Southern Airways Flight 932
A Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 14, 1970 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error |
| Site | Near Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, U.S. 38°22′27″N 82°34′42″W / 38.37417°N 82.57833°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-9-31 |
| Operator | Southern Airways |
| IATA flight No. | SO932 |
| ICAO flight No. | SOU932 |
| Call sign | SOUTHERN 932 |
| Registration | N97S |
| Flight origin | Kinston Regional Jetport, Kinston, North Carolina |
| 1st stopover | Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia |
| 2nd stopover | Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport, Hopkinsville, Kentucky |
| Last stopover | Alexandria International Airport, Alexandria, Louisiana |
| Destination | Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Occupants | 75 |
| Passengers | 71 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 75 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) near Kenova and Ceredo, West Virginia. At 7:36 pm on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board – 37 members of the Marshall University football team, five coaches, seven staff members, 21 boosters, two pilots, two flight attendants, and a charter coordinator. The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina. The accident is the deadliest tragedy for any sports team in U.S. history.
It was the second college football team plane crash in a little over a month, after the October 2 crash that killed 31 – head coach Ben Wilson, 14 Wichita State players, and 16 others.