The flight was operating under a Military Air Command contract for a Civil Air Movement Charter from Monterey to Columbus with a stop in Ardmore, OK. Flight 280/D left Monterey Peninsula Airport at 16:32. After missing the runway 08 ADF instrument approach at Ardmore, the crew attempted a visual circling approach to runway 30. The aircraft collided with a hill at an elevation of 963 feet, above the airport's elevation of 762 feet msl.
The probable cause was determined to be "the incapacitation of the pilot-in-command due to suffering a heart attack at a critical moment during the visual circling approach, which was being conducted under instrument flight conditions."
(American Flyers Airline Corporation (AFA for short) was an American charter airline that operated from 1949 to May 1971.)
Aircraft Information:
Airline: America Flyers Airline
Aircraft: Lockheed L-188C Electra
Registration: N183H
Serial Number: 1136
Engines: Allison 501-D13A
First Flew: 1961
I am one of the 15 survivors. I had a skull fracture and 3rd degree burns on my legs and butt. Terry Mayers was sitting next to me on the plane and survived with me. I gave the window seat to Everett Hilts because he said he had never flown before. Everett also suffered a head injury, but he was a vegetable when I saw him at the hospital at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio. Five of the survivors had a 5oth reunion at Ardmore in 2016 and visited the crash site. I have pieces of the plane my grandsons found at the crash site.
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