I remember that VERY, VERY well. I was a kid and grew up in Albuquerque at the foot of the Sandias. We lived right below the end of the N/S runway. The Sandias are basically a 5,000 foot cliff to the East of ABQ. The TWA Martin 4-0-4 took off to the East and flew right into the side of the mountain. We got up Saturday morning and heard about it on the radio. A person that lived a couple blocks from us was on the plane. It was 7AM but low clouds. Today, if you take the Tram from Albuquerque up to the Sandia Ski area, you can see part of the wreckage below.
Nothing suspicious about taking off in marginal VFR weather (perhaps IFR weather) in a 172 in mountainous terrain, at 1am? I simply find that very hard to believe
Me too. Speculation can really cloud the reality of the situation. Much like the speculation concerning the crash of the A330 in the Atlantic. Much of the talk was about possible structural failure when in fact it was due to human error. The A330 did what it was told to do, to the best of it's ability, until it pancaked into the ocean. I cannot comprehend why anyone would take off at 1:00 am on a crappy night for a local tour (if that's what it was).
