1967 Lake Erie skydiving disaster
Date | August 27, 1967 |
---|---|
Location | skydiving accident |
Cause | Air traffic control error and decision by pilot and divers[i] to jump through cloud cover in violation of regulations |
Outcome | Congress considers greater regulation of skydiving |
Casualties | |
16 deaths by drowning | |
Inquiries | Fatal Parachuting Accident Near Huron, Ohio, August 27, 1967: Special Investigation Report[3] |
Litigation | Dreyer v. United States (1972),[4] affirmed as Freeman v. United States (1975)[5] |
|
On August 27, 1967, eighteen
The disaster was at the time the deadliest in the history of recreational skydiving[a] and led to congressional scrutiny into regulation of skydiving. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board faulted the pilot, and to a lesser extent the parachutists, for executing a jump through clouds, and faulted the controller for misidentifying the plane's position after confusing it with a Cessna 180 Skywagon there to photograph the jump. The United States was subsequently held liable for the controller's error; the legal case, Freeman v. United States (1975), is notable for its holding that the skydivers did not have contributory negligence because the regulations they violated were not about their own safety.
Lead-up
Around 30 parachutists arrived at Ortner Airport in
Karns piloted the B-25. Eighteen divers were to jump from 20,000 feet (6,100 m), with the other two to jump from 30,000 feet (9,100 m).
A spectator, Ted Murphy, decided to fly up to 12,000 feet and take photos of the descending skydivers, accompanied by a parachutist who had intended to jump but had changed his mind due to the overcrowding. Karns and his co-pilot took off shortly after 3 pm, and Murphy and his companion took off soon after in Murphy's Cessna 180 Skywagon (N2934C[18]).[19]
Incident
Karns flew up to 20,000 feet (6,100 m) in a circular pattern over the course of about an hour. Unable to see the ground, he communicated with the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center to know his plane's position.[20] Karns's equipment allowed him to communicate with Cleveland Center or navigate via VHF omnidirectional range (VOR, also known as Vortac or Omni), but not both at once; he did not tell the controller about this.[21] At 20,000 feet, Karns requested a heading from the VOR station that would take him over Ortner. During Karns's ascent, there had been a change in shift at Cleveland Center. Engel Smit, the new controller on duty, mistook the Cessna's position on the radar display for the B-25's and gave Karns instructions as if he were Murphy. This led Karns to think he was back over Ortner when he was in fact over Lake Erie, four to five nautical miles (7–9 km) from Huron. Karns slowed the plane from 145 miles per hour to 105 (233 km/h to 169) and opened the bomb bay doors.[22]
Shortly after 4 pm, following Karns's order as relayed through Hartman, the 18 skydivers jumped in quick succession from four exits.[23] The surface was not visible through cloud cover; jumping under such conditions was forbidden by Federal Aviation Administration rules, as well as those of the USPA.[24] The opening of the bomb bay doors flooded the plane with sunlight and noise, and from the plane's interior it was difficult for jumpers to see their surroundings prior to jumping.[25] Homestead, still aboard the plane, noticed breaks in the clouds but could not tell whether it was land or water below.[26]
The cloud layer spanned roughly 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200–1,800 m), and so for the first 14,000 feet of descent, the jumpers remained unaware that they were over water.[27] They had planned to practice maneuvers as they fell, but because they had jumped from different parts of the plane at high speed, were fairly scattered. Johnson and Lowensbury were able to touch hands twice before hitting the clouds.[28]
According to a survivor, the jumpers deployed their parachutes at around 3,000 ft (900 m).
