Including the crew of three, 42 people had boarded Northeast Airlines Flight 946 at Boston’s Logan Airport and departed for Montpelier, Vermont at 5:42 PM. The plane had been scheduled to make one stop in Lebanon, New Hampshire. As the Fairchild Hiller 227 airliner (tail number N380NE) cruised at an estimated airspeed of 245 knots, the crew was faced with fair weather conditions presenting scattered low-level clouds.

The pilot was Captain John. A Rapsis (52) who had been with Northeast Airlines since 1957. Rapsis was highly experienced and had nearly 15,000 hours of flight time. The copilot, First Officer John C. O’Neill (29), had been with the airline just over one year and was considerably less experienced than Rapsis.

According to the later National Transportation Safety Board post-crash report, “The flight was reported to be normal and routine” until it was near Lebanon Airport which sits in a valley surrounded by nearby hills. At 6:11 PM the crew radioed that they were executing a Standard Instrument Approach. The Lebanon tower acknowledged their transmission and gave them wind, visibility, and other information regarding conditions at the airport.

The crew was now flying generally on course but far too low. Whereas they should have been at 2,800 feet, they were nearly 600 feet below that required altitude. Moments later, and eight miles from the airport, the plane plowed into the side of Moose Mountain in Etna, New Hampshire. Photographs show a path slashed through the trees as if a giant lawnmower had passed straight ahead and downward toward the ground. The right wing hit the trees first followed almost instantly by the fuselage and left wing.

The propellers on both engines and the wings were torn off as the forward section of the fuselage disintegrated. The area instantly erupted in flame from spilled fuel. 32 of the 42 people on board were killed. Of the 32, the vast majority died instantly with most probably never knowing what happened. One young female was severely injured and was pined in a rock outcrop and died while rescuers were struggling up the mountainside.

Those seated in the last ten rows had the only chance to survive and this is indeed where all had been seated. According to the NTSB report they, “made their escape from the burning wreckage through the rear cabin service door or through fractures of the fuselage.”

Several survivors later testified that there was absolutely no warning of the crash. In fact, most described the approach to the airport as “smooth.” Amazingly, despite the utter destruction of the forward sections of the airliner, the survivors stated that the crash was more like “a rough landing.” One reported that he had watched the ground approaching gradually until they passed into a cloud and the plane hit the trees. The crew had descended into a low cloud without realizing that Moose Mountain was nearly straight ahead.

We’ll never know exactly what took place in the cockpit because the “Black Box” voice recorder had malfunctioned at some point prior to the crash. Likewise, the Flight Data Recorder was so damaged that its recordings of the plane’s performance were only partially recoverable.
What the pilots said and why they made their decisions will never be known. The NTSB officially ruled on April 1, 1970 on its finding of Probable Cause. Their report stated, “The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the premature initiation of a descent toward the Minimum Descent Altitude, based on navigational instrument indications of an impending station passage in an area of course roughness. The crew was not able to determine accurately its position at this time because they had performed a nonstandard instrument approach and there were no supplemental navigational aids available for their use.”

National Life lost four employees in the crash. Terry Hudson (33), Philip Havelka (29), and Ferdinand Feola (30) had all spent the day in Boston testing a program on a mainframe computer similar to the one that was to be installed in the Home Office during the following year. Gray Gravel (21) was a traveling auditor for the company and was returning from an extended business trip.

George Collins (32), a district supervisor in the Investment Department, was also returning from a business trip. Collins had been assigned a window seat but had switched with a man who asked him to do so because it was his first time flying. That man didn’t survive. Collins was severely injured and spent months in recovery.

At a huge memorial service for all employees, National Life President John T. Fey said, “A tragedy of this scope cannot be measured in the minds and hearts of all National Life staff members who worked with and knew these fine young men. It is a tragedy that stuns the senses and tears the heart.” Chairman of the Board, Deane C. Davis made personal calls to the families of the deceased.

Hudson had been with the company for 12 years and had been a pillar of his community, serving in a wide variety of local volunteer positions. Feola was both an outdoorsman and artist who was also a member of many service organizations. This had been his first business trip for the company. Gravel was clearly an accountant on the rise with two published articles in Accountant Digest – a significant accomplishment at age 21. His date for that Friday evening was to be Janet Johnson who happened to be only eight miles from the crash site when the accident happened. Havelka had been with National Life for a year having served in the Army and coming from the Pitney Bowes Company in Connecticut.

Marcel Marineau was a bearer for both Feola and Hudson said, “Three finer, more fun-loving guys you would never meet again.”

All of the deceased associates of National Life were married except Gravel. Hudson left behind a widow and four children, Feola had three children.

Thirty-five years after the crash, several current associates of National Life and its subcontractors continue to work in the Home Office building. These include:

Edmond G. Rousse Jr. Son of Edmond G Rousse Sr.
Doug Hudson Brother of Terry Hudson
Pam Wilson Daughter of Terry Hudson
Rick Hudson Nephew of Terry Hudson
Brenda Davis Niece of Terry Hudson

Small pieces of the airliner remain on the remote mountainside.