Accident description
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| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 10 AUG 1968 |
| Time: | 08:57 |
| Type: | Fairchild FH-227B |
| Operator: | Piedmont Airlines |
| Registration: | N712U |
| C/n / msn: | 557 |
| First flight: | 1967 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2197 |
| Engines: | 2 Rolls Royce 532-7 Dart |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 32 / Occupants: 34 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 35 / Occupants: 37 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Charleston, WV (United States of America)
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| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, KY (CVG/KCVG), United States of America |
| Charleston-Kanawha County Airport, WV (CRW/KCRW), United States of America | |
| Flightnumber: | 230 |
Piedmont flight 230 was on an ILS localizer only approach to Charleston-Kanawha County Airport (CRW) runway 23 when it struck trees 360 feet from the runway threshold. The aircraft continued and struck up sloping terrain (+30deg) 250 feet short in a 4-5deg nose down attitude, slightly left wing down. The Fairchild continued up the hill and on to the airport, coming to rest 6 feet beyond the threshold and 50 feet from the right edge of the runway.
A layer of dense fog (about 150 feet thick) was obscuring the threshold and about half of the approach lights. Visual conditions existed outside the fog area.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "An unrecognized loss of altitude orientation during the final portion of an approach into shallow, dense fog. The disorientation was caused by a rapid reduction in the ground guidance segment available to the pilot at a point beyond which a go-around could not be successfully effected." Follow-up / safety actions:
Six safety recommendations were issued as a result of this accident. The recommendations a.o. focused on the dangers of shallow fog penetration.
Events:
Sources:
» ICAO Circular 107-AN/81 (p.283-302)
Official accident investigation report
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Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, KY (CVG/KCVG) to Charleston-Kanawha County Airport, WV (CRW/KCRW) as the crow flies is 275 km (172 miles).
Distance from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, KY (CVG/KCVG) to Charleston-Kanawha County Airport, WV (CRW/KCRW) as the crow flies is 275 km (172 miles).
