Charleston, WV Turboprop Plane Crashes Short of Runway, Aug 1968

KANAWHA CRASH CLAIMS 32

Charleston -- Fifteen officials of the National Transportation Safety Board began their investigation late Saturday into the crash of a Piedmont turboprop plane that killed 32 of 37 persons aboard when it undershot Kanawha Airport here.
Rains throughout the day prevented the officials from making a thorough inspection of the crash site located about 50 feet right of the main runway here.
EDWARD SLATTERY, director of public affairs for the NTSB said the cockpit voice and flight recorders had been recovered from the wreckage in apparent good condition and were sent to Washington where read outs will take place Sunday.
NTSB officials also confirmed that the airport's glide slope electronic guidance system was inoperative at the time of the crash. SLATTERY said the system had been shut down for a few days "for repairs."
He said pilots had been made aware the system was not operating.
One of the victims was identified as STEPHEN WAYNE MINES, White Sulphur Springs.
Three of the five survivors, including a 23 year old girl who lost both legs, were reported in critical condition.
It was the worst aircraft disaster in West Virginia history.
The F-227 aircraft was making an instrument approach through a thick fog when it thundered into the ground bouncing and spewing metal and aircraft fuel.
Three hours after the crash 25 bodies were lined in the West Virginia Air Natinal Guard Armory at the airport. Seven other persons were pronounced dead at Charleston hospitals. The plane was bound from Louisville, Ky., to Norfolk, Va., and was scheduled to make several stops.
An eyewitness, RALPH G. STONE, 32, of Charleston, said the airliner "would have missed the runway by 50 feet if it had the altitude to land safely."
STONE, a pilot for 11 years, was waiting with a woman and three other men in a Piper Aztec on a taxi strip when the crash occurred.
"We were watching for the Piedmont to lant. All of a sudden I saw this debris -- or a glob of something -- hit the group," STONE said.
"I said 'What's that'. Then we saw it was an airplane."
STONE, and LANDON C. WELLFORD, along with two other men, ran to where the plane had landed and burst into flames.
"Some passengers, maybe as many as eight, were thrown clear of the flames," STONE said.
"There was one woman screaming for us to help her, others were just moaning. We got them away from the plane, carried some, dragged some, and by this time the Air Guardsmen were there putting out the fire.
"Without them (guardsmen) on the ball, we would have lost them all."
STONE said from where he was sitting and judging by the path of broken trees, it appeared the plane was off course.
"He (the pilot) was off to the right side of the runway but I don't know why. He apparently would have missed the runway by 50 feet or more," STONE said.
The plane, due at 8:52 a.m. EDT, crashed at 8:58 a.m. EDT. It had made a stop at Cincinnati and before reaching Norfolk was scheduled to land at Roanoke, Lynchburg, Richmond and Newport News, Va.
Landing under instrument conditions, the plane hit the hilltop edge of the runway about 50-yards short and about 10 feet too low.
The momentum carried the plane in bounces through a patch of trees and onto the runway area, tearing off a wing and spewing fuel in its path. The fire started after the plane came to a stop.
After the initial crash impact the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified local authorities and about 100 emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a 52-man inquiry team from Washington to investigate the accident.
The F-227 is a twin engined craft capable of carrying 44 persons. Normally it carries a crew of three.
Col. RALPH COWGILL of the West Virginia Air National Guard said the plane burned for "less than 15 minutes" after the crash. Two big National Guard pump trucks stationed less than a half mile away from the crash site quickly brought the fire under control.
"There wasn't any warning .. nothing .. nobody sensed anything," cried 19 year old BARBARA SCHILLER -- one of the survivors -- from her hospital bed. MISS SCHILLER, a resident of Cincinnati, said she was flying to Virginia Beach, Va., on a holiday weekend with two friends.
"I thought it was all a bad dream, just a bad dream," she sobbed. "I wasn't even looking out the window when it happened, I blacked out and when I woke up they were throwing foam all over us."
MISS SCHILLER said she wasn't anxious to make the flight because her sister-in-law's parents were killed in a plane crash last year.
A cavernous National Guard hanger was quickly utilized for the grim task of identifying the victims, Piedmont officials said the dead included the pilot, GENE SUGG, and copilot JOHN F. MESSICK, both of Winston-Salem, N. C.
Piedmont Vice President W. G. McGEE, who arrived here shortly after the crash, said identification of the other victims "may take a while because some of the passengers came from points off our line."
The crash was the first fatal accident involving a commercial airliner at the airport since May 12, 1959 when a Capital Airlines Constellation plunged into a ravine, killing two persons.
A Roman Catholic priest arrived at the temporary morgue shortly after the first bodies were brought in to administer last rites of the church.
COWGILL said that from the appearance of the bodies, most of the victims died from the impact and not from the fire. Several children were among the victims.
Charleston policeman L. C. THAXTON said he was one of the first persons to reach the scene.
"I picked up a little girl's body ... she was holding a doll in her lap ... the doll's head rolled off onto the ground," THAXTON said.
Luggage, clothing, papers and other personal possessions littered the ground where the big plane gouged its destructive path.
One of the wings was torn off, apparently as the plane bounced over the top of the embankment at the threshold of the runway. Other parts, including a propellor and what appeared to be an engine, lay down the hillside where the plane first contacted the ground.
The airport was built more than 20 years ago by scraping off the tops of three small mountains to form a plateau surrounded by tree-lined ridges and ravines.
Steep dropoffs are located at the thresholds of both runways.
Most pilots consider the field safe, providing diligence is used for landing and takeoffs, particularly in poor weather conditions.

