What happened
On the evening of the accident, Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 was operating a multi-leg service from Detroit, Michigan, toward Washington, D.C., with scheduled stops in Erie, Bradford, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Convair CV-580 departed from Erie at 19:46. By 20:06, the flight crew reported being over the outbound VOR as they began their instrument approach procedure. Following instructions from Erie Approach Control, the crew transitioned communication to the Bradford Flight Service Station.
During the approach, the crew notified Bradford FSS that they were performing a procedure turn inbound for runway 3ally. At this time, weather information indicated winds of 290 degrees at 15 knots. As the aircraft descended through light snow showers, it struck trees located approximately 2.5 nautical miles from the runway threshold on terrain with a 1.5-degree upslope. The aircraft moved through the treeline for roughly 800 feet before striking the ground, resulting in the fuselage coming to rest in an inverted position.
Findings
The investigation determined that the crew continued their descent below the Minimum Descent Altitude, passing the final approach fix and into terrain obstructions. This occurred while both members of the flight crew were looking outside the cockpit attempting to find visual ground references. Several contributing elements were identified, including a navigational error during the late stages of the approach, the difficulty of establishing visual contact at night near Bradford, and a sudden decrease in visibility that the crew had not yet identified.