1992 — Feb 6, KY Air Nat. Gd. C-130 Hercules Crash, Hotel/Restaurant, Evansville, IN–17

— 17  B3A. “Crash of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules in Evansville: 17 killed.” Geneva Switzerland.

— 17  Blanchard tally. (See Boxell, below, on sixteen Feb 6th deaths, and a related death on 24th.

— 17  Boxell, Bob. “Out of the Sky.” Evansville Living, January/February 2012.[1]

— 17  Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 156.

— 17  USFA. National Guard Plane Crash at Hotel Site, Evansville, Indiana.  1991, p. 1.

— 16  ASN. Accident description. USAF Lockheed C-130B Hercules, Evansville-Dress Regional

— 16  Baugher, Joseph F. 1958 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision.

— 16  Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN.  “Evansville Death Toll Reaches 16.” 2-7-1992, p. 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

ASN: “….First flight: 1959….

“Crew:                         Fatalities:   5 / Occupants: 5

“Passengers:                Fatalities:   0 / Occupants: 0

“Total:                         Fatalities:   5 / Occupants: 5

“Ground casualties:     Fatalities: 11…

“Narrative:  Shortly after departure from runway 22 at Evansville (EVV), the Hercules stalled and crashed into a restaurant next to the Drury Inn hotel.” (Aviation Safety Network.  Accident Description. United States Air Force Lockheed C-130B Hercules, Evansville-Dress Regional Airport, IN, 06 Feb 1992.)

 

Baugher: “Lockheed C-130B-LM Hercules….0732 (c/n 282-3527) crashed near Evansville, IN during simulated engine failure Feb 6, 1992. 5 onboard killed, plus 11 on ground killed.”  (Baugher, Joseph F.  1958 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision.)

 

Boxell: “….a five-member crew from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Tactical Airlift Wing based at Standiford Field in Louisville was practicing touch-and-go landings at Evansville Regional Airport. It was part of routine pilot training in their C-130B Hercules, a hulking, four-turboprop military transport plane….

 

“From 1,300 feet, the C-130 stalled and fell from the sky, smashing almost straight into the ground at the north end of the Drury Inn and the east end of JoJo’s (now Denny’s). The force of the impact was so powerful that large chunks of the concrete swimming pool deck were later found on top of the four-story hotel. All five inside the plane died instantly. The fireball created from the fuel inside the aircraft roared through the windows of room 416, a meeting room on the fourth floor of the Drury where two instructors from the University of Southern Indiana were conducting a management seminar for 11 employees of Evansville-based Plumbing & Industrial Supply Co. Nine of the 13 in that room were killed, including four whose bodies were found still in their seats at the conference table….

 

“The death toll from Feb. 6 remained at 16 until Feb. 24, when Evansville Police Department officer James Gibson Jr. died at his home. Gibson was one of the first policemen on the scene and entered the Drury several times to help victims, according to reports. He was admitted to a hospital later that day after complaining of sickness….[2]

 

“The tragic accident cost the Air Force $36.3 million to settle wrongful death, personal injury, and property damage claims. A little more than $1.7 million was spent to restore the Drury Inn, and it re-opened on June 19, 1992 — without a room 416. That area has been used for storage ever since the re-opening. JoJo’s was rebuilt and re-opened later that year….

 

“Another change was the stoppage, at least temporarily, of military training exercises at Evansville Regional Airport. In the weeks following the crash, Whirlpool Corporation officials protested the training flights most vehemently, which was not surprising since their Highway 41 plant just south of the airport employed hundreds at the time. The military acquiesced, although Working[3] says there has been a slow but steady increase in the number of military training flights in recent years. Working retired in 2010 after 24 years as manager. According to him and current airport manager Doug Joest, there is no policy saying military operations such as touch-and-go’s are prohibited. In fact, Evansville Regional officials could not prevent military training exercises from taking place even if they wanted to, since the airport receives federal grants to help pay for construction projects. ‘There is a whole host of grant assurances,’ says Joest. ‘If the federal government is paying for a runway, they have the right to use it.’….” (Boxell, Bob. “Out of the Sky.” Evansville Living, January/February 2012.)

