Covington, KY Canadian Airliner Emergency Landing, June 1983

23 PASSENGERS PERISH ABOARD FIERY DC-9

Cincinnati (AP) -- A pilot managed to land his burning Air Canada DC-9 despite blinding smoke in the cockpit, but 23 of the 46 people aboard died in the fire within a minute after the plane touched down, authorities said today.
Air Canada officials said they didn't know what started the fire or whether the victims died while the plane was still in the air or after it landed in flames at Greater Cincinnati International Airport.
Eighteen of the 46 people aboard the DC9 were injured. There were 41 passengers and five crew members. Sixteen of the injured remained hospitalized today at two Kentucky hospitals, two in fair condition and 14 in guarded condition.
The fire which some survivors said appeared to have started in a lavatory, charred the plane's interior and burned the fuselage. Rescue workers found bodies strapped in seats and in the aisles, some burned beyond recognition.
But survivors said there was no panic, no screaming.
"There was no panic. There was adsolutely nothing. Nobody screamed or yelled. There were no cries. It was just dead calm," said AUDREY RUTTAN, 39, of Midland, Ont.
TED MORRIS, spokesman for Air Canada, told an airport news conference today that airline officials knew neither where nor how the fire began. He also said he didn't know at what point the passengers died, adding, "That's what the coroner is going to have to tell us."
MORRIS said the plane had been equipped withing the past year with "the most modern of interiors" and said Air Canada has never had a fire on one of its jetliners before.
"They're unusual, but they do occur. In a boat, you can get off and swim. But if there's a fire in an aircraft, you have to land in a hurry," MORRIS said.
The pilot radioed air controllers with a report of the fire at 7:06 p.m. Thursday as the plane was flying from Dallas-Fort Worth to Toronto, Canada. Despite being blinded by smoke, he made an emergency landing at the Greater Cincinnati International Airport 13 minutes later.
Among the dead was television manufacturer CURTIS MATHES, JR., a Canadian resident returning home from a business trip.
Some survivors said the fire appeared to have started in the rear of the aircraft.
MS. RUTTAN, who was being treated at St. Elizabeth Hospital, told ABC-TV that, "You could smell the smoke, you could see it coming from the back towards the front of the plane. It was very, very evident."
She said that once the plane landed, smoke filled the cabin and she escaped onto a wing.
"I went out on the wing, out one of the exits. You couldn't see where you were going -- you could feel air," she said.
JACK BARRY, assistant director of operations at the airport, said at a news conference early today that all the dead perished within a minute after landing. He credited the five-member crew with "getting off all those people who got off."
The gutted plane was towed from the runway to a nearby hangar early today.
IRENE LEWIS, spokeswoman for Booth Memorial Hospital where 14 of the survivors were being treated, said the hospital listed all of themin guarded condition and probably would not release any of the survivors until at least late tonight.
"Our nursing supervisor said these people probably will be here at least 24 hours because the type of smoke inhalation they had often does not show damage for 12 to 24 hours," MS. LEWIS said.
For that reason, those survivors have not been allowed to talk to reporters "under orders from administration and their physicians."
Five of the passengers "were able to walk away from the scene and were not treated at all," MS. LEWIS said. Two were treated and released.
Two other people were in fair condition at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
BARRY said one of the pilots' clothing was on fire as he fled the plane.
He said he didn't know whether passengers were able to use emergency oxygen. "All the people who died, died of carbon monoxide poisoning," he said.
He said the cause of the fire was not known, but that it appeared to have started in the rear of the plane and was accelerated by fuel.
"When you have this, you have only a few seconds to get out," he said.
Asked about the possibility of the fire having been deliberately set, he said the FBI helps investigate all air disasters and that: "I'm sure they probably interested in that angle."
DAVE PEMBER, regional public affairs manager for Air Canada who also was at the news conference, was asked about the possibility of foul play.
"We have no reason to expect anything untoward," he said.
Asked if investigators routiniely would suspect foul play, he said: "That's poppycock at this stage of the game."
PEMBER confirmed 23 dead. He said 18 passengers survived, along with the five crew members. He said 16 were hospitalized and that two were treated and released.