LIST OF VICTIMS.
Winston-Salem, N. C. (UPI) -- Piedmont Airlines general offices released a partial list of victims Saturday in the Charleston, W. Va., crash of a Piedmont Airliner that killed 32 of 37 persons on board.
The list:
STEPHEN WAYNE MINES, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
W. C. ANDREW, Roanoke, Va., boarded at Cincinnati, Ohio.
MRS. EDWIN CHAMBLIN, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
C. L. DOBSON, Camden-on-Gauley, W. Va., of U. S. Navy, boarded at Cincinnati.
R. E. DOYLE, Ft. Wayne, Ind., boarded at Cincinnati.
Sister ECCLES, Nazareth, Ky., boarded at Louisville, Ky.
J. M. IZZO, Charleston, W. Va., boarded at Cincinnati.
N. J. KLEIN, Louisville, Ky., boarded at Louisville.
H. PHAROW, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
MARY GIBSON, Richmond, Va., boarded at Cincinnati.
DIANNE PFIRRMANS, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
GLENN S. SHEETS, Salem, Va., boarded at Cincinnati.
CARLA TRENTMAN, Covington, Ky., boarded at Cincinnati.
DENZIL WARNER, Parkersburg, W. Va., boarded at Louisville.
MRS. F. WHEELER, address unknown, boarded at Cincinnati.
MRS. T. F. WIDMER, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
Master KEITH WIDMER, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
MISS DIANNE WIDMER, Cincinnati, boarded at Cincinnati.
Capt. GENE ARLEN SUGG, 40, Winston-Salem, the pilot.
First Officer FRANK MESSICK, 34, Winston-Salem.
Stewardess ANNA PEARL STEWARD, 20, Cookeville, Tenn.
BARBARA SWIGGETT, 10, Hampton, Va., boarded at Cincinnati.
SHARON SEARP, Covington, Ky., boarded at Cincinnati for Norfolk.
MRS. L. DEER, Louisville, bound for Newport News, Va.
MRS. CAROL DEER, Louisville, bound for Newport News, Va.
MISS KIMMIE DEER, 6, Louisville, bound for Newport News, Va.
SHEILA HELLER, Indianola, Ind., boarded at Cincinnati for Roanoke.
R. BREWER, U. S. Army, Springfield, Tenn., boarded at Louisville.
MARK E. DICKINSON, U. S. Army, address unknown, boarded at Louisville.
THOMAS R. GULLION, U. S. Army, Roanoke, Va., boarded at Louisville.
FLOYD PATTERSON, address unknown, boarded at Cincinnati.
SURVIVORS
Charleston (UPI) -- Four of five survivors of a crash of a Piedmont Airlines F-227 turboprop which killed 32 persons Saturday were in critical condition.
The most critical was JUDY BENHASE, 20, of Cincinnati, whose legs were amputated. She also suffered internal injuries and fractures of both arms, officials of Charleston Memorial Hospital said.
Also in critical condition at the same hospital was TOM VOLGNIER, Cincinnati, with internal injuries.
DARRELL TRIPLETT, 30, a serviceman stationed at Ft. Knox, Ky., whose home is in Branchland, W. Va., was in critical condition at Charleston Memorial Hospital with chest, head and leg injuries.
At the same hospital an unidentified woman was listed as critical with burns, compound fractures of both legs and internal injuries.
BARBARA SCHILLER, 19, Cincinnati, was listed in satisfactory condition at Charleston Memorial Hospital with a fractured ankle and multiple contusions.

Post Herald and Register Beckley West Virginia 1968-08-11
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!