"On the 24th of September, 1972, the Golden West Sport Aviation Air Show was in full swing at Sacramento Executive Airport in Sacramento, California..."
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LearningTranscript
00:00On the 24th of September, 1972, the Golden West Sport Aviation Air Show was in full swing
00:19at Sacramento Executive Airport in Sacramento, California. Thousands of aviation enthusiasts
00:26had gathered to see aircraft, including military and experimental models, exhibited on the ground.
00:32The show came to an abrupt halt, however, when one aircraft, leaving the show, failed to take
00:39off at the end of the runway and instead plowed through a fence, across a road, and directly into
00:46a crowded ice cream parlor. Farrell's was a chain of ice cream parlors founded in Portland, Oregon,
00:54in 1963. At its peak there were 120 outlets across the United States. Shops were known for their
01:03lively atmosphere. Staff would sing songs and give children free ice cream on their birthdays,
01:10and every venue had a self-playing piano, along with several other instruments which could be
01:15wheeled out to add to the raucous fun. The biggest Sundays on offer were delivered on stretchers
01:21borne by multiple servers. A joke menu offered to visitors who were worried about eating too much
01:28ice cream declared that everything worth eating has calories, and advised consuming a glass of
01:35steam so that they would have something to blow off. This lively atmosphere made the chain a hit
01:42with families, and so it expanded throughout the 1960s. In 1969 a Farrell's was added to the
01:50Crossroads Shopping Mall in Sacramento. One small objection was raised. A sign for the parlor was
01:57slightly too tall, breaking the recommended height limit for the location. The height limit existed
02:04because the mall was across the road and directly in line with a runway for Sacramento Executive
02:10Airport. However, this objection didn't amount to anything. Those in charge concluded that,
02:16since the mall itself already broke the height limit and it hadn't caused any problems, the sign
02:23would present no additional hazard. For several years the Farrell's at Crossroads operated without
02:30incidents... until on the 24th of September 1972 the Golden West Sport Aviation Air Show came to town.
02:40This popular show exhibited a number of military aircraft, including a privately-owned Canadair
02:45Sabre Mark 5. This fighter jet had done its time in the military, and had since been sold as surplus
02:53to a private owner who used it as a promotional tool and regularly entered it in air shows.
02:59Richard Bingham, an experienced pilot with a history of flying many different kinds of jet,
03:05had been hired to pilot the plane on this occasion, and felt that he had mastered the
03:09controls after a few one-hour practice flights. At around 4.30pm, with most of the air show over
03:18and done with, Bingham moved the plane into position ready to take off for the flight back
03:23to its home base. When permission was granted for him to launch Bingham trundled off down the runway,
03:29gathering speed. Witnesses report the plane wobbling uncertainly as it accelerated.
03:36One witness, just 12 years old at the time, knew instantly that it would not take off...
03:43but it seems that the pilot did not. The plane continued to gather speed before attempting to
03:49take flight at an impossibly steep angle. After rearing up from the tarmac only briefly it slammed
03:56back to the ground, plowed off the end of the runway, and tore through a chain-link fence.
04:02Now completely out of control, the aircraft cut across a highway, slamming into and destroying a
04:08passing car in the process. Fuel tanks on the wings ruptured, creating massive fireballs.
04:16It cut a swathe through the car park outside the Crossroads shopping centre,
04:20and then, still at high speed, slammed directly into Farrell's ice cream parlor.
04:26The result was instant carnage. Fire from the remaining fuel consumed the property,
04:31which contained around 100 people at the time. Walls collapsed, glass shattered, and detritus
04:39from the plane cut through the crowded venue. In the immediate aftermath of the accident many people
04:46rushed across from the airshow to the site of the crash to try and help. Among these were Mr. and
04:53Among these were Mr. and Mrs. Irwin, a couple in their 60s who believed, incorrectly, that their
05:00grandchildren were at the Crossroads mall. As they rushed across the road to look for the children
05:06they were hit by a truck, and Mrs. Irwin was killed. Unusually for a disaster of this magnitude,
05:14the pilot survived. Richard Bingham was pulled from the wreckage with multiple broken bones,
05:20conscious but distraught. As he was carried away he apologized profusely and begged his
05:26rescuers to help get victims out of the wreckage. Rescuers descended on what was left of the parlor.
05:35Pickup and fire trucks from the airport were on location almost instantly, with at least one truck
05:41deliberately crashing through the airport fence in order to take the most direct possible route
05:46to the accident site. Though many were pulled from the wreckage with severe burns,
05:52many more were beyond saving. The final death toll was 22, with a further 28 injured.
06:01Within this statistic are a series of terrible stories. Keri Frances McCluskey,
06:08then just four years old, lost her twin sister. Another family lost nine of its members in the
06:16crash, leaving just one survivor. An eight-year-old child who had at a stroke lost two parents,
06:24two grandparents, three siblings, and two cousins.
06:30An investigation would reveal that the incident was down, ultimately, to a combination of pilot
06:36error and poor planning. Bingham had tried to take off at much too steep an angle, which had
06:42meant that he never took off at all. Indeed, he'd tried to pull the aircraft up at an angle three
06:48times greater than that which he should have done. While he was inexperienced in the Sabre,
06:56it wasn't entirely his fault. Investigators found that the layout of the area around the runway
07:02contributed to the accident. It was unusually crowded, with trees, buildings, and water towers
07:10looming around the end of an already unusually short runway. This crowded field of view was what
07:16had caused Bingham to try and get airborne so quickly. While Bingham's actions had in a direct
07:24sense caused the disaster, these dangerous conditions had been building for years.
07:30Permission had been given for obstructions that were too tall to be built too close to the end
07:36of the runway, often using the justification that the obstructions already there hadn't yet caused
07:42any problems. Exceptions were made not just in terms of zoning, but for the aircraft itself.
07:49Sacramento Executive Airport wasn't a fit place for a military jet to take off from,
07:54but the Sabre was allowed to do so for the benefit of the airshow.
07:59Bingham had been signed off to fly it despite almost no experience, again in exception to
08:05guidelines that should have been considered mandatory. Following the accident loopholes
08:12were closed. No more could military aircraft, even privately owned ones, fly over densely populated
08:18areas without special permission. No longer would a pilot with little experience in a given aircraft
08:25be permitted to fly it, even on a one-off basis, without oversight. And no longer would exceptions
08:32be made to the recommended height limits for installations directly outside airports.
08:39Times have changed since 1972. The zoning of the area around Sacramento Executive Airport
08:46is now strictly controlled. Farrell's has now gone out of business, with the last of its parlors
08:52closing in 2019. Richard Bingham, the pilot, never flew again. The Golden West Sport Aviation Airshow
09:02no longer exists, but many other airshows are attended by thousands each year.
09:08The Crossroads Mall became Freeport Square Shopping Center. A memorial now stands at the
09:15exact spot where the front door of Farrell's once was. Two plaques are inscribed with the names of
09:21those who perished. In addition to this marker there is also a living memorial to the disaster
09:29the Firefighters Burn Institute. For years before the crash firefighters in Sacramento
09:35had been campaigning for the city to address the lack of burn treatment facilities in the area,
09:40but their appeals were ignored... at least until the crash dramatically highlighted the need for
09:46better provision. The institute was founded the very next year. To this day it provides specialist
09:53care and rehabilitation for burns victims, and conducts vital research. Research that,
10:00little by little, is improving the lives of burns victims not just in Sacramento but all over the
10:07world.
10:37you