On October 2, 1970, a clear, calm day, a Martin 404 carrying 37 members of the Wichita State football team, and a crew of 3 crashed into a Colorado mountain at 1:14 PM.  A total of 31 people died in the crash.  The aircraft’s engines were functioning normally and ceiling and visibility were unlimited.

On December 20, 1995, on a clear, calm night, a Boeing 757-200 operating as American Airlines Flight 965, crashed into a mountain on approach into Cali, Columbia, killing 159 of the 163 souls on board.  Again, there were no mechanical difficulties with the aircraft, and ceiling and visibility were unlimited.

Why did these deadly accidents happen, especially considering the weather conditions involved?  There are many factors, but the most dominant were a lack of planning and an almost total loss of situational awareness.

Having grown up in Colorado, I had the greatest respect for the beauty of the Colorado Rockies, but when I learned to fly as a youth, my flight instructors reinforced the reality that the beauty had a deadly side unless you were very careful to not exceed the performance capability of your aircraft.  That is exactly what happened in the case of the Wichita State charter flight.

There were actually two aircraft carrying the football team and support people. They were both Martin 404s.  The president of the charter company was flying in the left (Captain’s) seat of the aircraft which crashed, but was actually the listed First Officer since he did not have an FAA type rating in the 404.  As such, he didn’t have much experience in the aircraft, only a few hours, and none in a high altitude environment like the Colorado Rockies.  That would prove to be a fatal combination.

The other charter 404 followed a different route to Logan, Utah, first proceeding north from their Denver fuel stop, and then turning west over a much lower portion of the Rockies.  It arrived safely.  The 404 which crashed departed Denver on a due west heading, without bothering to circle a few times to gain altitude for a safe crossing of the mountains.  Unfortunately, the reality was that the terrain west of Denver rises much faster than the maximum climb capability of the fully loaded 404.  Once it entered the narrow canyon thru which I-70 runs, the fate of the flight was sealed.  There wasn’t room to turn the aircraft around, and it was incapable of out-climbing the terrain.

In the case of AA 965, they had pre-programed an arrival at the Cali airport which would involve over flying the airport and turning back to land to the north on runway 01.  Since the wind was calm and visibility unlimited, the Cali Approach Controller offered to allow a straight in approach to the south, the direction they were headed, and a landing on runway 19.  This would save a great deal of time, and the crew accepted that option.  Then, everything began to unravel.

Instead of “hand flying” the aircraft the Captain continued on auto-pilot, reprograming the computer for the new approach.  This significantly increased the workload on the two pilots, and induced a series of errors which would soon prove fatal to most of the souls onboard.  Instead of proceeding directly to the Cali “outer fix”, the aircraft made a sharp turn to the left, back towards a navigational fix with the same identifier, but behind them, because it was closer to their position.

This created momentary confusion, but then the aircraft was manually turned back towards Cali.  Since it was far above a normal approach path, the “Spoilers” were deployed, to drastically increase the descent rate of the aircraft.  Cali is surrounded by high mountains, unseen in the dark below them, and the aircraft made one of the cruelest maneuvers know to aviators.  It’s called “CFIT” or “Controlled Flight Into Terrain”.

The airplane was equipped with the latest “Terrain Warning System” which indeed gave them sufficient warning to avoid the crash.  Unfortunately, even though the Captain applied full power to the engines and raised the nose, he neglected to lower the “Spoilers”, so the descent continued and the aircraft impacted a ridge only a few feet below the crest.  

Both these fatal accidents could have been avoided.  Both were caused by “Pilot Error”.  However, the simple application of “Situational Awareness”, knowing where you are, and the height of the terrain below you and in front of you, would have prevented the loss of both aircraft and 190 human lives.

So remember, when you board an aircraft, your life depends on the skill, training and judgement of the cockpit crew.  Technology has made modern aviation immensely safer than in the early days of flying.  However, as in the case of AA 965, over reliance on computers and flight management systems can be deadly. It has happened before, and unfortunately, it will happen again, anytime “Situational Awareness” isn’t part of the operation of the flight.

To all pilots reading this missive, I pass on the following advice.  One of my early flight instructors said to me as I was about to depart on a solo night cross country flight:

“Don’t descend into the dark spots. They might be filled with granite!”