1940 — Aug 31, Pennsylvania Central Airlines lightning strike/crash~ Lovettsville VA– 25

lornajarrettblanchard August 31, 1940

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 10-14-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–25 Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Database, 1940.

–25 Civil Aeronautics Board. Report…investigation…NC 21789…near Lovettsville VA, Aug 31, 1940.

–25 Haine, Edgar A. Disaster in the Air. New York: Cornwall Books, 2000, 394 pages.

Narrative Information

Civil Aeronautics Board. Report…investigation…NC 21789…near Lovettsville VA:

“An accident involving aircraft NC 21789, while operating in scheduled air carrier service as Trip 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines Corporation, occurred in the vicinity of Lovettsville, Virginia, on August 31, 1940, at approximately 2:41 p.m. (EST), resulting in the destruction of the airplane and fatal injuries to everyone on board. The accident was reported to the dispatch office of Pennsylvania Central Airlines in Pittsburgh at about 4:55 p.m. by a resident of Lovettsville, which report was relayed to personnel of the Civil Aeronautics Board at 5:45 p.m. (EST).

….

“Aircraft No. 81789 operated on the flight was Douglas Model DC-3-A manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation of Santa Monica, California. The airplane was received from the manufacturer by the Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Corporation on May 25, 1940….

“The airplane arrived at Washington-Hoover Airport at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 31, 1940, after having completed a scheduled flight from Detroit, Michigan. Nothing unusual was reported concerning its operation on this trip nor had anything unusual or any mechanical detect or adjustment of more than a minor nature, been reported with respect to any previous trip.

“Following its arrival in Washington, the airplane was serviced with gasoline and oil and was given a routine “turn-around” inspection. This inspection consists of a general visual examination of the airplane, especially of the propellers, wing and tail surfaces, and the controls which are visible from the outside, and the testing of the controls, engines, instruments, and radio equipment. In addition, the interior of the airplane is cleaned and the outside surfaces wiped off. The record shows that nothing unusual was discovered during the course of this inspection….

The Flight

“Trip 19 was scheduled to leave Washington-Hoover Airport at 1:50 p.m. (EST) on August 31, 1940, and, in accordance with regular company procedure, was cleared by the company dispatcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, prior to departure. The clearance was based on current sequence weather reports, United States weather Bureau forecasts, and a trip forecast made by the company meteorologist. The pilot’s flight plan stated that he would climb to an altitude of 6000 feet, cruise at 6000 feet over Martinsburg, West Virginia, and Frostburg, Maryland, and descend to 4000 feet over Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. The flight was cleared to cruise at 6000 feet by the Airway Traffic Control Center at Washington. Instructions as to the approach and landing at Pittsburgh were to be given the pilot from Pittsburgh after he had reported his position over Scottsdale. The estimated time of arrival was 3:30 p.m.

“The weather forecast made by the United States Weather Bureau for the Washington-Pittsburgh area for the period 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. was available to the pilot prior to take-off and the record shows that the forecast, together wit sequence weather reports, was examined by the crew prior to preparation of the flight plan. The forecast predicted that overcast to occasionally broken cloud would exist from the mountains eastward, with scattered showers through the mountains and some mild thunderstorms in the afternoon. Winds aloft of 20 to 30 miles per hour at 250 to 270 degrees were forecast 3.

“The trip departed from the ramp at Washington-Hoover Airport at…2:18 p.m. and following a run-up of the engines at the end of the runway took off at 2:21 p.m.

….

“The airplane crashed about 2:41 p.m. (EST) at a point approximately 2-1/2 miles test of Lovettsville, Virginia, and approximately 25 miles northwest of the Herndon fan-marker. The crash occurred about one-half mile cast of the base of Short Hill and approximately 5 miles to the right (i e., northeast) of the on course signal of the northwest leg of the Washington radio range at an elevation of about 550 feet above sea level. The terrain in the immediate -vicinity is rolling and consists mainly of farm land interspersed with wooded areas. Short Hill is a ridge, the crest of which rises in the neighborhood of Lovettsville to 1300 to 1500 feet above sea Level and to about 750 feet above the level of the terrain at the point where the accident occurred. This ridge which extends about 15 miles in a generally north and south direction, is the eastern most of the major ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

….

