Summary Pilot incapacitation Crew 5 Survivors 15 Number of deaths 83 Survivor 15 Location United States of America | Passengers 93 Fatalities 83 Date 22 April 1966 Operator American Flyers Airline Passenger count 93 | |
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Site 2.4 km northeast of Ardmore Municipal Airport, United States Similar United Arab Airlines Fl, Avianca Flight 4, Braniff Flight 250, TABSO Flight 101, Pakistan International Airlines Fl | ||
American Flyers Flight 280 was a flight operated on a U.S. Military Air Command contract from Monterey Regional Airport in California to Columbus Airport in Georgia, via Ardmore Municipal Airport, Oklahoma. On April 22, 1966, while approaching Runway 8 at Ardmore, the aircraft overshot the runway and crashed into a hill, bursting into flames. Eighty-three of the 98 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident.
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Aircraft
The aircraft was a Lockheed L-188C Electra four-engined turboprop airline registered as N183H. It had first flown in January 1961 and was bought by American Flyers Airline in January 1963.
Investigation
Investigators found no evidence of mechanical failure or defect. Some days after the crash, it was learned that the pilot, Reed Pigman, who also happened to be the President of American Flyers, was under care for arteriosclerosis. A autopsy of Pigman determined his cause of death to either be multiple injuries or coronary artery sclerosis.
It was also determined that Reed Pigman had falsified his application for a first class medical certificate and that he was also suffering from diabetes. Both of these conditions would have been disqualifying factors for issuance of the certificate.
The probable cause for the accident was:
The incapacitation, due to a coronary insufficiency, of the pilot-in-command at a critical point during visual, circling approach being conducted under instrument flight conditions.