Crash of a Curtiss Eagle in Morgantown: 7 killed
Date & Time:
May 28, 1921
Operator:
Registration:
AS-64243
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Langley – Bolling
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
6
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The ambulance airplane of the 1st Provisional Air Brigade, crashed during a severe thunderstorm attempting to land at Morgantown, Maryland, while returning to Bolling Field, District of Columbia, from Langley Field, Virginia. The pilot, 1st Lt. Stanley M. Ames, and six passengers were killed. Four of the six were Air Service officers and an enlisted man. Two United States congressmen had chosen not to make the flight because of airsickness on the flight from Washington to Langley.
Probable cause:
The Army's Inspector General conducted an investigation of the crash and theorized that the aircraft stalled when it encountered an updraft at low altitude while trying to clear trees near the unfamiliar field and fell vertically, nose first, into the ground.
