How They Survived the Crash - The Lucky Few on Flight 242

By Clifford Davids

The National Transportation Safety Board accident report tells a cruel story of survival, mayhem, and death after the crash of Southern Airways Flight 242. The captain and first officer both died from their terrible injuries. Twenty other passengers died from both burns and smoke inhalation, although they were not significantly injured. Thirty-one passengers died of crushing trauma to the head and upper body. Nine more passengers succumbed to a combination of trauma, burns, and smoke inhalation. The last victim tragically lingered for two months before he passed away.

There were 22 lucky survivors, including both of the flight attendants who independently prepared the passengers for the forced landing. Many of the survivors also sustained a variety of injuries: most were burned about the head, face, hands, and lower legs. Three of those “fortunate ones” also suffered fractured spines. The survivors spoke of an intense fireball that surged through the plane as it repeatedly struck the ground before coming to a stop. The wall of flames traveled from the front to the back of the aircraft–from the ceiling of the cabin down to the tops of the seats–torching many of the passengers before the plane completed its path of destruction. By the time Flight 242 came to a final halt in front of the Burkhalter house, the stricken aircraft had broken into five major sections.

The first section came to a rest in an inverted position, and the seats of the captain and first officer were found outside of the cockpit. The windshield sections had separated from the cockpit structure. The center windshields were intact, but the outer window panes were shattered and the inner panes were cracked. Both clear-view side windows were intact but scratched. The other windows were intact but had been damaged by the impact. There was no fire damage to this section.

The second section also didn’t suffer any fire damage, but the passenger and service doors were jammed. The galley and coat closets were impacted but generally in place with their contents scattered about. The senior flight attendant was left hanging upside down in her seat, which was now located outside of the bulkhead. After releasing her seat belt, she fell onto the debris of the galley area and then climbed through an opening and went for help.

The third section was inverted and most of the passenger seats had separated from their tracks. There was no fire damage here either.

The fourth section was substantially damaged by the fire—all of the passenger seats and the cabin floor were completely ravaged by the flames. In addition, both wings had become separated from the wing center section of the aircraft.

The fifth and last section was upright and had also been significantly damaged by the fire. The top of this part had separated and was lying on the ground about 20 feet away from the main portion of the section. Most of the passenger seats had detached from their tracks and were scattered closely around–some of the seats were also damaged by the fire. Both hail-damaged engines remained near this segment of the fuselage.

Six of the surviving passengers were seated in the section of the cabin forward of the wing’s leading edge. Of these passengers, four were ejected from the aircraft, two of them while in their seats. None of the four were burned although they sustained extensive trauma. The remaining two were seated in the row nearest the wing’s leading edge; they received extensive second-degree burns. Their seats and seat belts remained intact.

Five of the eight survivors who were seated in the portion of the cabin aft of the wings and just forward of the engine intakes stated the fire erupted inside the cabin before the aircraft had stopped. Almost all of these passengers said that the smoke, fire, debris, and bodies hampered their escape. They all said their seats remained intact. The passengers near the overwing exits opened the right exit door but closed it because of the fire. All eight were severely burned; three sustained traumatic injuries.

Four of the five survivors in the aft section were ejected with their seats during the impact. All five of the survivors were burned seriously and three sustained traumatic injuries.

The two survivors from the last row in the aircraft reported that their seats remained intact and that they were surrounded by fire when the plane came to a halt. Both of them were seriously burned and one sustained rib fractures and lacerations.

Both flight attendants had sprained necks with contusions and abrasions on their legs.

The accident was partially survivable because some sections of the aircraft remained relatively intact while others were completely demolished.

The forward fuselage section (from the leading edge of the wing forward) was completely destroyed by impact forces. The senior flight attendant only survived because she was in an area that shielded her from numerous impacts with trees and other objects. Most of the survivors from this section were ejected during its fragmentation and destruction, but they were seriously injured. Therefore, their survival was mostly by chance.

The accident was survivable for those passengers who were seated aft of the wing’s leading edge except for those who were too severely injured to escape unaided. A number of those passengers probably died in their seats from burns and smoke inhalation. For the most part, the survivors’ seats and seat belts in this section remained intact, and half of the survivors were ejected from the wreckage. They were probably burned before they were thrown from the aircraft. The remaining survivors, despite their injuries, were able to escape unaided although they were burned in the process.

Although the flight-crew was preoccupied with trying to restart the engines and with selecting suitable landing sites, the Safety Board members concluded that a few words to the flight attendants about the type of landing expected might have enabled the attendants to better prepare the passengers. Had pillows and blankets been distributed and had shoes been worn, the NTSB felt that some of the their injuries would probably have been less severe, and more passengers would probably have been able to escape from the wreckage.