Carowindsman wrote:Our very own Skytower a problem
A 340 foot tower at Carowinds was cited as a possible causitive factor in the 1974 fatal crash of a jet airplane at the nearby Douglas Municipal Airport, which is now Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. (See: Eastern Air Lines Flight 212)
I have the book "Final Approach" that was written about the Eastern Airlines 212 crash on Sept. 11, 1974. The book author, William Stockton set out to answer how & why this crash happened. He pieced together all the recorded conversations of the pilots & air controllers along with eyewitness accounts by survivors.
Quote from the book: "At around 7:33am, the pilots rolled into their final turn on approach to the designated runway in Charlotte. And there was the Carowinds tower. It was a strange sight, a startling apparition protruding from the fog. It arrested their (pilot & co-pilot) attention. They knew what it was. But it seemed to be in the wrong place in relation to their position after the radar vectors."
Both pilots had misread the altimeter. At that point, they thought they were at 1,650ft but they were actually at 650ft. The error wasn't even realized until a split second before the crash after they descended into the fog.
According to the book, there was no mention of the Carowinds tower in the court proceedings following the crash. The judge asked the co-pilot: "Do you feel that you misread the altimeter for a full minute?" Co Pilot says: "It's evident to me that I did, that I misread it."
Both pilots survived. Ten of the 82 passengers survived including the 2 pilots.
Notable deaths of flight 212 were: John Merriman, a 32 year veteran of CBS News. Also, for those familiar with Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report). He lost his father and 2 brothers on that flight.
