Murrow & AP Entry for News Documentary-Diverted: TWA 514 

My father who just recently passed away, actually missed this flight. Digging through his old documents, looking for insurance papers i found an old aged, worn and wrinkled Indianapolis Star article about this crash. I was only 5 years old, when this accident happened and he never mentioned it to me, only my mom spoke about it.

I was working at DCA when this accident occurred. There were intense cross winds at DCA that day, and that airport was closed most of the day because of the cross winds. They were so intense that the carpets that covered the bag chutes where being flown up about 90 degrees. And, it was so cold because of the crosswinds that we agents were wearing our jackets and coats all day. I learned I could type on our computers wearing gloves. I can't recall exactly when we learned of the crash of 514, but it would have been a shock. Even though I did not work for TWA, there was always a very strong connection between the employees of every airline, and any crash affected us all. The other thing, which most people won't get, is that it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving that year, the second busiest travel day of the year. The first busiest is the day before Thanksgiving itself. So everything was cancelled, we had to try to rebook everyone for the next day, and then TWA crashed. Not a fun day.

I live not far from the crash site, in Aldie, Virginia. I'm a pilot and I'm always reading accident reports. I was amazed to find out that such a large airliner had went down only miles from where I now live (I retired here from the military, and I was only 7 years old at the time of this accident. Even after hearing about it, I still didn't visit the crash site. But not long ago, I went to visit a winery nearby and I remembered that the crash site was not far from the winery. In fact, it's right up the road. I stopped by and took a short walk. It was eery, but I'm sure that was because I'm cognizant that a lot of people died there. What amazed me is that there are still aircraft parts there after all of these years. I presume people think it's unlucky to take them, or souvenir hunters would have scarfed them up by now. Sad that there is no significant memorial at the site.

I was walking around the crash site and found a bank card belonging to Frederick Neal Lorenz, who was 26 when he died on the flight. Apparently he has no surviving family. If by chance anyone has access to someone close to him or his family, please let me know. I'd like to return his card to them.

my step dad was one of the first respondents he was up there for several day recovering wreckage i was just a little kid when he came home i remember him describing all this to my mom. how sad a situation

16:25 George Speese January 16, 1935 - January 9, 2016 R.I.P.

This is such a heartfelt video and I wish it had millions of views. So different from most air crash videos that are popular on RU-vid in 2024.

Well done documentary, vintage news reports and news photos added to sadness of this tragic accident.

Thanks for making this film. It is long overdue. I knew one of the stewardesses on the flight, Jen Van Fossen. I also recommend Adam Shaw's excellent book: Sound of Impact.

EXCELLENT Content! and the human side to this story moving and of most importance. It's relieving to know that their lives were not lost without significant improvements made to flight safety as a result of this accident.

@13:31, the comment "no one of importance on the plane" is inexcusable. Shame on each person/group who approved such a statement to be reported to the public. Beyond reckless and insensitive towards the families who lost loved ones in this crash. Shameful!

Flying is still vastly safer than driving.

I went to the cemetery today and I saw the two girls that died in the crashes grave and her parents were beside it one was 11 and the other one way 24 and their mom died the same year as them

Thanks for this

So many important changes came out of that crash. How sad that these people had to die in order for these changes to be implemented.

Excellent work! Excact and to the point!

At one point Northwest 6231 flew behind TWA 514 and Norhwest 6231 crashed later that day.

Thanks for sharing. 😉👌🏼

Nice job!

One in where my Grandfather Roscoe Cartwright that my mother parent.

A desperately sad old tale

I have heard the reports of many many many airplane crashes in my 62 years. I have never heard in any report anyone say “there was no one of any importance on the plane“. Wasn’t said , didn’t happen.!!!

See you in heaven, Dave!!! ❤️😇❤️

On the day I was born.

DE-ICE

I am a controller, and this was one of the greatest watershed accidents that did cause major changes in the aviation industry. We MUST say an altitude or a transitional altitude to maintain until the aircraft is established on a segment of or the actual approach final. Also, we(controllers, pilots,mechanics,dispatchers..etc) can file an anonymous NASA report on ANY unsafe practice that we are currently doing, observed, a way of doing a procedure better, or if you were or thought you were at fault during the conduct of your job, or for anything to improve the National Airspace System(NAS). These reports are studied compiled and evaluated and incorporated in most future operations without laying blame to the reporter. This encourages blameless reporting , promotes and furthers the safety culture. These and other recommendations from the NTSB report were adopted in the airline industry. Almost all aviation regulations are written in blood.

One of my good friends who I worked with for several years was the son of the pilot Richard Brock. Because of the "pilot error" verdict by the NTSB his family was denied any insurance compensation from this event. It was such a catastrophic accident with so many factors involved. Yet the insurance company denied any settlement with his family. It financially destroyed them. He was very bitter that TWA and their insurance company could get away with this especially with all of the judgements and changes that the NTSB recommended and the FAA instituted afterward. Basically TWA and their insurer had turned their back on one of their own. This should had never have happened. So sad.

