19711776 Club
Most survive the impact; 28 die in the fire after Allegheny 485 clips New Haven cottages in fog
Investigators find exit instructions too small to read through the haze, and the second flight attendant the FAA had waived away was not there to lead anyone out.
Nearly everyone aboard Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 survived the initial impact. The Convair CV-580 struck three beach cottages on approach to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport at 9:50 a.m. on June 7, 1971, after Captain David Eastridge continued his descent past the minimum altitude in heavy fog. Fire broke out immediately, and 28 of the 31 people aboard died — not from the crash, but from smoke and flames inside a cabin where the emergency exit instructions were printed too small to read through the haze, and where a second flight attendant, legally required but exempted by FAA waiver, was not present to guide them out…