 

Gero: “Although the cause was not officially reported, an unnamed military source attributed the crash to the failure of the pilots to maintain sufficient air speed during a simulated engine failure due to distractions with air-traffic control instructions and their check-list routine, resulting in a stall.”  (Gero 1999, 156)

 

USFA: “At 9:53 a.m., February 6, 1992, a Kentucky Air National Guard C-130B military transport plane crashed at the site of a hotel and restaurant complex while performing routine pilot proficiency exer­cises at Evansville Dress Regional Airport. The crash and resulting fire killed all five crew members and 11 civilians on the ground – nine in the hotel and two in the adjacent restaurant. In addition to those who died at the scene, one of the emergency responders, an Evansville Police Officer, died February 24, as a result of injuries he sustained working at the crash site…. (USFA 1991, 1)

 

“On the morning of February 6, 1992, a five member crew from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Tactical Airlift Wing based at Standiford Field in Louisville, Kentucky, was performing touch-and-go landings at Evansville Dress Regional Airport as part of routine pilot proficiency training. The crew consisted of an experienced instructor pilot, two co-pilots, a flight engineer, and a loadmaster.

 

“The type of military airplane – the Lockheed C-130-B Hercules – which crashed in Evansville on February 6, 1992, was renowned for its safety record and reliability. C-130 crashes are rare events. Historically, most aircraft crashes occur during takeoffs and landings.

 

“At the time of the crash, one of the co-pilots was flying the aircraft under the supervision of the instructor pilot. According to U.S. Air Force investigators, the crash was attributed to pilot error, which produced an unrecoverable stall following a low level approach maneuver over the airfield. A stall results from insufficient airflow under the wing of an aircraft. The stall was the result of insuf­ficient airspeed at the time a turning maneuver was executed. Without sufficient airspeed or altitude (approximately 1,300 feet), the crew was unable to regain control of the aircraft before it crashed.

 

“The aircraft went down approximately one mile south of the departure end of Runway 22 at 9:53 a.m., impacting in the courtyard behind the Drury Inn and Jojo’s Restaurant. The aircraft altitude and rate of descent produced a very small crash impact zone. At the time of impact, the aircraft was descending almost vertically at a rate of between 4,500 and 6,000 feet per minute with the nose elevated 4-degrees above vertical and the right wing 47-degrees below horizontal.

 

“The impact created a crater 8-feet deep and 12-feet across. The immense force of the impact splashed burning aviation fuel toward the hotel and broke windows across the center portion of that building. A large piece of the tail section of the aircraft landed on the rear quarter of the restaurant causing it to col­lapse, pinning two victims. Part of the skin of the right wing was propelled over the hotel into the parking lot south of the hotel and large chunks of the concrete pool deck and airplane parts landed on the four-story roof of the hotel.

 

“The fireball created by the crash impinged directly against the center portion of the north wall of the Drury Inn. Windows broken by the force of the impact and the radiant heat allowed the fireball to spread into several hotel rooms on all four floors. However, fire spread beyond these rooms was minimal in most instances because of fire-resistive construction separating the guest rooms from the corridors. In the few locations where the fire did extend beyond a guest room, doors had been left open by guests or hotel housekeepers. Fire extension in the corridors was minimal due to the limited fuel loading and interior finishes.

 

“The fire was accompanied by choking black smoke produced by the burning aviation fuel. The high concentration of aviation fuel present in the air after the airplane broke apart made the smoke par­ticularly dense and acrid due to incomplete combustion of the fuel.

 

“The hotel operators believe that seventy-five to eighty people were inside the building at the time of the fire. This number included 11 employees of a local plumbing supply company and two instruc­tors from the University of Southern Indiana who were conducting a total quality management seminar in a fourth floor meeting room. The post-crash fire killed nine of the people in this meeting room and seriously injured the other four. In addition, 11 other hotel occupants sustained various injuries, mostly from smoke or toxic fume inhalation.