Glimpsing water through a hole in the clouds, Karns remarked to his co-pilot that he hoped they had not dropped the jumpers over Lake Erie. The two remaining skydivers later jumped as planned and safely landed at Ortner.[27] Karns, who had to remove his oxygen mask to use the radio, may have exhibited some symptoms of hypoxia, but only subsequent to the first drop.[35]
Aftermath
Rescue and recovery
- 20,000-foot jumpers
One
Investigation and proposed legislation
Some government officials initially suggested that the jumpers had been blown 20 miles (32 km) from their target by a strong crosswind.[38] In the immediate aftermath, one survivor reported that "[t]he plane was in the wrong place",[13] and the pilots of both the B-25 and the Cessna said that they had been given the wrong information by air traffic control.[41] On September 2, the National Transportation Safety Board began an investigation. Norman Heaton, executive director of the United States Parachute Association, testified that the jumpers could not have drifted more than 16,000 ft (5,000 m), meaning that the bomber was at least a mile (1.6 km) offshore at the time of the jump. Smit maintained that the bomber was six miles (9.7 km) inland.[15] Karns, Coy, Johnson, Homestead, and Hartman testified as well.[26]
The NTSB conducted three studies: The first concluded that the jumpers could not have drifted more than two miles (3.2 km), putting the bomber three to four miles (4.8–6.4 km) offshore and eleven miles (18 km) from Ortner. The second reconstructed the flight path and reached a similar conclusion as to the plane's location. The third considered the locations of both planes relative to the locations they were given by air traffic control, concluding that Smit mistook the Cessna for the B-25.[42] The report faulted Karns for executing a jump when he could not see the ground and the air traffic controller for giving the wrong position for the plane; it also said that the skydivers themselves, given their experience, "were not without fault" for jumping under dangerous conditions.[43] The board further found that, while Karns was certified as a pilot, he was not rated to fly a B-25 and the plane was not certified to carry passengers. They also noted Karns's failure to disclose his equipment's inability to navigate and communicate at the same time.[44]
Shortly after the disaster, Senator Mike Monroney of Oklahoma, chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, proposed legislation for regulation of skydiving by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).[45] The NTSB's chair, Joseph J. O'Connell Jr., presented the board's findings on September 25 at a hearing of the subcommittee regarding the proposed legislation. David D. Thomas, deputy administrator of the FAA, testified that jumping through clouds was already outright prohibited. Both officials spoke in opposition to increased regulation, saying that the current system was adequate.[46] The bill, S. 2137 of the 90th Congress,[47] did not become law.[48]
Lawsuit
Both survivors and the estates of all 16 deceased jumpers sued the United States for the air traffic controller's error. In the consolidated
Dreyer came as the federal courts explored the contexts in which the FAA has a
Other developments
Coy swore off skydiving immediately after the incident.[32] Skydivers conducted memorial jumps in 1968 and 1969, both times first throwing a wreath out of a plane and then intentionally jumping into Lake Erie.[54] A Springfield News-Sun article about the 1969 jump notes that the skydivers wore light clothing and flotation devices.[55] In 2020, one man who had gotten off the bomber before it took off told The Advertiser-Tribune of Tiffin, Ohio, that he was considering celebrating his 90th birthday, four years thence, by doing the same.[9]
N3443G, the B-25 that dropped the skydivers, was subsequently sold. It was destroyed in 1970 in a crash at Orange Municipal Airport in Massachusetts, killing its pilot, Roger Lopez.[56]
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 4.
- ^ a b ALI 2005.
- ^ NTSB 1967.
- ^ a b Dreyer 1972.
- ^ Freeman 1975.
- ^ NYT 1983.
- ^ Roberts 1992. Citing data compiled by the United States Parachute Association's Parachutist magazine.
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 1.
- ^ a b Vucovich 2020.
- ^ AP 1967a, p. 42. Zurcher 2022, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Vucovich 2020. Zurcher 2022, p. 14.
- ^ Clark 1967. NTSB 1967, pp. i-ii.
- ^ a b c d AP 1967a, p. 42.
- ^ Vucovich 2020. Zurcher 2022, p. 15.
- ^ a b UPI 1967c.
- ^ a b Zurcher 2022, p. 15.
- ^ Zurcher 2022, p. 18.
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 3.
- ^ Vucovich 2020. Zurcher 2022, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Jackson 2017. Zurcher 2022, p. 16
- ^ NTSB 1967, pp. 7, 30–31.
- ^ Jackson 2017. Zurcher 2022, pp. 16–17
- ^ AP 1967a, p. 42. Jackson 2017. Zurcher 2022, p. 18
- ^ Time 1967.
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 21. Zurcher 2022, p. 18.
- ^ a b Hudson 1967.
- ^ a b c Jackson 2017.
- ^ Zurcher 2022, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Jackson 2017. Citing NTSB 1967, p. 21. The NTSB report does not attribute this statement to Coy or Johnson specifically.
- ^ Gaynor & Zaidan 1967, p. A-2.
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 21. Hudson 1967.
- ^ a b c AP 1967b.
- ^ AP 1967b. Dreyer 1972.
- ^ Zurcher 2022, p. 19.
- ^ NTSB 1967, pp. 27, 31.
- ^ Zurcher 2022, p. 13.
- ^ Dreyer 1972. Sandusky Register 1967.
- ^ a b Rau 1967.
- ^ AP 1967a.
- ^ UPI 1967d.
- ^ Gaynor & Zaidan 1967. UPI 1967a.
- ^ NTSB 1967, pp. 2–3.
- ^ NTSB 1967, p. 4. Clark 1967.
- ^ NTSB 1967, pp. 30–31. Clark 1967.
- ^ UPI 1967b.
