September 25, 1978: Pacific Southwest Airlines / Gibbs Flite Center, Boeing 727 (N533PS) / Cessna 172 (N7711G) Mid-Air Collision, San Diego, CA
As PSA Flight 182 approached San Diego's Lindbergh Field, numerous aircraft were in the area including a Cessna 172 Skyhawk practicing instrument approaches. On board the Cessna was a Flight Instructor and a Student Pilot wearing a view limiting hood that obstructed his outside vision. After completing two instrument approaches, the Cessna was instructed to maintain VFR at or below 3,500 feet and fly a heading of 070 degrees, shortly after which the Cessna began a turn to 090 degrees and into the path of the descending Boeing 727. Twice, the approach controller notified PSA Flight 182 of the Cessna and both times Flight 182 responded with traffic in sight. A cockpit voice recording taken from Flight 182 would later reveal that the flight crew was not sure of the actual position of the Cessna.
At 9:01:28 AM, a conflict alert warning sounded at the San Diego Approach Control Facility, but was largely ignored as controllers assumed the crew of Flight 182 had visual contact of the Cessna. A final warning of traffic was issued to the Cessna with the collision occurring at the same moment at 9:01:47 AM.
The descending Boeing 727 overtook the much slower and climbing Cessna 172. The Cessna broke up and exploded after colliding with the Boeing's right wing. Both aircraft crashed into San Diego's residential neighborhood of North Park. It was the worst civil aviation accident in the U.S. at the time with 144 persons killed in both aircraft and on the ground.
This accident, as well as the similar mid-air collision that occurred over Cerritos, California during 1986 was instrumental in the implementation of on-board air traffic avoidance systems known as "TCAS". The accident also brought out the inadequacies of air traffic control in San Diego which led to the development of a TCA surrounding Lindbergh Field (now Class "B" Airspace). The accident is still used today in flight training classes to emphasize the importance of accurate and effective communication between pilots and air traffic controllers.
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Growing up in Southern California, I remember this accident well. The iconic photos of the crashing 727 were displayed prominently on every newspaper front page and was the main story on every television station. This tragic event would later have me ask "How?" and "Why?" as I began my career in aviation.
A visit to this crash would be much different than any other I have researched. Instead of using topographic maps and coordinates to locate the site, I would use a street map and road signs. There would be no remaining wreckage to mark this air disaster, just a few recently constructed homes, freshly planted trees, and lawns would provide the clues.
I used historic photos and newspaper reports to guide me through the area affected by the crash. The contrast of the older and newer homes was evident on the corner of Dwight and Nile Streets where debris and burning fuel had destroyed many structures.
Other physical evidence of the disaster was found at the site. I located the Boeing 727's impact point using an aerial photograph of the accident scene. The impact crater had been filled-in and re-surfaced, but the concrete and pavement was noticeably still cracked due to settling below the surface. I also noted a sidewalk on Dwight Street that was repaired after the accident had a notation of the disaster scrawled in the wet cement.
Today, there is an effort to place a memorial plaque at the impact site of PSA Flight 182. For more information on this project and to voice your support, please visit their page on Facebook at "PSA Flight 182 Memorial".
THE AIRLINE
Pacific Southwest Airlines was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States.
PSA FLIGHT 182 FLIGHT CREW
Captain James E. McFeron
Captain McFeron, age 42, joined PSA in 1961. With 17 years at PSA and 14,000 flight hours he was considered a senior captain with the airline. Those that knew him considered him as a "born pilot". Others said "He always seemed to be two heartbeats ahead of the situation".
Captain Spencer Nelson
Captain Nelson, age 57, was a dead-heading pilot riding in Flight 182's cockpit jumpseat.
Captain Nelson was a long time employee with PSA having joined in 1952. His logbook totaled more than 28,000 flight hours. In his spare time, he was an avid collector and pilot of antique aircraft.
By coincidence, Captain Nelson had also been a student and flight instructor with Gibbs Flite Center prior to joining PSA.
AIRCRAFT INVOLVED
Boeing 727-214 (N533PS) held company line number "206". The aircraft had accumulated 24,000 flight hours since it joined the PSA fleet in 1968.
The Cessna 172M, (N7711G), was owned and operated by Gibbs Flite Center and was based at Montgomery Field near San Diego. The aircraft was primarily used for flight training.
