Flight 230 Crash at Charleston, West Virginia (N712U)

Flight Operations and Approach Sequence Flight 230 was a scheduled domestic service operating from Louisville, Kentucky, to Roanoke, Virginia, with en-route stops at Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charleston, Kanawha County Airport, West Virginia. The flight departed Cincinnati at 0805 hours eastern daylight time under an instrument flight rules clearance to Charleston via Victor Airways 128. The flight contacted Charleston Tower at 0835 hours to request weather information, which reported partially obscured skies, visibility of 4 miles in fog and smoke, and runway 23 visibility of less than 1/8 of a mile. The flight was cleared by the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center to the Milton Intersection and instructed to descend to 5,000 feet. At approximately 0841 hours, the flight contacted Charleston Approach Control and reported leaving 6,000 feet for 5,000 feet. The controller established radar contact and instructed the flight to take a 070-degree heading for a vector to the holding pattern at the instrument landing system outer marker. The latest weather at that time reported partially obscured skies, visibility of 4 miles in fog and smoke, runway 23 visibility of zero, and an altimeter setting of 29.94 inches. The flight was given holding instructions and an expected approach time of 0915 hours, subject to weather conditions. At 0850 hours, before reaching the outer marker, the flight was instructed to turn right to a 140-degree heading and cleared to descend to 2,400 feet. The controller advised that runway 23 visibility had improved to seven-eighths of a mile. At 0851 hours, the flight was advised it was seven miles northeast of the outer locator, instructed to turn right to a 200-degree heading, and cleared for an ILS approach. The flight acknowledged the clearance, but the approach controller then advised that the glide path was out of service. At 0852 hours, the flight was advised it was five miles from the outer marker and instructed to contact Charleston Tower on 120.3 MHz. At 0853 hours, the tower local controller established radio contact and cleared the flight to land. The crew had completed the landing check, and the descent was established at a fairly constant rate of approximately 620 feet per minute. At 0854:40 hours, the flight reported passing the outer marker inbound and requested the wind, which was given as 230 degrees at 4 knots. At 0855:55 hours, the flight asked the tower if the approach lights and high-intensity runway lights were turned all the way up. The controller replied in the affirmative, adding, “a little fog right off the end there and its wide open after you get by that, it's more than a mile and a half on the runway.” This was the last known radio communication from the flight. ## Final Moments and Impact At 0856:09 hours, the pilot-in-command mentioned to the co-pilot that he was going to hold the present altitude, which was approximately 1,250 feet above mean sea level, or 350 feet above the elevation of the runway 23 threshold. At 0856:24 hours, the co-pilot informed the pilot-in-command that he had the lights in sight “down low” and asked if the pilot could see them. The pilot-in-command replied that he had them in sight and requested landing flaps. The co-pilot then commented, “I got to get to the chart right here we're likely to lose it.” At 0856:42 hours, the co-pilot asked the pilot-in-command if he saw the lights “there.” The pilot-in-command replied in the affirmative and shortly thereafter reduced the power. Two seconds later, he increased the power. One second later, the co-pilot commented, “watch it.” About one second later, the aircraft crashed. The controller observed a column of smoke rising near the approach end of the runway and immediately activated the crash siren and called for the dispatch of airport emergency equipment. The aircraft struck a steep hillside about 250 feet short of the runway threshold at an elevation of 865 feet above mean sea level, approximately 33 feet below the elevation of the threshold. The aircraft then careened up and over the side of the hill and onto the airport, coming to rest off the right side of runway 23. The accident occurred at 0856:53 hours during daylight. Two passengers were seriously injured, while 35 other occupants were killed.