52 Years ago today: On 10 August 1968 a Piedmont Airlines Fairchild FH-227B crashed on an ILS approach to Charleston, WV, killing 35 out of 37 occupants.
| Date: | Saturday 10 August 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 Dart 532-7 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 32 / Occupants: 34 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 35 / Occupants: 37 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Charleston-Kanawha County Airport, WV (CRW) ( |
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, KY (CVG/KCVG), United States of America |
| Destination airport: | Charleston-Kanawha County Airport, WV (CRW/KCRW), United States of America |
| Flightnumber: | 230 |
Narrative:
Piedmont flight 230 was on an ILS localizer 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:
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.”