THE ACCIDENT
Originating in Sacramento, PSA Flight 182 was a weekly morning commuter flight to the Southern California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego. The first leg of the flight was uneventful and 102 lucky people deplaned in L.A. Unfortunately, 100 others boarded for the flight's continuation leg to San Diego.
At about 8:15 AM, the Boeing 727 began its pushback from the gate at Los Angeles International Airport. The flight to San Diego would only take about 30-35 minutes.
As Flight 182 neared its destination, the PSA crew was alerted by the approach controller about a small Cessna 172 Skyhawk aircraft nearby.
The PSA pilots reported that they saw the Cessna after being notified of its position by ATC, although cockpit voice recordings revealed that shortly thereafter the PSA pilots no longer had the Cessna in sight and they were speculating about its position. Lindbergh tower heard the 9.00:50 AM transmission as "He's passing off to our right" and assumed the PSA jet had the Cessna in sight.
Instructor Martin Kazy and student David Boswell had been conducting practice instrument approaches at Lindbergh Field prior to the arrival of Flight 182.
During a missed approach, the Cessna was directed to climb and maintain a heading of 070 degrees. The Cessna however, started to veer left to 090 degrees and into the path of Flight 182.
In the Cessna 172, Boswell under the hood watched his instruments while Kazy, watched the sky for any conflicting traffic. Neither saw the approaching Boeing 727 from behind.
COLLISION - 9:01:47 AM
Traveling nearly twice the speed of the Cessna 172, the descending Boeing 727 overtook the smaller aircraft at an altitude of 2,600 feet.
The impact near the wing root of the Boeing damaged the leading edge slats, forward Kruger flaps and breached the Boeing's right wing fuel tanks. The damage to the Boeing's flaps created an induced and un-recoverable aerodynamic roll.
San Diego County Photographer Hans Wendt was in North Park at the corner of University and Boundary. He was with other county officials to shoot a demonstration of a new fuel vapor recovery system at a service station.
Suddenly, a bang was heard overhead and Wendt instinctively looked up with his Nikkormat EL 35mm camera. He had literally a second or two to focus on infinity and take two color photographs of the descending Flight 182.
This close-up of Wendt's first photograph shows both the left aileron and elevator fully extended upward as the flight crew attempts to counteract the induced right roll from the damaged wing.
Wendt's second and final photograph shows the Boeing 727 seconds from impact while rolling through a 50 degree bank angle.
One of three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B jet engines lies on a burned foundation at the crash site of the Boeing 727.
A section of fuselage from the Boeing 727 lies amid other debris. A crushed fragment of the Cessna's fuel tank was found at the impact site of the Boeing 727.
Another JT8D-7B engine.
Located nearly 3/4 of a mile away from the Boeing 727's impact site, a portion of the Cessna's fuselage fell in the middle of Polk Avenue.
Fragmented sections of the Boeing 727's Kruger leading edge flaps were found lodged in the Cessna's wreckage.
The NTSB begins to assemble the wreckage of the two aircraft in a hangar at Lindbergh Field.
Accident Investigators collected thousands of fragments while concentrating on key fragments that were directly involved in the collision.
Newspaper headlines of the air tragedy appeared around the globe, but for San Diego the disaster was beyond imaginable.
I was able to download some Google Earth images which were very helpful in orientating the crash site area of Flight 182.
The areas in gray and red indicate structures that were either destroyed or damaged in the initial impact of the Boeing 727.
The initial impact point of Flight 182 occurred on this section of sidewalk, driveway, and Nile Street circled in yellow.
The residence to the right of this photo was unscathed, but everything left of this photo was decimated with wreckage and burning jet fuel that radiated for several hundred feet.
The deep crater that the airliner made in 1978 was filled-in during the clean-up and recovery operations.
On close examination however, the cement and pavement surfaces are cracked from the un-stabilized earth underneath. A painted message "You Inspire beauty" also reveals the significance of this particular location.
This newspaper photo taken in 1978 of Boundary Street shows the carnage of human remains. A majority of the occupants from Flight 182 were deposited here.
PSA FLIGHT 182 MEMORIALS
The San Diego Air and Space Museum houses a few memorial plaques dedicated to those lost in this air disaster.
Many of these plaques were originally placed at PSA corporate offices, but were re-located to the museum when the airline merged with US Air in 1987.
This large plaque was dedicated to all 144 victims of the air disaster including those on the Cessna and those that perished on the ground.
