Southern Airways Flight 242 Remembered

Georgia's worst aviation disaster was remembered today with a memorial service and survivors reunion in Dallas, GA. not far from New Hope. Southern Airways Flight 242 crashed in Pauling County in New Hope 36 years ago April 4, 1977. Seventy-two people died, including nine Paulding County residents. Nineteen passengers survived the crash.

The flight crew, consisting of captain Bill McKenzie and co-pilot Lyman Keele, was advised of the presence of embedded thunderstorms and possible tornadoes along their general route prior to their departure from Huntsville, but they were not subsequently told that the cells had since formed a squall line. The flight crew had flown through that same area from Atlanta earlier in the day, encountering only mild turbulence and light rain.

The weather system had greatly intensified in the meantime. The peak convective activity was later shown on ground radar to be near Rome, Georgia, to which the flight was cleared to proceed by air traffic control. The crew attempted to pick out a path through the cells depicted on their onboard weather radar display, but they were apparently misled by the black and white radar's attenuation effect and they proceeded toward what they believed was a low intensity area, when in fact it was the peak convective activity point, attenuated by rain.

 

As the aircraft descended from its cruise altitude of 17,000 feet to 14,000 feet  near Rome VOR, it apparently entered a thunderstorm cell and encountered a massive amount of water and hail. The hail was intense enough to break the aircraft's windshield, and due to the ingestion of both water and hail, both engines were damaged and underwent flameout. 

The crew attempted unsuccessfully to restart the engines, gliding down unpowered while simultaneously trying to find an emergency landing field within range. Air traffic control suggested Dobbins Air Force Base, about 20 miles east, as a possible landing site, but it was beyond reach. Cartersville Airport, a general aviation airport about 15 miles north with a much shorter runway intended for light aircraft was considered, but it was behind the aircraft and now out of reach.

As the aircraft ran out of altitude and options, gliding with a broken windshield and no engine power, the crew made visual contact with the ground and spotted a straight section of a rural highway below. They executed an unpowered forced landing on that road, but during the rollout the aircraft collided with a gas station/grocery store and other structures.

The flight crew and 60 passengers were killed due to impact forces and fire, but 19 of the passengers survived, as well as both flight attendants. Eight people on the ground died. One passenger initially survived the crash but died on June 5, 1977. A seriously injured person on the ground died around one month later.

A reunion of survivors and victims' families was held on the anniversary of the crash in April 2012. It is regular event every 10 years since 1982, at the crash site. A plaque was unveiled last spring, standing sentinel at the entrance to a local cemetery nearby, listing the names of the casualties on the plane and on the ground, as well as the survivors.

The accident has been used to train pilots on spring frontal weather systems for decades and is perhaps one of the most researched airline accidents. FMI:Deadly Surprise AOPA ,Southern Airways Flight 242