 

“At the Jojo’s Restaurant, two employees were killed when part of the airplane impacted directly on the kitchen area in the southeast quarter of the building. Two workers, a waitress, and a dishwasher, were pinned in the wreckage of the collapsed portion of the structure. Approximately twenty-five people escaped from the restaurant unharmed or with minor injuries.”  (USFA 1991, 4-5)

 

“Firefighters found three victims in the bathroom in room 416 huddled under a running shower. The occupants had turned on both the hot and cold water in an effort to protect themselves, but all had succumbed to smoke inhalation by the time rescuers reached them.”  (USFA 1991, 12)

 

“The Evansville incident provides an opportunity to study the behavior of building occupants in response to a highly unusual and virtually unforeseeable event and to learn how individuals coped with the unusual and confusing circumstances which confronted them. The factors of human response to fire situations are often overlooked in the development of codes, standards, and regula­tions that are intended to provide public safety.

 

“The Drury Inn hotel and Jojo’s Restaurant were located in separate buildings which occupied a common parcel of land at the intersection of Lynch Road and U.S. 41 less than one mile south of Evansville Dress Regional Airport.”  (USFA 1991, 3)

 

Lessons Learned:

 

  • Command and control of a complex interagency emergency response is enhanced signifi­cantly by good equipment and well-planned communications procedures….
  • The use of the ICS complemented effective communication and facilitated a smooth transi­tion to recovery and investigation….
  • Rescue operations should be restricted to personnel trained and equipped to deal with the hazards present….
  • Adherence to minimum construction standards contributes to successful outcomes….
  • The actions and accounts of survivors reinforce the understanding that human behavior in fire emergencies is generally rational, adaptive, and goal-oriented.”

 

(USFA.  National Guard Plane Crash at Hotel Site, Evansville, Indiana.  1991, 16-16.)

 

Feb 6, AP: “Evansville, Ind. (AP) – A military aircraft crashed into JoJo’s restaurant shortly before 11 a.m. EST, spewing fuel that ignited and sent flames 50 to 60 feet into the air….The 24-hour restaurant is located on U.S. 41, about a mile from Evansville Regional Airport.”

(Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “Plane Crashes Into Evansville Restaurant.” 2-6-1992, p. 2.)

 

Sources

 

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Air Force, Lockheed C-130B Hercules, Evansville-Dress Regional Airport, IN, 06 Feb 1992. Accessed 2-23-2012 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920206-0

 

B3A (Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives). “Crash of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules in Evansville: 17 killed.” Geneva Switzerland. Accessed 4-13-2016 at: http://www.baaa-acro.com/1992/archives/crash-of-a-lockheed-c-130-hercules-in-evansville-17-killed/

 

Baugher, Joseph F. 1958 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision. Accessed 2-23-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1958.html

 

Boxell, Bob. “Out of the Sky.” Evansville Living, January/February 2012. Accessed 4-13-2016 at: http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/out-of-the-sky

 

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

 

Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN.  “Evansville Death Toll Reaches 16.” 2-7-1992, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=109343406

 

United States Fire Administration (Mark Chubb, investigator). National Guard Plane Crash at Hotel Site, Evansville, Indiana. 1991 (USFA-TR-064). Emmitsburg, MD: National Fire Data Center, USFA, FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, February 1992, 53 pages. Accessed 4-13-2016 at: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/tr-064.pdf

 

[1] See Boxell, below, on the breakout of fatalities, noting 16 immediate deaths and the accidental death of a responding police officer on Feb 24. He had been hospitalized after participating in the response, complaining of sickness and died of an accidental dose of medications that had been prescribed (from coroner’s report).

[2] Notes that he died of an accidental overdose of medications and cites a coroner.

[3] Bob Working, manager of the Evansville Regional Airport at the time.