What happened
On the morning of November 29, 1963, a Douglas DC-3, registration N386T, was involved in a fatal aviation accident near Morgantown, West Virginia. The aircraft, operated by Purdue Aeronautics Corporation, was being flown to Morgantown Municipal Airport as part of a ferry flight intended to prepare for an upcoming charter service.
While attempting an instrument approach to the airport, the aircraft went down approximately 2.5 nautical miles from the Morgantown VOR on the 340-degree radial. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in the total loss of the airframe. Of the two people on board, the stewardess sustained fatal injuries, while the captain and first officer survived with minor injuries.
Findings
Investigations into the crash determined that the primary factor was the pilot's attempt to perform an instrument approach using equipment that lacked the necessary navigational tools required for the specific ground-based facilities in use at the time.