This documentary was so sad and serious and then George had to play the damn guitar. it was hysterical and depressing at the same time

In the story, there was a sequence that showed the approach-plate for an I"S approach. I'm not sure what was intended by showing that but I know that, on that plate, all the information you need exists to keep you and your passengers safe. When I took Air Traffic Control classes, in the Air Force, in 1967, I learned about aircraft navigation-instrumentation. One item that I've remembered, all of these 55 years, is the ILS (ID-249 or 250) instrument that gives the pilot azimuth and glideslope information during the approach. I'm sure that TWA had these ILS instruments in 1974! If Washington International had an ILS system(Localizer and glideslope) and the pilots were trained to fly those approaches, the instruments and all associated transmitting and receiving equipment would surely guarantee that would not have happened because the radio beams are lined up by engineers to avoid obstacles, as long as you're flying the instruments properly. I flew an ILS instrument approach before I was a rated pilot, in a Lockheed T-33 aircraft. I flew along a radio-beam that kept me on the runway centerline and on a spcific angle-of-descent; perfectly! Also, the approach plate tells you what altitude to be at, depending on where you start. This story tells me that the pilot-crew were neither aware of the terrain nor willing to deviate from the controller's altitude instruction, which definitely was a mistake by all parties. I'm 75 now but, at 73 and, after 46-years having not-flown, I took a familiarization flight, to see if I still wanted to fly. The instructor asked what I wanted to experience. I told him I wanted to do turns and stalls and, when we were ending, I wanted to fly an ILS approach. I did OK but stalled out a little early. I love instrument flight! I'm so sad about this story; especially the politics, with nearly all parties acting as though they needed to avoid self-incrimination.

That's my mom a parent us army was in the plane this TWA 514 crashed. 1974.

This is one of those crashes that isn't talked about much. Very preventable. This just shows how self serving the politicians and media were when they said "no one important was on the plane" Disgusting!!!

I have been researching airline disasters for years and always knew about this crash, but there was not much material available about it. Maybe that is because of Mount Weather and the secure facility, but perhaps it was also about the suppression in lack of safety in airline travel at the time and the fact that we only heard about crashes in the daily paper or as a brief story on television news. I was a very active passenger on some of these types of routes during the time of this crash and we had no idea just how much danger we could be in because of antiquated regulations and practices. Flying is definitely much safer than driving today, but back then that was just a line they told you to keep people buying tickets. I do remember a few hair-raising close calls in the old days though. More than a few.

The personnel who respond to these incidents are scarred for life, they need to be honored for having to recover the aftermath, every accident that kills human beings deeply affects those who have to clean up the result. I know a priest who responded to a midair collision plane crash involving 16 people, I heard it and witnessed it falling from 2 miles away, I will never forget our conversation about it. God bless them.

I was 4 years old and a Loudoun County resident when this occurred. I remember well visiting the crash site with my family not long after it occurred. I’ll never forget the way the trees seemed sheared off in a perfect horizontal plane straight into the mountain impacting almost at your feet from where we stood on the road. And the overwhelming smell of jet fuel in my young nose. As an adult I became friends with one of the first responders and as you can imagine it impacted him deeply. Great documentary on an underreported tragedy.

Wonderful, if sad video. It focuses on the people who died, and what their lives were all about. Most crash videos talk about the numbers killed and that's about all.

So media told us that "no one of importance" was on the flight. Since when is a dbag politician "important?"

When I was a kid we used to go out for drives on the weekend (if anyone remembers people doing that), and just a few days after this accident we drove past the spot. I can still remember it clearly. On the hillside looking out from the road every tree was sheared off just as level and clean as if with a saw. Up to the road, which was the point where it hit the ground. On the other uphill side of the road the trees were unscarred, untouched, and there was nothing there but thousands of what looked little white scraps of paper scattered amongst the trees, and nothing else.

I remember this day very well. My grandmother had died earlier that morning, and then this was all over the news. Grandma's passing was natural and expected, but these poor people were just ripped out of the world.

This accident happened because pilots in the U.S.A. were never trained to use distance from touchdown to determine how low they should be on arrival at any airport. TWA was cleared for the approach 50 miles from Dulles. They mistakenly decided to descend to their initial approach altitude of 1800’ when the minimum altitude was 3400’. There was no reason to descend to 3400’ at that point. The simple math formula is at 50 miles you want to be passing 15,000’. Mt. Weather is 25nm from Dulles. The simple math formula says they should have been passing 7500’ at 25 miles. I believe the NTSB report said they hit Mt. Weather at 1675’ which was lower than the intended 1800’. The NTSB tried to explain why they were low but failed to mention high winds being. reason. In European publications they warn high winds cause significant altimeter errors in mountainous terrain. TWA hit Mt. Weather because they were over 4000’ too low. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HBOCrx-FVLE.html

There Was No One Of Importants On The Plane How Cold Hearted To Say SomeThing Like That EveryOne On That Plane Was Importanted So Many Family's Life's Were Sadly Changed ForEver God Bless Them All

I recall vividly this accident and another of the same type of plane in Westchester County NY later the same day but without any but the flight crew aboard. We have made big strides in prevention but that meant little to the families of those who died.

It boggles the mind to think that a few hours later another 727 crashed in New York - and that plane was apparently in New York because it was diverted there on the account of this crash. Also GPWS wasn't foolproof at first. There were still many controlled flight into terrain accidents post GPWS introduction. Only with Enhanced GPWS have we seen a reduction in CFIT crashes.

This is a really well researched documentary; however, Dick Lugar, was not a Senator until 1977. Factually, when this crash occurred, he was Mayor of Indianapolis.

My aunt was on this plane.

There should be a group reunion

Sad😭

No one of importance????

Great video

My aunt was on this flight. Sheila Regan.

The story was so sad and George singing brightened my mood ❤

Very well done

Is this an accident documentary, or a conspiracy theory vid?

Horrible documentary, the piano racket was excruciating. The victims deserve better.

It's awesome that some of the survivors did things to honor their lost loved ones. I became an EMT because my dad died of a heart attack when I was 12. I wanted to try to spare other kids from going through what I did.