The wreckage of Flight 349 as it appeared in February 2002. |
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | October 30, 1959 |
| Type | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Bucks Elbow Mountain, Albemarle County, near Crozet, Virginia, USA |
| Passengers | 24 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Fatalities | 26 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3 |
| Aircraft name | Buckeye Pacemaker |
| Operator | Piedmont Airlines |
| Flight origin | Washington, DC |
| Destination | Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport |
On October 30, 1959, Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, a Douglas DC-3, crashed on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Crozet, Virginia, killing the crew of three and all but one of its twenty-four passengers. The sole survivor, Ernest P. "Phil" Bradley, was seriously injured and lay on the ground near the wreckage, still strapped in his seat.[1] The subsequent investigation determined the cause of the accident to be:
"A navigational omission which resulted in a lateral course error that was not detected and corrected through precision instrument flying procedures. A contributing factor to the accident may have been pre-occupation of the captain resulting from mental stress."[2]
Name: Buckeye Pacemaker
Registration number: N55V
Serial number: 20447
History: Ex Meteor Air Transport N53593. Sold to Piedmont Airlines 12-1956.
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