A Recording Studio Cracked the Case of a Deadly Texas Plane Crash

When you think of plane crashes from Texas, the deadliest in history is the tragic tale of Braniff International Airways Flight 352 that occurred on May 3, 1968 in Dawson, Texas. For a while the NTSB had a hard time trying to figure out what went wrong on the flight & the cause of the crash wouldn't be known without the help of a recording studio in Dallas, Texas.

Which recording studio helped solve the case of Braniff Flight 352?

Without having the proper technology to analyze the recordings at the time, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) would require the help of a recording studio in Dallas: The Sellers Recording Studio, a recording studio that was founded back in 1937 by James Earl Sellers. The Cockpit Voice Recordings (CVR) were recorded at the studio in 1969 & given to the NTSB for their investigation. They were able to determine, from the help of the recordings, that the plane crashed because of the flight crew that flew directly into a thunderstorm. The official NTSB crash report would come out on June 19, 1969.

So what happened to the tapes of Braniff Flight 352?

When the Sellers Recording Studio was closed down in 1982, the original tapes were lost & no one knew who had the tapes or where they were...

That was until they were found by a man named David Wilson (the son of Glenn Wilson, an air traffic controller who was contacting the Braniff flight that day) & the tv personality Steve Eberhart. They FOUND the tapes in a barn outside of Dallas.

David posted about his findings of the recordings, his dad's retelling of working the day of the crash & investigation into Braniff Flight 352 online & even mentioned that his brother, Steve Wilson, was able make a copy of the cockpit recordings & make a remastering. Steve would then send that recording to the Fort-Worth Star Telegram newspaper, who would later upload the audio onto their YouTube channel.

The crash would be investigated in great detail on the YouTube channel, Disaster Breakdown. So if you want to learn more about the story of Braniff Flight 352, you can watch their video down below.

Even decades after the crash, the story is worth telling & retelling. Not just so we can learn from the mistakes made in history, but knowing that sometimes you never know who can help you out when you truly need it.

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