Doubts raised in jet crash

A neighbor sent me this article about a 1967 crash near Hendersonville, NC. The
controlling ATC was the Asheville TRACON. This predates the online NTSB accident
archive, but I once had a hardcopy of the accident investigation. I'll look for it.

I found the original online at http://makeashorterlink.com/?S25C52A7B

Here's the content:

--- all remainder is quoted from the Hendersonville News ---

The crash of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 on July 19, 1967, left searing memories
for dozens of witnesses and rescue workers in Hendersonville.

The Boeing 727 and a Cessna collided in mid-air over town on that July afternoon
37 years ago, raining debris and body parts over a large area.

The jetliner came to rest on Camp Pinewood's trash dump. William R. Kuykendall
and his wife, who lived a few hundred yards from the crash site, were
fortunately vacationing at Windy Hill Beach, S.C., when a woman's body crashed
through their roof and into their living room.

The crash killed everyone aboard the small plane and the jetliner, including a
promising Naval officer, John T. McNaughton, who had just been named Secretary
of the Navy.

The crash of Flight 22 faded into history long ago and would have stayed there
if not for the interest of Paul Houle, an amateur historian and aviation
enthusiast from Spartanburg. S.C. Houle initiated and became the driving force
behind the Flight 22 Memorial off Orrs Camp Road in Hendersonville. But honoring
the memory of those aboard the planes was not the end of his interest.

Over the past several years, Houle, who was an accident investigator in the
Army, has doggedly combed through the reams of investigation files that came
after the mid-air collision of the Virginia-bound Boeing and the Asheville-bound
Cessna. Houle's efforts were chronicled Sunday by Walt Wooton, a writer for our
sister paper, the Herald-Journal in Spartanburg.

Houle's own reading of the material has led him to conclude that the official
cause of the accident by the National Transportation Safety Board and the
Federal Aviation Administration is wrong. It goes too far to say that Houle has
found a smoking gun. But he has found a possible conflict of interest in the
probe, confusion in the radio communications issued from the Asheville control
tower and, well, a smoking ashtray.

# Among Houle's findings:The lead NTSB investigator of the accident, Thomas
Saunders, was the brother of a Piedmont vice president, H.K. "Zeke" Saunders.
# The Cessna pilot accurately reported his heading to the Asheville tower, a
heading that should have alerted the air traffic controller of the collision course.
# An ashtray fire -- yes, pilots could smoke in the cockpit then -- may have
distracted the crew, yet the NTSB report ignores it.

Houle's challenge to the official findings has not been independently reviewed
but his petition has enough validity to get the agency's attention.

"We'll take a look at it and start an evaluation," said Tom Haueter, the deputy
director of the NTSB's Office of Aviation Safety. "That's about where it is at
the moment."

It would serve the pursuit of truth if a federal judge would unseal records of a
civil lawsuit arising from the crash, which was settled in February 1971. U.S.
District Court Judge Lacy H. Thornburg turned down Houle's request to unseal the
file in May 2003.

Houle has turned up enough questions to warrant a second look by the federal air
safety regulators.

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Dave Butler wrote:
A neighbor sent me this article about a 1967 crash near Hendersonville,
NC. The controlling ATC was the Asheville TRACON. This predates the
online NTSB accident archive, but I once had a hardcopy of the accident
investigation. I'll look for it.

I found the original online at http://makeashorterlink.com/?S25C52A7B

snip

Here's the original NTSB investigation report:

http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR68-AJ.pdf

Dave

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On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:58:29 -0400, Dave Butler x@yy wrote in
::

Houle's own reading of the material has led him to conclude that the official
cause of the accident by the National Transportation Safety Board and the
Federal Aviation Administration is wrong.


So what is Houle's contention, that the NTSB investigators found the
Cessna pilot's failure to comply with his clearance immaterial to the
cause of the MAC?

Dave Butler wrote:
A neighbor sent me this article about a 1967 crash near Hendersonville,
NC. The controlling ATC was the Asheville TRACON. This predates the
online NTSB accident archive, but I once had a hardcopy of the accident
investigation. I'll look for it.

