The Board has been unable to determine the reasonįor this descent, although the two most likely explanations are: a) improper Non precision approach under adverse weather conditions, without visual contact That the probable cause was the descent below Minimum Descent Altitude during a “The National Transportation Safety Board determines When this happened, the plane struck trees on a hillside which caused the plane to crash about a mile away from the runway. Due to poor visibility, however, the plane went below the minimum descent altitude in hopes of seeing the approaching runway more clearly.
The crew contacted the Huntington airport tower at 7:23pm and their landing was approved. However, poor weather conditions and fog made visibility a challenge for the flight crew shortly after the plane departed North Carolina at 6:38pm. The DC-9 had only been in operation for a little over a year and had flown approximately 3,600 hours, and there were no signs of potential mechanical problems. On November 14th, 1970, thirty-seven players, nine coaches, twenty-five boosters, and a flight crew of four boarded a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operated by Southern Airways following a tough road loss to East Carolina University.
