Remembering USAir Flight 427, the worst aviation disaster in Pennsylvania history

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- On Sept. 8, 1994, smoke billowed into the air over Hopewell Township, Beaver County after USAir Flight 427 seemingly fell out of the sky.

The plane, en route from Chicago, was getting ready to land at Pittsburgh International Airport when it crashed into a wooded ravine, just beyond the Green Garden Plaza shopping center.

Witnesses and emergency crews from all over rushed to the scene, hoping to help rescue survivors. However, they quickly realized there were no survivors.

All 132 people on board were killed in an instant.

More than half of the victims were from the Pittsburgh area, including employees of U.S. Steel, PNC Bank and Westinghouse.

There was also a family of five from Upper St. Clair and the sister-in-law of a Kennedy Township police officer who responded to the scene.

In the days that followed, local, state and federal officials decontaminated the crash site, recovered what remains they could and began to try to figure out what caused the plane to crash.

The investigation took four years, the longest in aviation history.

The National Transportation Safety Board eventually determined the crash was the result of an out-of-control rudder on the Boeing 737, caused by a defective valve which caused the plane to pitch, roll and spin straight into the ground.

It all happened in less than 30 seconds.

But finally knowing the cause was only half the battle for the victims' families who said they felt left in the dark by the airline and investigators in the wake of the crash.

They fought for better treatment of plane crash victims' families, eventually helping to pass the "Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act," which set standards for notifications. briefings and grief counseling.

And while that will never bring back the 132 souls who died on U.S. Air flight 427, it does give meaning to their lives and a purpose to what remains, 30 years later, the worst aviation disaster in Pennsylvania history.