Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From staff and wire reports
DATELINE: ALIQUIPPA, PA. LENGTH: Medium
At least three of the victims may have been from Western Virginia, according to a worker at Roanoke Regional Airport.
USAir District Sales Manager Delvis "Mac" McCadden, who was at the airport on Thursday night and early this morning, confirmed at 1:45 a.m. that some of the victims - "fewer than five," he said - were from the area.
McCadden said USAir officials still were notifying next of kin early today.
The airport worker said the Roanoke-bound passengers were from Roanoke, Salem and Blacksburg. McCadden would not confirm or deny that.
A man with a Salem address failed to pick up a rental car he had reserved, a rental-car company employee said.
Flight 427 originated in Chicago and was to stop in Pittsburgh, a major USAir hub, before continuing to West Palm Beach, Fla.
``I looked up and there it was,'' said Tom Michel, who was at a gas station near the crash site. ``It was just coming straight down. I was screaming for everybody to run. It looked like it was under full power and he just went straight in.''
Air-traffic controllers said they lost contact with the plane when it was about seven miles from the airport, said Pat Boyle, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Department of Aviation. There were no indications of any problems on the flight, and a report of an explosion before the crash could not be confirmed.
Michel said there was a ``big boom and the sky lit up. There was black smoke everywhere and that was it.''
Witnesses reported a gruesome carnage in a clearing on a heavily wooded ravine.
``All we saw was body parts hanging from the trees,'' said Denise Godich, a nurse who was one of the first at the scene. ``There were people everywhere. You could just see parts of them.''
Another eyewitness said pieces of plane and baggage were scattered throughout the area.
``We have done a fairly extensive search of the area and there are no survivors,'' said Jim Eichenlaub, manager of Hopewell Township and coordinator of emergency services at the scene.
The plane's black box, which records flight data, was recovered, he said.
Emergency crews put out the fire and the search was called off about two hours after the crash. The area was sealed off for the night, but off-road vehicles were spotted heading to the crash site.
The Boeing 737, which was carrying 126 passengers and a crew of five, went down shortly after 7 p.m. in a field about seven miles from the airport. The airport is 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
``The engines just went dead,'' eyewitness Sandra Zuback told CNN. ``It just blew up.''
The weather was clear and USAir spokeswoman Susan Young said the pilot contacted the airport tower as usual on final approach. ``There was no indication of any problem,'' she said.
Linda Jones said she was standing on her porch when she saw the plane turn to the right, turn over once or twice and go down behind some trees.
No damage to homes in the area was reported. ``I could smell the fuel in the air,'' said Debbie Martin of Moon Township, who was shopping in a nearby shopping center. ``The explosion sounded like a muffled boom.''
The plane was at 6,000 feet when it went off the radar, Boyle said. He said the plane went down at 7:19 p.m., 10 minutes after it was due in at the airport.
Several doctors who were first told to go to the scene were later told not to, hospitals said.
There were 20 emergency vehicles on top of the hill, and a medical helicopter hovered above. Fire hoses snaked through the trees.
Because the terrain near the wreckage is so rugged, rescue crews were having to build a road to the crash site.
A temporary morgue was being set up at the airport, said Arthur Gilkes of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office. ``We were told the prospect of survivors is very slim,'' he said.
The crash was the worst in the United States since Aug. 16, 1987, when a Northwest Airlines MD-80 went down while taking off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 156 people. A 4-year-old girl was the sole survivor.
Jerry Johnson, a spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in Renton, Wash., said the plane that went down was a 737-300 that was delivered to USAir in October 1987.
USAir has set up an information hot line. The phone number is (703) 418-5100.
Staff writer Lisa Applegate contributed to this report.
Keywords:
INFOLINE FATALITY
by CNB