Summer was in full swing in late July of 1973, a day when, some Missourians would later note, the skies looked ominous, as thunderstorms approached St. Louis. By the end of the day, all eyes would be on the latest news – a horrific, deadly plane crash that took the lives of nearly all on board. Thirty-eight passengers perished that late July day while six, including the pilot and co-pilot, survived.

Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 left Nashville, Tennessee, en route to St. Louis Lambert International Airport, on July 23, 1973.
Flickr/photolibrarian
Forty-one passengers and three crew members were on the flight, piloted by Arvid Linke, headed to Missouri.
Wikipedia/Ruth AS
Along the way, the Fairchild-Hiller twin-turboprop stopped briefly at three smaller airports, with passengers boarding in Marion, Illinois, the final stop.
Flickr/Venture Minimalists
As Flight 809 approached St. Louis, visibility decreased. With thunderstorms surrounding Lambert International Airport, passengers experienced turbulence. The pilots also reported a problem with one of the fuel pumps.
Flickr/Jo Naylor

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Air traffic control warned Flight 809 about the thunderstorms at the airport. But, the aircraft clipped a home then crashed into a hillside, nearly three miles from the runway.
Flickr/get directly down
Thirty-eight passengers perished in the crash, two of them dying in the hospital. The pilot and co-pilot were among the survivors.
Facebook/Maria Eckland
The National Safety Transportation Board would later find that the plane was flying at a low altitude when it faced a "strong downdraft."
Wikipedia/RuthAS
The NTSB also laid blame with the National Weather Service for not issuing a severe weather alert, the pilots for not realizing the danger the thunderstorm posed, and Ozark Air Lines for not providing flight rules for pilots with regards to thunderstorms near airports.
Wikipedia/Public Domain

Do you remember the Ozark Airlines Flight 809 plane crash in Missouri? Join the conversation in the comments. Then, click here to read about one of Missouri’s worst disasters.

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