I found the original online at http://makeashorterlink.com/?S25C52A7B

snip

Here's yet another story, this one from the Spartanburg, SC newspaper, about the
crash and the re-investigation.

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.d...ory=FLIGHT2201

I didn't mean to make this a sort of hit-and-run posting, but I just haven't had
time to follow up on it, and wanted to get it "out there" 'cause I thought
people in this forum would be interested in it. Maybe I can look at it again
after EAA.

Dave

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Dave Butler wrote:
Dave Butler wrote:
A neighbor sent me this article about a 1967 crash near Hendersonville,
NC. The controlling ATC was the Asheville TRACON. This predates the
online NTSB accident archive, but I once had a hardcopy of the accident
investigation. I'll look for it.

I found the original online at http://makeashorterlink.com/?S25C52A7B

snip

Here's yet another story, this one from the Spartanburg, SC newspaper, about the
crash and the re-investigation.

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.d...ory=FLIGHT2201

I didn't mean to make this a sort of hit-and-run posting, but I just haven't had
time to follow up on it, and wanted to get it "out there" 'cause I thought
people in this forum would be interested in it. Maybe I can look at it again
after EAA.

Dave

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I was an eyewitness to this accident and arrived at the crash site with
fifteen minutes after impact.
Mr. Houle's investigation has revealed some problems with the NTSB's
report. Among them was an apparent conflict of interest between the
chief investigator and a Piedmont executive. It seems they were
brothers. He also cites other troubling details about the government's
official report. You can read it for yourself and draw your own
conclusions.

Dale wrote:

You can read it for yourself and draw your own
conclusions.

I have. Unless the transcription of the radio exchange is incorrect, the
plane was not where it was supposed to be as per clearance. More, it
appears that the radios were tuned to the wrong NDB (if I read that part
correctly) in such a way that would make the incorrect location make sense.

A conflict of interest is never a good thing, but - again, unless the cited
radio traffic is suspect - I'm not sure why the conclusion is to be
doubted.

- Andrew

Andrew, I have read the NTSB's report several times. It's what it
doesn't reveal that's important in this accident. If the small plane
was not where it was supposed to be, neither was the Piedmont. He
turned left prior to reaching 5,000 feet which were his instructions.
Have you listed to the tapes? Mr. Houle is a meticulous investigator
who has studied this accident for years. Have you read what he has
written? I agree that a conflict of interest is never a good thing, but
it's more than that in this case I believe. It would not be allowed
today. Mr. Houle's appeals apparently have enough credibility to
convince the NTSB to re-evalute the original conclusions. Did you look
at the website listed in the Spartanburg newspaper article? It raises a
number of questions not addressed in the official report, e.g. a
possible ashtray fire in the Piedmont cockpit moments before the
collision. Listening to the cockpit conversation reveals the crew was
distracted. In addition, the Cessna pilot radioed his position to the
Asheville ATC who was on the phone with Atlanta. If he had been paying
attention, he would have known that the small plane was in the wrong
place and could have alerted the pilot. These and other details are
troubling to those who have taken an interest in this accident. I am
not a pilot nor am I an aviation expert. I have followed this story
over the last year or so because I saw the accident.

Mr. Houle's contentions are explained in detail in the two newspaper
articles, especially the one in the Spartanburg paper. Look at the
website referenced there. Read all the articles and listen to the audio
tapes. My belief is that the NTSB exeronated the Piedmont crew not
because they were blameless, but because of an inappropirate relation
between the lead investigator and a Piedmont executive in charge of
crash investigations. This case has troubled a lot of people for years.
The so-called four-second gap in the Cessna tape is disputed by another
government agency. Their copy of the tape shows that the Cessna pilot
clearly gave his heading to the Asheville ATC. There was no four-second
gap. I think that is crucial. The Cessna pilot had more flying
experience than the Piedmont pilot. He trained other pilots in World
War Two and was known as a meticulous and careful pilot. It's unlikely
he would have made such a dumb mistake as being twelve miles off course
if the ATC had given him the correct information. And yet, the NTSB
placed most of the blame on him with some responsibility on the
controller (who was promoted within the FAA). It seems curious that the
records in this case have been sealed all these years. Maybe Mr.
Houle's efforts will re-open this case.