Piedmont Airlines Flight 22

Infobox Aircraft accident
name = Piedmont Airlines Flight 22
date = July 19, 1967
type = Mid-air collision
site = Hendersonville North Carolina, USA
total_fatalities = 82
total_survivors = 0
plane1_type = Boeing 727-22
plane1_name = "Manhattan Pacemaker"
plane1_operator = Piedmont Airlines
plane1_tailnum = airreg|N|68650|disaster
plane1_passengers = 74
plane1_crew = 5
plane1_survivors = 0
plane1_origin = Asheville Regional Airport Asheville, North Carolina
plane1_destination = Roanoke Regional Airport Roanoke, Virginia
plane2_type = Cessna 310
plane2_operator = Lanseair, Inc.
plane2_tailnum = airreg|N|3121S|disaster
plane2_passengers = 2
plane2_crew = 1
plane2_survivors = 0

Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 was a Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727-22 on a scheduled airline flight in the United States from Asheville Regional Airport in Asheville, North Carolina to Roanoke Regional Airport in Roanoke, Virginia. Shortly after departure, the flight collided with a twin-engine Cessna 310 on approach to the same airport. Both aircraft were destroyed and all passengers and crew killed.

The aircraft were both operating under instrument flight rules and both were in radio contact with the Asheville control tower, though on different frequencies.

Original investigation

This was the first major airline accident investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), newly formed to replace the Civil Aeronautics Board. The NTSB's report placed the primary responsibility for the accident on the Cessna pilot, while citing air traffic control procedures as a contributing factor, and recommended a review of minimum pilot skill levels required for instrument flight.

Controversy and new investigation

In 2006, however, 38 years after the accident, the NTSB agreed to reopen the investigation because of apparent irregularities identified by Paul Houle, an amateur historian who spent several years studying the accident. Houle alleged the following problems with the NTSB's original investigation:

* The original NTSB report omitted the fact that the Cessna pilot had properly reported his heading, which should have alerted air traffic control to a potential conflict between the two planes. The report claims that there was a four-second pause at that point, but the transcript shows no such pause.

* The original NTSB report does not mention that there was a fire in a cockpit ashtray in the 727, which (as shown by the cockpit voice recorder transcript) occupied the attention of the 727 crew for the 35 seconds before the collision.

* The lead NTSB investigator had an apparent conflict of interest, since his brother was a vice president and director of Piedmont Airlines.

Houle also mentioned that, at the time, the newly-formed NTSB was not fully independent of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), since both reported to the Department of Transportation. Houle claimed that these conflicts of interest led the NTSB to avoid citing either Piedmont or FAA controllers as primary causes of the accident.

In early 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) decided to uphold the probable cause it found in 1968 for a midair collision. In a February 2007 letter, the NTSB notified Paul Houle it had voted 3-1 that his arguments were unsubstantiated.

Notable passengers

John T. McNaughton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and Robert McNamara's closest advisor, was a passenger on Flight 22, along with his wife and son.

External references

* [http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR68-AJ.pdf Full text of the original NTSB report] (PDF)
* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19670719-0 Accident description on the Aviation Safety Network]
* [http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060612/FLIGHT22/606120320/1051/NEWS01 NTSB to re-examine cause of 1967 midair collision]