PIA - A History: Chicago & Southern Airlines Crash Oct. 21, 1971

The only fatal Peoria-area plane crash involving a scheduled air carrier occurred October 21, 1971 when Chicago & Southern Airlines Flight #804 went down while attempting to land in poor weather conditions. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident report can be viewed here, but I'll summarize the crash, what led up to it and the aftermath. 

ILL-FATED FLIGHT #804
Chicago & Southern Airlines began flying between Peoria and Chicago's Meigs Field on July 7, 1969. Beech 18S and DHC-6 "Twin Otter" aircraft were used for its flights, the former type at Peoria. In 1970, C&S introduced an aircraft known as the ATECO Westwind II. It was a Beech 18S with heavy modifications including a seven-foot fuselage extension, two turboprop engines and a tri-cycle landing gear.

An ATECO Westwind II operated ill-fated C&S Flight #804. It departed Meigs Field at 11:20 a. m. October 21, 1971 for Peoria and Springfield with 14 passengers. Airline president Frank Hansen, 39, was pilot and Robert William Muller, 25, was co-pilot.

Weather at and around the airport was poor with a low-ceiling, rain, fog and wind. At 12:01 p. m., Peoria Approach Control instructed Hansen to hold over Mossville so that two Ozark Air Lines flights, both operated by FH-227s, could attempt approaches to the Greater Peoria Airport. The NTSB report says that the two flights made a total of five missed approaches and flew on to alternate airports.

At 12:12 p. m., the tower instructed Hansen to make a VOR approach (ILS had been shutdown for construction work) to Runway 12 then circle to Runway 4. Six minutes later, the flight was cleared to land on Runway 4. When the aircraft failed to appear, controllers attempted to establish radio contact. With no response, the tower informed the Air National Guard Crash Rescue Unit.

A helicopter crew operating five miles north heard the radio chatter and asked to help. After finding the crash site the helicopter pilot directed ANG personnel to its location. The C&S plane had hit two high-tension electrical transmission lines and crashed on Robert McClugage's pasture near Cameron lane about two miles west of the airport. All 16 aboard were killed.

MEDIA HYPE, NTSB FINDINGS
As you can imagine, the Peoria Journal Star used a lot of ink to cover the aftermath of the crash. The October 22, 1971 edition alone carried no fewer than ten articles about the tragedy. It carried eight the next day. Frequent articles continued through October and into November.

While such coverage can be expected, the paper helped spread ideas which did not concur with the NTSB report. For example, the December 17, 1971 edition quoted the airline's [former] chief pilot as saying the ATECO Westwind II was a "home built pig, an experimental bomb and a chopped up and patched aircraft." He went on to accuse the airline of covering up lots of illegal activity. A newspaper article from the day before revealed that C&S had no maintenance manual for the crashed plane! But on page 16 of the accident report, the NTSB determined that, "The aircraft was certified and airworthy at the time of takeoff as Flight 804."

Some of the accusations were true no doubt, and the carrier's problems mounted over the next several months. The airline had been accused of violating federal law in August 1971 when it threatened to fire employees for union activity. The deceased president's son, however, told the paper that the chief pilot and eight others (pilots, co-pilots and mechanics) had been furloughed due to loss of military, mail order and cargo contracts. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found otherwise when on December 1 it ordered C&S to reinstate a total of 16 unionized employees whose complaints were filed through the Teamsters Union Local 627 between September 1 and November 15.

Less than a month before the crash, William B. Rutherford had been appointed as a member of the airport authority. Rutherford served as airport attorney from 1950 to 1966. His appointment was controversial because it was believed his legal errors had cost the authority $30,000. Nonetheless, he was now a boardmember, and an outspoken one at that.

Rutherford blasted the shutdown of ILS on Runway 12/30, but a state aeronautics official disagreed and stated that such a move had been necessary. Even so, crash victims' family members sued the airport, charging negligence. Mentioned in the suit was the ILS shutdown on the primary runway, as well as the failure to move VOR to the secondary runway, 4-22.

At an Illinois Legislative Investigative Committee (ILIC) hearing on January 5, 1972 it was revealed C&S had bad credit and couldn't refuel its planes at Peoria or Springfield, and could only do so at Chicago's Meigs Field. The final ILIC report also concluded that had ILS been operational (on Runway 12/30), the crash wouldn't have occurred, and that the ICC shouldn't have granted C&S Chicago (Meigs)-Springfield authority to airline because of its substantial indebtedness, poor maintenance background of its officers, its meager equipment and its inadequate maintenance procedures.

The ILIC was critical of the proximity of high-tension electrical transmission wires. It determined these should be at no less than five miles from an airport. The C&S plane crashed into wires suspended between 65 and 102 feet between 110 foot towers. These were eventually lowered, but in the interim marked with luminous wrapping.

On April 6, the PJStar revealed that C&S failed to carry insurance for the pilots killed in the Peoria crash. Air North, however, did eventually produce insurance policies for passengers aboard the plane it leased to C&S.

This wasn't C&S's first fatal accident either. On August 27, less then two months before the Peoria crash, a Chicago & Southern plane enroute from Detroit to Cleveland crashed into a home at Fairview Park, Ohio killing two people, the homeowner and the co-pilot. The pilot and the homeowner's wife were injured.

Although the lack of operating ILS was noted in its report, The NTSB concluded the crash probably resulted when "the pilot knowingly descended below the Minimum Descent Altitude in an attempt to complete the approach by means of visual reference to ground objects. Because of minimal visibility and low clouds in the approach zone, the aircraft was operated at an altitude too low to provide clearance over the powerlines."

AFTERMATH
Five days after the crash, the Illinois Commerce Commission suspended Chicago & Southern Airlines' license pending the NTSB crash probe. The airline's vice-president, Ben Newman, called the action "premature" and vowed to keep the airline in business. C&S took steps in that direction when it named Richard H. Willard, former director of operations for Air North, as its new president effective November 1. Already noted above is that the aircraft involved in the crash had been leased from Air North.

The ICC conducted hearings on November 8 though C&S had already agreed to a permanent suspension of its scheduled passenger flights to Chicago, Peoria and Springfield. The airline could still operate scheduled and chartered interstate passenger and cargo flights, but apparently suspended all operations October 26.

On November 17, C&S gave up its operating permit to the Federal Aviation Administration. Richard Willard told the media that he refused to file bankruptcy and instead hoped to resume flying. In late November, however, Willard announced his intent to start a new airline.

A discussion of this new airline, and other events, will be the subject of the next post in this series.

ILS = Instrument Landing System
VOR - VHS Omindirectional Radio

- David P. Jordan