Crash of Southern Airways Flight 242

Unexpected Severe Weather Conditions Downed a DC-9 Airplane

Apr 29, 2009

Pilots rely on ground radar and their on-board radar screen for choosing a flight path through thunderstorms. Something went wrong on April 4, 1977.

Southern Airways Flight 242 was on its way from Muscle Shoals Regional Airport in Northwest Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia with a stopover in Huntsville, Alabama. The DC-9-31 aircraft had departed from Huntsville International Airport and was carrying 81 passengers and four crew members on board when the crash occurred.

Events Leading up to the Crash of Southern Airways Flight 242

Earlier in the day, on April 4, 1977, the plane had left Atlanta, Georgia at 2:00 pm with a short flight to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The flight had encountered rain and turbulence, but nothing that was extremely serious.

The weather worsened. During their stopover at Muscle Shoals, the crew received news of tornado watches for several southeast states as well as thunderstorms in their flight area.

The flight left Muscle Shoals at 3:21pm and landed in Huntsville, Alabama at 3:44 pm. The dispatchers from Southern Airways gave the pilots the weather conditions from the Atlanta airport. The conditions were cloudy, warm and windy but no mention of thunderstorms. The National Weather Service in Athens, Georgia had detected a squall line but this was not communicated to the crew of Flight 242.

The flight departed Huntsville at 3:54 pm and the crew was advised of severe weather conditions occurring near Rome, Georgia. The radar screen was showing heavy activity. The flight was then handed over to the controllers in Memphis.

Memphis acknowledged the presence of severe thunderstorms or possible tornadoes and advised the crew to contact Atlanta for updates. In turn, the controllers at Atlanta contacted other flights in the area. The crew of a TWA flight asked for a change to their flight path. Eastern Airline reported that they had encountered bad weather but it wasn’t serious enough to be considered dangerous.

Based on the information received, Southern Airlines Flight 242 continued on their same path to Atlanta but lowered their altitude. In the next round of communication, the pilots reported their windshield was broken.

A few minutes later, the crew reported that their left engine had just cut out and then less than a minute later, the other engine died. Flight 242 was now gliding and was instructed to attempt to land at Dobbins Air Force Base. Dobbins was too far away so the plan was changed to a force landing at Catersville Airport. Unfortunately, the plane didn’t make it to the airport and crash landed on State Highway 92 in Georgia.

The Crash of Southern Airlines Flight 242

The plane struck an embankment and hit a tree at New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia. It skidded on the highway for less that half a mile before crashing into a gas station/market. The body of the plane broke up and burst into flames.

In the article, Deadly Surprise, written by Bruce Landsberg for the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA) he stated, “Sixty-two people on board the aircraft died, including the cockpit crew. Eight people on the ground also perished. There were 21 passengers who survived, along with the flight attendants.”

Included in an investigation carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the probable causes were, “compressor stalls, compressor assembly overheated, hail and thunderstorm activity, air carrier dispatching failure to keep flight properly advised, pilot improper in-flight decisions, complete engine failure/flameout. Ingestion of massive amounts of water & hail, thrust lever movement induced stall, pilot relied on WX radar.”

The storm system that struck the Southeast on April 4, 1977 was one of the worst on record. On that day, there were 30 severe thunderstorms and 20 tornadoes. Weather information from the ground controllers at Southern and on the pilot’s radar screen was not accurate. The rainfall was so severe that it looked like there was a hole in the storm so the pilot set his course in that direction.

As a result, Southern Airways Flight 242 flew through the largest thunderstorm in the squall line. The hail broke the windshield on the airplane. The heavy rain and hail damaged the blades of the engine, which caused the compressors to stall and flameout.