American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D

American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D was a flight operated on a U.S. Military Air Command contract from Monterey Regional Airport in California to Columbus Airport in Georgia, via Ardmore Municipal Airport, Oklahoma. On April 22, 1966, while approaching Runway 8 at Ardmore, the aircraft overshot the runway and crashed into a hill, bursting into flames.^[2] Eighty-three of the 98 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident.^[3]

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Quick facts Accident, Date ...

American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D
An American Flyers L-188, similar to the one involved at Lindbergh Field in 1963.
Accident
Date	April 22, 1966
Summary	Pilot incapacitation
Site	2.4 km northeast of Ardmore Municipal Airport, United States 34.3294°N 96.9819°W / 34.3294; -96.9819
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-188C Electra
Operator	American Flyers Airline
Registration	N183H^[1]
Flight origin	Monterey Regional Airport
Stopover	Ardmore Municipal Airport
Destination	Columbus Airport
Occupants	98
Passengers	93
Crew	5
Fatalities	83
Injuries	15
Survivors	15

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Lockheed L-188 Electra four-engined turboprop airline registered as N183H.^[4] It had first flown in January 1961 and was bought by American Flyers Airline in January 1963.^[5] It is the same plane that carried the Beatles from city to city in 1964 during their second tour of the U.S.^[6]

Investigation

Summarize

Perspective

The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident.^[1]^: 1^[7]

Investigators found no evidence of mechanical failure or defect related to the accident, although the flight data recorder had suffered a mechanical failure unrelated to the accident and may not have been properly checked by the flight engineer before the flight; it had produced no recording for the flight.^[8] The airplane did not have (and was not required to have) a cockpit voice recorder.^[1]

Some days after the crash, it was learned that the pilot, Reed Pigman, who also happened to be the president of American Flyers, was under care for arteriosclerosis.^[9] An autopsy of Pigman determined his cause of death to either be multiple injuries or coronary artery sclerosis.^[10]

It was also determined that Reed Pigman had falsified his application for a first-class medical certificate. He had not disclosed that he was diabetic or that he had a history of heart issues dating back almost two decades; either of these would have been disqualifying factors for the certificate.^[11]

On March 28, 1967, the CAB published its final report. The CAB determined that the probable cause for the accident was:

[T]he incapacitation, due to a coronary insufficiency, of the pilot-in-command at a critical point during visual, circling approach being conducted under instrument flight conditions.^[1]^: 1

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American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D

Aircraft

Investigation

See also

References

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