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Historical Highway MarkersImperial Airlines Flight 201/8SA-117
Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8, carrying 74 U.S. Army recruits to Columbia, SC, crashed southeast of Richmond on 8 Nov. 1961. All of the recruits and three of five crew members perished. At the time, the crash was the worst in Virginia history and the second-deadliest in U.S. history for a single civilian aircraft. At fault were poor airline management, substandard maintenance, and crew error. The tragedy resulted in an investigation of the charter aircraft industry that revealed many violations of safety standards. In 1962 Congress mandated that all supplemental carriers reapply for certification by the Civil Aeronautics Board and meet stricter insurance and financial requirements.
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References/Bibliographic Citation: Civil Aeronautics Board, Aircraft Accident Report, 2 Feb. 1962. Linda Burdette, “The Crash of Flight 201/8,” Virginia Aviation History Project. John Kelly, “On Crash’s 50th Anniversary, Honoring Recruits Who Never Got a Chance to Serve,” Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2011. Selden Richardson, “Richmond’s Worst Airplane Disaster: Flight 201/8, November 8, 1961,” Shockoe Examiner, 14 Nov. 2013. Commonwealth of Virginia, Proclamation of November 30, 2016 as a Day of Remembrance for Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9 Nov. 1961. Washington Post, 10, 11, 13, 18 Nov. 1961, 13 Jan. 1962, 7, 21 Feb. 1962, 11 Jan. 1963. Time Magazine, 21 Sept. 1962. |