Wow... Worst crash-damaged C-body I've ever seen

[Carmine]

Somehow I fell down an internet hole about Farrell's Ice Cream (of which I have only the vaguest memory). Someone mentioned their connection to the worst air-ground disaster to date (1972) so I ended up in a slide show...

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article174632791.html

and found this:

Pretty much the door panel and the rear bumper are the only cues this was a '72 NY'er. I think there is another car mixed in at the front... too much stuff to be one car.

What really amazes me is that the plane (F-86 Sabre) managed to remain so intact. I generally think of aircraft as rather flimsy, hollow and lightweight. The pilot actually survived with just a broken arm, the crash was pretty much the result of him failing to abort when the plane couldn't lift. It instead drove across the street from the airport and into a mall outlot. 22 dead, 12 were children. I couldn't imagine being that guy.

 

[1970FuryConv]

Extremely depressing. Imagine the guilt the pilot would have had to live with. I hope he never flew again.

 

[hemi71x]

That crash was a few years before my time here in Sacramento.
Lots of people that were living here when that plane crashed, remember it well.
A sad chapter in Sacramento's past history.

 

[detmatt]

Wow that’s horrible. I do remember Farrell’s though But vaguely, fake straw hats, right?

 

[3175375]

Wow that’s horrible. I do remember Farrell’s though But vaguely, fake straw hats, right?

I learned to drive a stick with a guy that worked with my Dad. He also taught me how to slalom race. This was in the late 70’s.
After a long Sunday slalom racing at Lion Country Safari or Cal State Long Beach, on the way home, he would say ‘let’s stop for a gooey’. We visited Farrell’s many times.

The F-86 - what a workhorse. The Navy used them as targets at Point Miguel (and the Air Force @ Holloman), until the early 90’s...

 

[68 4spd Fury]

I'd never heard about that before, thanks for sharing.

 

[Carmine]

Wow that’s horrible. I do remember Farrell’s though But vaguely, fake straw hats, right?

I think I attended some kids birthday party at a Farrell's inside Oakland Mall parking lot. I straw hats, striped shirts, old-timey ceiling fans. A "gay 90s" theme, back when you could still say that.

Mostly I was hungry for a bowl of ice cream last night. Finding none in the freezer, FB's mind-reader app suggested a discussion about Farrell's.

 

[odcics2]

There was a Farrells on Telegraph by 96.

 

[Carmine]

There was a Farrells on Telegraph by 96.

As an eastsider, that's just a mystical place I hear about in traffic reports.

 

[Snotty]

No, no no!!! That was a horrible day!! 26 children died and Farrell's went bankrupt. When I saw the wrecked F-86 I knew what this was. To show this because of a wrecked 300 is shameful!

Those of us who grew up in South Sacramento will never forget this day. The man who would become my Brother-in-law was walking with his buddy to the Farrell's when they stopped to watch the F-86. The two were key witnesses to the event as they saw the whole thing, including the pilot attempting to lift off, twice. The pilot denied attempting a second time and his lawyer tried to sham to 13 year-old boys... until an 8mm film turned up showing exactly what Mike and Dave had said was true: the plane nosed up twice. Had he shut down after the first failure there would have been no accident that day, and no deaths.

Mike and I continue to go to Hot August Nights every year. We have talked about this when we see Ice Cream Parlors wherever we go.

 

[Zymurgy]

Terrible accident.

I remember Farrells well. I grew up and still live in central Ohio. There was one in Columbus, I went there alot when I was a teenager and could drive. There was a midnight movie of Rocky Horror picture show in the same shopping complex.

I nearly always got the pig trough which was essentially a double banana split and when you finished it completely you got a ribbon that said "I made a pig of myself at Farrell's"

I went there a lot in the early to mid 80s. I think ours closed around 1990.

 

[xxcarguy]

I remember that crash.
Dad was newly retired Air Force.
We lived in a little town 30 miles south named Galt.
Couldn’t believe it.

