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DC 9 Image: Jon Proctor Gallery page https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6256128 Photo https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/1/5076...


Crash Site Image: Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the crash. Claimed as fair use regardless. Source and copyright owner: Evening Post Publishing


This is the story of eastern airlines flight 212. On the 11th of september 1974 an eastern airlines DC 9 was to fly from charleston in south carolina to charlotte in north carolina. At 7 am the plane departed Charleston with 78 passengers and 4 crew members on board. This would be a short flight and 22 minutes after takeoff the crew of flight 212 was in contact with atlanta ARTCC cleared flight 212 down to 8000 feet. In the cockpit the pilots were in contact with an operations service agent at charlotte and three other eastern airlines planes heading into charlotte. They were all talking about an in range checklist that was mandated by eastern airlines. Within 10 minutes this checklist was started and the atc controller queried the pilots about their altitude, at that point they were down to 10,000 feet on their descent down to 8000 feet. With that the plane was handed over to Charlotte approach and the controller briefed them on the approach that they'd be flying, he also cleared them to descend down to 6000 feet. The captain completed the in range checklist and said in range to which the first officer just said ok. As flight 212 descended down to 6000 feet, ATC asked the pilots to turn left to 360 degrees. As this approach was being flown the pilots in the cockpit were talking about things that didn't necessarily pertain to the operation of the aircraft.

After this left turn ATC cleared the plane down to 4000 feet and asked them to turn again, this time to 240 degrees. As the pilots slowed the plane they brought out the flaps bit by bit. By the time flight 212 had reached 3000 feet they had been handed off to the tower controller. Charlotte tower informed the pilots that they were about 5 miles away from a point known as ross intersection and that they were number 2 in line for landing. So far this flight has been uneventful, boring even, it resembled every other flight that takes off and lands every minute of everyday but soon that would change.

Within minutes the captain stated “ross 5.5 1800” for the approach to runway 36 ross point is what's known as a final approach fix. At a final approach fix you must have your plane in a particular state, you have to be at the right speed at the right altitude that sort of stuff, its a way to make sure that youre where youre supposed to be. This way youre perfectly set up for a safe landing. At this point the runway was about 10 miles miles away theyd be on the ground soon.

On their way in the pilots peered out of the cockpit looking for the carrowinds its a tower in an amusement park near the flight path and its very tall with bright lights on it. Pilots can easily ID it from the air With the tower positively IDed they dropped the gear. In the cockpit there was a steady tone indicating that the plane was less than 1000 feet above the ground. In the cockpit final preparations were being made for the landing. Someone in the cockpit said 394, that was their minimum descent altitude and the other pilot agreed, they also brought out the flaps to 50 degrees. The captain let the controller know that they were by the ross intersection and the controller gave flight 212 their landing clearance. In the cockpit the captain said “yeah were all ready, all weve got to do is find the airport” “yeah said the first officer. One and a half second after the yeah had been recorded the CVR recorded both pilots shouting, and then it recorded silence.

Flight 212, the aircraft had struck some trees just miles from runway 36. Of the 82 occupants 10 people survived.