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:Silhouette image of generic F27 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Fairchild FH-227B
Operator:Piedmont Airlines
Registration:N712U
C/n / msn:557
First flight:1967
Total airframe hrs:2197
Engines: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) (   United States of America)
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.”