The Airplane, the people, and the crash

On the night of 27 September 1973, Texas International Airlines Flight 655 was operating as the return service that originated in Dallas and turned around in Memphis. After leaving Memphis, it made stops in Pine Bluff and Eldorado, both in Arkansas. The next scheduled stop was to be in Texarkana, AR. After departure from Eldorado, the crew turned north with the idea of circumnavigating a thunderstorm that was situated along the route. The first officer, William "Fred" Tumlinson, was the pilot flying. The captain, Ralph Crosman, was giving Fred altitudes and headings to fly.

Fred showed concern for the track they were flying over the ground, especially since they didn't know the terrain they were over. Crosman dismissed his concerns; this was the time before Crew Resource Management. When they were nearly 100 miles north of Texarkana, Fred was able to tune the Page VOR to determine their position.

"Minimum enroute altitude here is forty-four hund..." His warning was interrupted by the collision with Black Fork Mountain near Mena. They hit the ridge at 2000 feet MSL, only 600 feet below the top.

After the investigation, the NTSB made several recommendations to the FAA to help prevent similar accidents. The FAA didn't act on them, but did rename the Page VOR (originally named for the nearby town) as the Rich Mountain VOR. Similarly, the Mena Regional Airport was renamed as the Mena Intermountain Regional Airport. In both cases, the idea was to emphasize that the area was mountainous and that pilots need to exercise caution.

I've read reports that over 80 aircraft have come to grief in the Ouachita Mountains since the 1930s. We have records of about half that; several of which crashed in the years after 655 crashed. Many of those were in similar circumstances: low visibility and bad weather.

11 people lost their lives in the crash. Along with Crosman, 41, and Tumlinson, 37:

Marella J. Lotzer, 23, Stewardess
Clayton D. Craft, 49, Col. US Army
Marion R. Evans, 39
Arthur B. Glenn, 47, Col. US Army
Johnnie Hawkins, Jr., 18, Private US Army
Robert B. Hoppe, 48, Col. US Army
Milton C. Johnson, 51
Bonnie F. (Davis) McCullough, 65
John T. "Jack" Torrence, 49

From The Shreveport Times, October 1, 1973. The aircraft was so far north of its planned route, that it took three days to find the airplane. The official NTSB report indicates that a controller had noticed a "1200" (VFR) target in the area, but aviation author Richard L. Collins wrote that the aircraft was found by a student pilot on a cross-country flight from Oklahoma.
Flight 655 was the return trip to Dallas that originated in Memphis. Intermediate stops were in Pine Bluff, El Dorado, and Texarkana. The black arrows approximate the normal route, while the blue circle is where the airplane crashed northwest of Mena.
Forecast map from NOAA for the week of 24-30 September 1973, showing the approximate position of the cold front that spawned the system of thunderstorms that 655 attempted to navigate around. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript reveals that Crosman and Tumlinson were using the onboard radar to find the best path to take.
The aircraft was equipped with an RCA AVQ-50 X-band weather radar. The AVQ-50 was an early (ca. 1958) version of airborne weather radar; the 5" monochrome display was in the center instrument panel. Reading the display was as much art as science, and both pilots could be heard discussing how harsh the light from the display was.
N94230 as it appeared at Dallas Love Field (DAL) in August 1971. Photograph by Bob Polaneczky. Used with permission.
N94230 as it appeared in Tyler, TX on 30 June 1973, just three months before the crash. Photograph by Jeff Mullowney. Used with permission.
American Airlines was the original delivery customer for N94230. AA named their aircraft; N94230 was "Flagship Kitty Hawk."
N94230 taxis away from the terminal. I bought this series of photos from eBay, and I'm not sure which station this was.