He refused to name the pilot, crew or passengers and would not give survivors' conditions.
He said the aircraft, a DC-9 model 30, can carry 101 passengers.
He would not answer questions about the origin of the fire or the location withing the plane where the fatalities occurred. He said such details either were not known or had not been confirmed.
Air Canada notified the sister of MATHES, 54, chariman of Irving, Texas-based Curtis Mathes Co. since 1975 and son of the company's founder, that he was among the dead.
MATHES, a Park Cities, Texas, resident for 11 years who moved to Toronto in mid-1980, concluded a round of business meetings in Dallas Thursday, said RALPH CAMPBELL, advertising manager of the company.
The Dallas native was known for his television commercials that boasted "CURTIS MATHES -- the most expensive television sets in America, and darn well worth it."
The pilot reported trouble to a control tower in Indianapolis 13 minutes before the plane landed and it was cleared for an immediate landing at Greater Cincinnati, the nearest airport.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators rushed to the scene to examine the fusilage, left with gaping holes and gutted by a fire that witnesses said appeared to start in a lavatory.
Black smoke poured from the aircraft as survivors scurried off the plane. Emergency vehicles were in place but appeared unable, according to one witness, to immediately control the fire.
A temporary morgue was set up at an isolated part of the airport for the bodies, many of them charred.
The fire apparently began in a restroom, said witnesses and FAA spokesman FRED FARRAR in Washington. There were conflicting reports on the location of the bathroom and he said it was not known how the fire began.
"All the dead were in the forward section, the first-class section," said JERRY STRICKER, a member of the Kenton County Airport Board, which operates the airport. "It looked like they were either trying to get out or get down on the floor to get away from the smoke."
A passenger, RAYMOND CHALIFOUX, 23, who was returning from a business trip in Texas, said: "We did see some smoke coming from the back of the plane. They told us not to worry. After a while, we realized there was something wrong. Five minutes before landing, we couldn't see anything in the plane for the smoke."
CHALIFOUX said passengers were instructed to move to the front of the airplane after a stewardess opened the door to a restroom and smoke billowed out. He said the crew instructed the passengers how to control their breathing as the cabin continued to fill with smoke.
"I could breathe the whole time by putting my hand over my mouth," he said.
JIM LANAGAN, who supervises the Cincinnati fire department's heavy rescue unit, said the pilot and crew all got out alive.
He said he did not talk to the pilot, but quoted others who did. "His last words (to the control tower) were 'I can't see anything,' He landed with smoke filling the cockpit."
"He blew out all the tires when he landed. He did a hell of a job landing," LANAGAN said.
He said most of the damage was to the middle part of the plane but "the plane is completely gutted."
Some of the bodies were still in the seats and others were in the aisle, he said, adding, "I think everybody was just trying to move slowly. There are no bodies piled on top of each other."
Smoke could be seen coming from an airplane bathroom before the emergency landing, one passenger said.
"The stewardess opened the door to the washroom and the smoke came out," the passenger, who was not identified, told television station WCPO in Cincinnati. "They tried to calm us down saying, 'It's OK, there's smoke, but it's been taken care of.' But it seems like the fire was going and going, and then the smoke -- even though the door was closed -- was coming through."
Heavy smoke continued to billow from the aircraft intermittently for about three hours. Holes could be seen in the sides and bottom of the fuselage. The airport was shut down, but later reopened.
LEO McCALLEM, who works at an airport car rental agency, said, "You could see people kicking out the windows and sliding down the ramps. Then the smoke billowed. After that, you could see the fire."
CHRIS ZIMMER, 19, from New York, who was on a USAir flight for New York and had been visiting in Cincinnati, said his plane was on the runway when the Air Canada flight landed.
"When the plane first came in, I saw some smoke coming out of it, white and gray smoke. Then the plane started billowing a lot of black smoke. Once a door was opened, a lot of black smoke seemed to be coming from the front door," he said.

Marysville Journal-Tribune Ohio 1983-06-03
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!