker were buying boiled peanuts at a country store in rural Virginia when they heard the news over the radio. Before the trip, the two had been scheduled to go on a scouting mission to Ferrum College after the ECU vs. Marshall game. After the crash, Red Dawson helped bring together a group of players who were on the junior varsity football team during the 1970 season, as well as students and athletes from other sports, to form a 1971 football team.^[7] Many of these players had never played football before, and the team only won two games during the 1971 season, against Xavier and Bowling Green.^[7] Jack Lengyel led the Thundering Herd to a 9–33 record during his tenure, which ended after the 1974 season.

Memorials

Memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington, WV to the victims of the 1970 plane crash.

Marshall University President John G. Barker with Vice-President Donald Dedmon appointed a Memorial Committee soon after the crash.^[9] The committee decided upon one major memorial within the campus, a plaque and memorial garden at Fairfield Stadium and a granite cenotaph at the Spring Hill Cemetery; the Memorial Student Center was designated a memorial as well.

On November 12, 1972, the Memorial Fountain was dedicated at the campus entrance to the Memorial Student Center.^[9] The sculpture's designer, Harry Bertoia, was an Italian artist who created the $25,000 memorial that incorporated bronze, copper tubing and welding rods. The 6500-pound, 13-foot-high (2900-kilogram, 4-meter-high) sculpture was completed within a year and a 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.^[9]

Every year, on the anniversary of the crash, the fountain is shut off at the exact time of the crash and not activated again until the following spring.

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 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.^[10] The bronze 17×23-foot (5×7-meter) statue was created by artist Burl Jones of Sissonville and cost $150,000. It is based upon ideas by John and Ann Krieger of Huntington. It 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.^[11] The ceremony featured guest speakers William "Red" Dawson and Jack Hardin. The Ceredo and Kenova fire departments were recognized at the event.

The memorial plaque reads:

On Nov. 14, 1970, 75 people died in the worst sports related air tragedy in U.S. history, when a Southern Airways DC-9 crashed into a hillside nearby.
The victims included 37 Marshall University football players, 8 coaches and administrators, 25 fans and air crew of 5.
No one survived this horrific disaster.^[12]

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.^[11]

Films

• Marshall University: Ashes to Glory, a documentary by Deborah Novak and John Witek released on November 18, 2000, about the crash and the subsequent recovery of the Marshall football program in the decades following.
• We Are Marshall, a film dramatizing the crash of Flight 932 and its repercussions, premiered on December 12, 2006 in Huntington, West Virginia. It stars Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel and Matthew Fox as Red Dawson. The DVD of the film was released September 18, 2007.

See also

	Aviation portal
	West Virginia portal

• List of notable accidents and incidents on commercial aircraft
• Southern Airways Flight 242 - the only other fatal Southern Airways accident.
• Superga air disaster - an accident which killed the Torino F.C. team and nearly the whole Italian national football team.
• Wichita State University Crash - in which one of two planes carrying team members and coaches crashed, with 31 fatalities and 9 survivors that occurred on October 2, 1970.
• Bluffton University bus accident
• Cal Poly Football Team Plane Crash - a fatal accident that led to the deaths of sixteen of the players
• Evansville basketball plane crash - 29 passengers including the team, crew, and radio announcer, occurring the evening of December 13, 1977.
• The Purdue Wreck- 17 Purdue University football players, coaches, alumni, and fans perish in a train wreck in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA on October 31, 1903.
• Munich air disaster - a fatal accident that killed several members of the 1958 Manchester United F.C. squad
• Sabena Flight 548 - a 1961 accident that killed the entire United States Figure Skating team
• Boys in Red Tragedy - a road accident that killed 7 members of the Bathurst High School basketball team in 2008. Jack Lengyel flew to the community after this disaster to assist in the grieving process.
• Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 - a plane crash that claimed the lives of many players of a rugby team.
• Oklahoma State basketball team plane crash - crash that killed two players, team staff and various media in 2001.
• Plane crashes that took the lives of active Major League Baseball players Thurman Munson in 1979 and Cory Lidle in 2006
• The September 11 attacks which cost the lives of Los Angeles Kings scouts Garnet Bailey and Mark Bavis on United Airlines Flight 175.
• The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash - a 2011 accident that killed 37 members of the Lokomotiv KHL team.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Wilson, Amy. "The night Huntington died." December 18, 2006 Lexington Herald-Leader (KY). December 18, 2006 [1]
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Withers, Bob. "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash." December 19, 2006 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 19, 2006 [2].
3. ^ Drehs, Wayne. "Tragedy litters the sports landscape: Marshall remains the worst sports-related air disaster" November 13, 2000 [3].
4. ^ "AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT." 1972 Apr. 1972. National Transportation Safety Board. December 18, 2006 [4]
5. ^ The Marshall Story, College Football's Greatest Comeback, Henchard Press, Ltd. 2006 pp.36–37.
6. ^ Alipour, Sam (December 20, 2006). "A story Hollywood gets right". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/061220. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Walsh, David. "Emotions of tragedy drew Lengyel to Marshall." November 13, 2005 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 19, 2006 [5].
8. ^ "Red Dawson helped mold 1971 team." December 19, 2006 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 19. 2006 [6].
9. ^ ^{a b c} Withers, Bob. "Memorial Fountain designed to represent 'upward growth, immortality, eternality'." December 19, 2006 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 19, 2006 [7].
10. ^ Wellman, Dave. "Marshall Memorial Bronze unveiled to mix of emotions." November 12, 2000 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 19, 2006 [8].
11. ^ ^{a b} Pinkston, Antwon. "Kenova to dedicate crash memorial Monday." December 10, 2006 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. December 11, 2006 [9].
12. ^ Rivals.com College Football. "Marshall crash still looms after 36 years. December 19, 2006 [10].

External links

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

Coordinates: 38°22′27″N 82°34′42″W / 38.37417°N 82.57833°W / 38.37417; -82.57833