An experienced Texas International Convair 600/640 crew decided to fly VFR from Little Rock (LIT), AR, US, westbound. There was a bit of weather on their route. As to why they were not on an IFR clearance in a Part 121 plane, I have no idea.
These guys were based south of there, in Texas. Many people assume that you find no large hill or small mountain in Arkansas unless you are in northern Arkansas. Little Rock is about in the middle.
Their CV-640 with flight attendants and passengers almost cleared the top of a small mountain, Petit Jean, which is about 50 miles west/southwest of Little Rock. But they all died, about 300 feet below the top of the mountain. This hill is all by itself and is far south of the Ozarks.
Can any old-timers who flew in the early 70s tell me why a crew would choose not to operate IFR?
Supposedly the last words on the voice recorder were something like " the minimum enroute altitude is ****". Crunch.
Little Rock Airport is about 256' MSL and Petit Jean goes up to about 1800' MSL or so. LR Air Force Base (LRF) is north of LIT. When I lived in Camden and flew small turboprops, a pilot from not far away (Arkadelphia) described to me the crash, and I had assumed that the hills were all in the northern areas.