TWA Flight 128

TWA Flight 128 was a domestic United States flight en route from Los Angeles to Boston, with scheduled stops at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The flight had been cleared for an ILS approach to Runway 18, and had cleared the outer marker. The aircraft struck trees on final approach and crashed 9,357 feet short and 429 feet right of the extended centerline of the runway at Greater Cincinnati Airport (CVG).

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Convair 880, tail number N821TW. It was the sixth loss of a Convair 880 and at the time the worst accident involving a Convair 880, and 12th worst airline disaster in the U.S. This accident is currently the second worst involving a Convair 880, the 38th worst accident in the United States, and the worst in Kentucky state history. The aircraft was the third TWA plane lost in 1967, the first being TWA Flight 553 and the second, only fourteen days before Flight 128, TWA Flight 159, also at Cincinnati.

Crash

Upon making the approach to a scheduled landing at Greater Cincinnati Airport, the aircraft struck trees at an elevation of 875 feet. The airport, about 2 miles distant was at an elevation of 890 feet. The plane had descended through a cloud layer at night and the published minimum for these conditions was 1,290 feet. The accident site was located in a wooded area. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire.

Injured passengers and survivors

As a result of the crash, 65 passengers and 5 crew members died on the crash. Four of the passengers died from injuries in the days following the crash. Two crew members and 10 passengers survived, including Nervil Whiteburg.^[1] Other surviving passengers included a 15-month-old baby, 2-year old Eileen Haile and 5-year old Chris Haile.

Charlie Tuna, a disc jockey at WMEX in Boston, had flown to Los Angeles to interview for a job at KHJ (AM) there. Program director Ron Jacobs thought Tuna looked tired and urged him to stay overnight in Los Angeles. Otherwise, Tuna would have been on TWA Flight 128.

Aftermath

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident to be crew error, in attempting a night, visual no-glide-slope approach during deteriorating weather conditions without adequate altimeter cross reference. The NTSB Identification number is DCA68A0002.

The governor of Ohio, Jim Rhodes, requested runway 18 be closed, but this was never seriously considered, as the airport is in Kentucky.

TWA Flight 128 Marker in Hebron, KY

See also

• 1961 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash
• American Airlines Flight 383

References

• NTSB Report # AAR69-05
• NTSB brief DCA68A0002
• Photo of Aircraft
• Time magazine article December 1, 1967
• Trans World Airlines Flight 128 Crash - Freebase
• TWA Flight 128 Home Page