Saint Louis – Chicago

On March 6, 1934 at 12:00 AM, Saint Louis – Chicago experienced a crash involving Fairchild Pilgrim 100A, operated by American Airlines, with the event recorded near Petersburg Illinois.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

4 people were known to be on board, 4 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: 3, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. En route from St Louis to Chicago, while cruising at night, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions with snow falls and icing. He informed his operations that the visibility was about a 1/8 of mile and elected to divert to Springfield Airport for an emergency landing. Shortly later, while flying at a height of about 500 feet, the engine seems to quit then the airplane lost altitude and crashed in a snow covered field. All four occupants were killed, among them the pilot Walter Hallgreen, one of the most experienced pilot in the company.

Aircraft reference details include registration NC710Y, MSN 6606, year of manufacture 1931.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.0117°, -89.8482°.