All three crew members on board died when the aircraft struck the ground following a stall and rapid descent caused by the crew 's reaction to erroneous airspeed readings caused by atmospheric icing . The icing occurred due to failure to turn on the pitot tube heating at the start of the flight . This was one of two Boeing 727s to crash in the United States that day ; the other was TWA Flight 514 in northern Virginia , northwest of Dulles airport
TWA Flight 514
TWA Flight 514
Northwest Airlines Flight 6231