Southeast Airlines Flight 308
Douglas DC-3A · Controlled flight into terrain
From McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) to Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport (TRI)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 10 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 10
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas DC-3A
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N18941
- Operator
- Southeast Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 10
- Route
- From McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)To Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport (TRI)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Southeast Airlines Flight 308 was an American domestic flight operated by Southeast Airlines between Knoxville and Bristol, Tennessee, in the United States. On January 8, 1959, it was flown by a Douglas DC-3A registered N18941. On approach to Tri-Cities Regional Airport at Bristol, the aircraft crashed into the Holston Mountain range with the loss of all on board.
Accident
The aircraft departed McGhee Tyson Airport outside of Knoxville 27 minutes late on what was the second leg of the flight with seven passengers and three crew. The DC-3A was cleared for an approach to runway 27 at Tri-Cities Regional Airport. The visibility at the airport was 3 miles (4.8 km) in light snow and fog with a 900-foot (274 m) broken ceiling and overcast at 1,700 feet (518 m). The crew reported problems with the automatic direction finder and they were unable to find the outer marker visually or aurally. The aircraft passed to the east of the outer marker and while outside the normal procedure turn area descended and hit the wooded slope on the north-west side of the Holston Mountain range, killing all 10 people on board.
Investigation and cause
Probable cause
Following an investigation of the accident, the investigation board reported, "The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the pilot to identify Gray intersection properly and his decision to continue an ILS (instrument landing system) approach contrary to company and regulatory procedures".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Southeast Airlines Flight 308” (revision 1374090036, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Southeast Airlines Flight 308
- Revision
- 1374090036 · 2026-09-09 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7569287
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Southeast Airlines Flight 308" (page 33771313, revision 1374090036)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.