Birmingham - Atlanta

On June 20, 1985 at 09:01 PM, Birmingham - Atlanta experienced a crash involving Beechcraft E18, operated by SmithAir - USA, with the event recorded near Birmingham–Shuttlesworth Alabama.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. At 2045 the military flight, Dixie 06, contacted Birmingham approach and obtained clearance for a low approach followed by a full-stop landing on runway 05. At 2053, Dixie 06 reported a 4 mile final for a low approach to the local controller. At 2054:19, the local controller cleared ABX74, N19T, '...taxi position and hold five.' ABX74 was awaiting takeoff instructions on runway 05 when the collision occurred. Investigation revealed the local controller forgot ABX74. She became preoccupied with other traffic using runway 36. The local controller termed the traffic as busier than normal for a night operation. At the time of the accident, the tower was staffed with two air traffic controllers and an air traffic assistant. No supervisor or coordinator was available in the cab to detect controller overload and offer assistance. The pilot, sole on board, was killed. The military aircraft involved in the collision was a USAF Douglas RF-4C Phantom II registered 64-1032 with two pilots on board. They escaped uninjured.

Aircraft reference details include registration N19T, MSN BA-147, year of manufacture 1956.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 33.5647°, -86.7505°.