“Mrs. Dorothy Everhart testified that she was on the back porch of her home just south of Lovettsville and approximately 3-1/2 miles east of the scene of the accident when she saw an airplane proceeding normally in a northwesterly direction toward Short Hill, the northern portion of which was at that time obscured by dark storm clouds. She was looking in a southwesterly direction when she saw the airplane and she watched it proceed directly toward the storm. She stated that she was momentarily blinded by the brilliance of a lightning flash “just a little bit ahead” of the airplane and lost sight of it. Shortly thereafter she heard, a ‘low rumble’ of thunder and after a few seconds an ‘awful roaring’. She testified that airplanes passed in the vicinity of her home quite frequently and that this one was ‘lower than most of them go’. As she watched the airplane she did not hear its motors but she was sure that the ‘awful roar’ which she had heard after the lightning flash and, the rumble of thunder was the sound of the airplane. She further testified that at the time of this occurrence it was not raining at her home but that shortly thereafter the storm which had been in the vicinity of Short Hill ‘came on over’. She described it as a very bad storm with lightning, some thunder, and, extraordinarily heavy rain, but no wind She testified that when she first saw the airplane the black clouds obscured the mountains to the west and northwest but that she could see blue sky toward, the south.

….

“Mr. Carroll McGaha testified that he and his son were standing in the yard of their home located about 4-1/4 miles southeast of the scene of the accident and approximately 4 miles to the right of the on course signal of the northwest leg of the Washington radio range when they observed an airplane pass over flying in a northwesterly direction. He stated that the airplane was proceeding normally at about the altitude at which he usually observed transport airplane pass over flying in a northwesterly direction. He attention was particularly attracted to the plane because it was proceeding directly toward the dark storm clouds then in the vicinity of Short Hill. As the airplane approached. the storm he saw a sharp ‘streak of lightning’ which appeared “directly ahead” and “in line” with the airplane and saw the airplane go “straight down”. After starting down, the witness stated that the plane ‘made a roar’ which was distinctly heard by him and his son at the point where they were standing. After the roar had stopped, he heard a ‘rumble’ of thunder. He then ran to the back of his farm, thinking that the airplane had crashed there.

…

Probable Cause

“Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of probable fact and the exit record in this investigation, we find that the probable cause of the accident to aircraft NC 21789, which occurred at Lovettsville, Virginia, on August 1940, was the disabling of the pilots by a severe lightning discharge in the immediate neighborhood of the airplane, with resulting loss of control.”

Appendix A

“The following passengers were on board the airplane at the time of the accident: [we number]

Miss Dorothy Beer, 106 Maple Avenue, Abingdon, Illinois
E. G. Bowler, 245 Ashland Avenue, Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh, Pa.
W. M. Burleson, 57 Look Laze Road, Richmond, Virginia
W. B. Chambers, 17 Craighead Road, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Miss Mildred Chesser, Mineral, Ohio
Charles D. C. Cole 5305 41st Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
Miss Naomi Colpo, 3621 Newark Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
A. H. Elliott, 3757 McKinley Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
William Garbose, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Miss Evelyn Goldsmith, 5847 Douglas Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Rose Z. Hale, Pennsylvania Apartments, 4403 Center Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Arthur Hollaway, 838 N.E. 24th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
H. J. Hofferth, 5531 N. Spalding, Chicago, Illinois
D. P. James, 1212 Lee Street, Jefferson City, Missouri
Senator Ernest E. Lundeen, 6221 29th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
M. P. Mahan, 1610 Grandville Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Adolph Mook, 1788 Lanier Place, Washington, D. C.
Joseph J. Pesci, 213 West Market Street, Blairsville, Pa.
Miss Chloe Post, Minerva, Ohio
E. J. Tarr, 1722 19th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
Miss Margaret Tuner, Huddleston, Virginia

Crew consisted of:

Captain Lowell V. Scroggins,
First Officer J. Paul Moore,
Flight Hostess Margaret Carson.
John B. Staire, Jr., secretary to the District Traffic Manager, was occupying the jump seat located just behind the pilots’ seats [not a crewmember however].

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Database, 1940. Douglas DC-3-313 crash near Lovettsville VA 31 August 1940. Accessed 10-14-2024 at: https://asn.flightsafety.org/asndb/341857

Civil Aeronautics Board. Report of the investigation of an accident involving aircraft of United States registry NC 21789, near Lovettsville Virginia, August 31, 1940. Accessed 10-14-2024 at: https://www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org/index.php/report-of/

Haine, Edgar A. Disaster in the Air. New York: Cornwall Books, 2000, 394 pages.