What happened
On April 28, 1951, United Airlines Flight 129 departed Cleveland, Ohio, bound for Chicago, Illinois, with scheduled stops in Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana. The aircraft, a DC-3, was carrying eight passengers and three crew members. During the flight, the crew requested a lower cruising altitude due to turbulence, though this request was denied by air traffic control because of existing traffic.
As the aircraft approached Baer Field, the pilot reported being northeast of the airport and prepared to switch to the tower frequency. At that time, several other aircraft were also in the pattern. A sudden and significant weather shift occurred when the wind at the airport changed direction to the west-northwest and increased in speed from 5–10 mph to 40 mph. The tower advised the incoming flights of this change and suggested switching to Runway 27 to land more effectively into the wind.
While attempting to realign with the new runway, the aircraft encountered a massive increase in wind velocity, reaching 65 mph with gusts up to 85 mph, accompanied by heavy rain, lightning, and intense static. Visibility dropped rapidly, and the tower lost visual contact with the plane. The crew transmitted that they were heading east before a bright orange flash was observed from the control tower. The DC-3 crashed in a field approximately 2.6 miles east-southeast of the airport. The impact caused the aircraft to disintegrate, resulting in 11 fatalities.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was a severe downdraft that forced the aircraft into the ground while it was flying in a near level attitude.
- The squall line moved through northern Illinois and Indiana much more rapidly than meteorologists had predicted.
- Although thunderstorms were known to be approaching, it was previously believed that aircraft could land safely before the storm arrived.
- As the flight attempted to abandon its approach, it struck the leading edge of the squall line and encountered a downdraft from which the pilot could not recover.