 

[Carmine]

Any aviation experts know the speed of an F-86 Sabre just before leaving the ground? I'm still amazed at how intact the fuselage remained. One can surmise that striking the car tore off the wing and probably allowed the plane to penetrate deeper into the building, like the 2x4s that are fired at brick walls for hurricane tests. The comparatively weak connection of wing-to-fuselage likely allowed the plane to continue in a straight line instead of veering into the mall parking lot.

Incredible that there were no earthen barriers at the end of the runway that host(ed) jet takeoffs... Just a mall full of innocent people. The article does say this was the end of jet traffic at that airport.

 

[Carmine]

Terrible accident.

I remember Farrells well. I grew up and still live in central Ohio. There was one in Columbus, I went there alot when I was a teenager and could drive. There was a midnight movie of Rocky Horror picture show in the same shopping complex.

I nearly always got the pig trough which was essentially a double banana split and when you finished it completely you got a ribbon that said "I made a pig of myself at Farrell's"

I went there a lot in the early to mid 80s. I think ours closed around 1990.

View attachment 405499 View attachment 405500

I remember the "I made a pig of myself" ribbons. I must have been there more than once. I think the last Farrell's just closed, which was what got me reading about their history.

 

[polara71]

We were there a few times. Once was for my birthday and ordered the ZOO.

 

[68 4spd Fury]

Extremely depressing. Imagine the guilt the pilot would have had to live with. I hope he never flew again.

It doesn't say if he kept flying or not, this was the end of the article. "Reached by phone at his home and offered the opportunity to express himself, Bingham said, “It doesn't make me feel any better at all to talk about it. I would just as soon decline that.” " Read into that how you think he feels.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article174632791.html#storylink=cpy

 

[3175375]

Any aviation experts know the speed of an F-86 Sabre just before leaving the ground? I'm still amazed at how intact the fuselage remained. One can surmise that striking the car tore off the wing and probably allowed the plane to penetrate deeper into the building, like the 2x4s that are fired at brick walls for hurricane tests. The comparatively weak connection of wing-to-fuselage likely allowed the plane to continue in a straight line instead of veering into the mall parking lot.

Incredible that there were no earthen barriers at the end of the runway that host(ed) jet takeoffs... Just a mall full of innocent people. The article does say this was the end of jet traffic at that airport.

I certainly am no expert, but I thought that the rotation speed would be around 140 knots.
I found this link that describe the flying characteristics of the F-86:

Doug Matthews Describes Flying the F-86 Sabre

The article states that the pilot reached 180 knots shortly after takeoff and with flaps on at some percentage, speed won’t increase dramatically after rotation.

 

[Snotty]

Incredible that there were no earthen barriers at the end of the runway that host(ed) jet takeoffs... Just a mall full of innocent people. The article does say this was the end of jet traffic at that airport.

The level of Sacramento Metropolitan Airport (at that time the only one in town) runway was/is below the level of Freeport Blvd. that it paralleled. When the pilot tried, unsuccessfully, to lift off the second time there was no runway left. He veered to the left heading towards Freeport, hit the embankment of the street level and went airborne. He crossed the northbound lanes but landed in the southbound, taking at least one car with him. He continued into the front of Farrell's, where there was a Birthday Party in progress, thus the great loss of life of the children. For months you could see the "trough" the plane dug while cutting to the left off the runway. It made an arrow pointing at the Farrell's.

As I said, a real tragedy.

 

[Snotty]

Dad was newly retired Air Force.
We lived in a little town 30 miles south named Galt.

Ah, Dry Creek Country Club! That first hole is embarrassing if you don't hit it well!

My Dad served at Mather. Yours?

 

[68 4spd Fury]

The level of Sacramento Metropolitan Airport (at that time the only one in town) runway was/is below the level of Freeport Blvd. that it paralleled. When the pilot tried, unsuccessfully, to lift off the second time there was no runway left. He veered to the left heading towards Freeport, hit the embankment of the street level and went airborne. He crossed the northbound lanes but landed in the southbound, taking at least one car with him. He continued into the front of Farrell's, where there was a Birthday Party in progress, thus the great loss of life of the children. For months you could see the "trough" the plane dug while cutting to the left off the runway. It made an arrow pointing at the Farrell's.

As I said, a real tragedy.

I agree, very tragic. That's why Military aircraft, especially jets, should be left with the military.