- ^ Clark 1967.
- ^ Congressional Record 1967.
- ^ Congress.gov n.d.
- ^ Dreyer 1972. McCarthy 1978
- ^ McCarthy 1978. Freeman 1975.
- ^ Iser 1979.
- ^ McCarthy 1978.
- ^ Perkins 1996.
- ^ Akron Beacon Journal 1968. Springfield News-Sun 1969.
- ^ Springfield News-Sun 1969.
- ^ Jackson 2017. NTSB n.d. Recorder 1970.
Sources
Books and academic sources
- McCarthy, James J. (1978). "Aerobatics, Sport Aviation and Student Instruction". Journal of Air Law and Commerce. 44 (2): 315. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- Iser, Lawrence Yale (1979). "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's the FAA: Government Liability for Negligent Airworthiness Certification". Hastings Law Journal. 31 (1). 251 n. 30. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- Perkins, Laura J. (November 1996). "A Practical Guide to Recovery for Injured Air Sport Participants". Journal of Air Law and Commerce. 62 (2): 571–573. Retrieved July 16, 2023 – via HeinOnline.
- Restatement of Torts, Third, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm. Restatements of the Law. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: American Law Institute. 2005. p. 166. Retrieved July 16, 2023 – via HeinOnline.
- ISBN 9781598511253.
News coverage
- "15 Skydivers Feared Dead after Landing in Lake Erie". Newspapers.com.
- "2 Dead, 14 Missing As 18 Sky Divers Fall Into Lake Erie: Wind Blows Sky Divers Off Course". ProQuest 117902565.
- "Skydivers". Newspapers.com. Note: First page of article is missing from archive.
- Gaynor, Donn; Zaidan, Abe (August 28, 1967). "14 Missing; 2 from Area Dead: Did a Radar Mistake Cause Tragic Lake Erie Sky Jump?". Newspapers.com.
- Rau, David (August 28, 1967). "Weather Hurt in Boaters' Search for Downed Divers". Newspapers.com.
- "'I Was Shocked—Lake Erie!': Sky-Diving Survivor Quits Sport". Newspapers.com.
- "Lake Combed for 14 Sky Divers: Inquiry Is Set on Plane's Course". ProQuest 117919221.
- "Monroney Asks Skydive Control". Newspapers.com.
- "Federal Probe Begins On Lake Erie Tragedy, Testimonies Conflict Among Expert Skydivers". Newspapers.com.
- Hudson, Edward (September 2, 1967). "Had No Qualms, 4 Skydivers Say: Survivors of Fatal Flight on Stand at Official Inquiry". The New York Times. p. 30.
- "Body of Final Skydiver Found; Probe Continues". Newspapers.com.
- "Bad Trip". from the original on January 23, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- Clark, Evert (September 26, 1967). "Pilot, Controller and Jumpers Found at Fault in Deaths of 16 Sky Divers". ProQuest 117481014.
- "Skydiver Tragedy is Commemorated". Newspapers.com.
- "Skydivers Make Memorial Jumps At Site Of Tragedy". Newspapers.com.
- "At Least 16 Die in Weekend Accidents". The Recorder. Greenfield, Mass. Associated Press. August 10, 1970. p. 1.
- "Copter's Maker Held Liable In 1982 Crash That Killed 46". The New York Times. November 17, 1983. Archived from the original on July 9, 2023. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- Roberts, Rich (June 3, 1992). "Fear Bails Out: Skydivers Don't Give Up Despite Crash". The Los Angeles Times. p. C5. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- Jackson, Tom (August 14, 2017). "Disaster 50 years ago killed 16 sport parachutists". Sandusky Register. Ogden Newspapers. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- Vucovich, Lynanne (August 29, 2020). "A life spared: Man didn't take flight that led to 16 parachuter deaths in 1967". The Advertiser-Tribune. Tiffin, Ohio: Ogden Newspapers. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
Government documents
- "NTSB Identification: NYC71AN018" (PDF). Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.
- "Public Laws: 90th Congress (1967–1968)". Congress.gov. n.d. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- Fatal Parachuting Accident Near Huron, Ohio, August 27, 1967: Special Investigation Report (Report). National Transportation Safety Board. 1967. Retrieved July 1, 2023 – via Google Books.
- "Daily Digest: Monday, September 25, 1967". Congressional Record. Vol. 113. United States Congress. September 25, 1967. p. D487. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023 – via Congress.gov.
- Dreyer v. United States, 349 F. Supp. 296 (N.D. Ohio 1972), archived from the original. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Freeman v. United States, 509 F.2d 626 (6th Cir. 1975), archivedfrom the original.