On the 24th of September, 1972, the Golden West
Sport Aviation Air Show was in full swing at Sacramento Executive Airport in Sacramento,
California. Thousands of aviation enthusiasts had gathered to see aircraft (including military
and experimental models) exhibited on the ground. The show came to an abrupt
halt, however, when one aircraft leaving the show failed to take
off at the end of the runway, and instead plowed through a fence, across a road,
and directly into a crowded ice cream parlor. Farrell's was a chain of ice cream parlors founded
in Portland, Oregon, in 1963. At its peak there were 120 outlets across the United States.
Shops were known for their lively atmosphere: staff would sing songs and give children free
ice cream on their birthdays, and every venue had a self-playing piano along with several other
instruments which could be wheeled out to add to the raucous fun. The biggest sundaes on offer were
delivered on stretchers borne by multiple servers. A joke menu offered to visitors who were worried
about eating too much ice cream declared that, "Everything worth eating has calories," and
advised consuming, "a glass of steam," so that they would have something to blow off. This lively
atmosphere made the chain a hit with families, and so it expanded throughout the 1960s. In
1969 a Farrell's was added to the Crossroads Shopping Mall in Sacramento. One small
objection was raised: a sign for the parlor was slightly too tall, breaking the
recommended height limit for the location. The height limit existed because the mall
was across the road and directly in line with a runway for Sacramento Executive Airport.
However, this objection didn't amount to anything. Those in charge concluded that since the
mall itself already broke the height limit, and it hadn't caused any problems, the
sign would present no additional hazard. For several years the Farrell's at
Crossroads operated without incident... until on the 24th of September, 1972, the Golden
West Sport Aviation Air Show came to town. This popular show exhibited a number of military
aircraft, including a privately owned Canadair Sabre Mark V. This fighter jet had done its time
in the military and had since been sold as surplus to a private owner, who used it as a promotional
tool and regularly entered it in air shows. Richard Bingham, an experienced pilot with a
history of flying many different kinds of jet, had been hired to pilot the plane on this occasion,
and felt that he had mastered the controls after a few one-hour practice flights. At around 4:30pm,
with most of the air show over and done with, Bingham moved the plane into position ready
to take off for the flight back to its home base. When permission was granted for him to
launch, Bingham trundled off down the runway, gathering speed. Witnesses report the plane
wobbling uncertainly as it accelerated. One witness, just 12 years old at the time,
knew instantly that it would not take off... but it seems that the pilot did not. The plane
continued to gather speed before attempting to take flight at an impossibly steep angle.
After rearing up from the tarmac only briefly it slammed back to the ground, plowed off the end
of the runway and tore through a chain-link fence. Now completely out of control, the aircraft cut
across a highway, slamming into and destroying a passing car in the process. Fuel tanks on the
wings ruptured, creating massive fireballs. It cut a swathe through the car park outside
the Crossroads Shopping Center and then, still at high speed, slammed directly into Farrell's Ice
Cream Parlor. The result was instant carnage. Fire from the remaining fuel consumed the property,
which contained around 100 people at the time. Walls collapsed, glass shattered, and detritus
from the plane cut through the crowded venue. In the immediate aftermath of the accident many
people rushed across from the air show to the site of the crash to try and help. Among these
were Mr and Mrs Irwin, a couple in their 60s who believed - incorrectly - that their grandchildren
were at the Crossroads Mall. As they rushed across the road to look for the children they were
hit by a truck, and Mrs Irwin was killed. Unusually for a disaster of this magnitude the
pilot survived. Richard Bingham was pulled from the wreckage with multiple broken bones, conscious
but distraught. As he was carried away he apologized profusely and begged his rescuers
to help get victims out of the wreckage. Rescuers descended on what was left of the parlor.
Pickup and fire trucks from the airport were on location almost instantly, with at least one truck
deliberately crashing through the airport fence in order to take the most direct
possible route to the accident site. Though many were pulled from
the wreckage with severe burns, many more were beyond saving. The final
death toll was 22, with a further 28 injured. Within this statistic are a series of terrible
stories. Kerri Francis McCluskey, then just four years old, lost her twin sister. Another
family lost nine of its members in the crash, leaving just one survivor: an eight-year-old
child who had at a stroke lost two parents, two grandparents, three siblings and two cousins. An investigation would reveal
that the incident was down ultimately to a combination of pilot error and
poor planning. Bingham had tried to take off at much too steep an angle, which had meant that
he never took off at all. Indeed he'd tried to pull the aircraft up at an angle three times
greater than that which he should have done. While he was inexperienced in the Sabre it wasn't
entirely his fault. Investigators found that the layout of the area around the runway contributed
to the accident. It was unusually crowded, with trees, buildings and water towers looming
around the end of an already-unusually-short runway. This crowded field of view was what
had caused Bingham to try and get airborne so quickly. While Bingham's actions had, in
a direct sense, caused the disaster, these dangerous conditions had been building for years.
Permission had been given for obstructions that were too tall to be built too close to the end of
the runway, often using the justification that the obstructions already there hadn't yet caused any
problems. Exceptions were made not just in terms of zoning but for the aircraft itself. Sacramento
Executive Airport wasn't a fit place for a military jet to take off from, but the Sabre was
allowed to do so for the benefit of the air show. Bingham had been signed off to fly
it despite almost no experience, again in exception to guidelines that
should have been considered mandatory. Following the accident loopholes were closed.
No more could military aircraft (even privately owned ones) fly over densely-populated
areas without special permission. No longer would a pilot with little experience
in a given aircraft be permitted to fly it, even on a one-off basis, without oversight.
And no longer would exceptions be made to the recommended height limits for
installations directly outside airports. Times have changed since 1972. The zoning of
the area around Sacramento Executive Airport is now strictly controlled. Farrell's has now
gone out of business, with the last of its parlors closing in 2019. Richard Bingham, the pilot, never
flew again. The Golden West Sport Aviation Air Show no longer exists but many other air shows are
attended by thousands each year. The Crossroads Mall became Freeport Square Shopping Center. A
memorial now stands at the exact spot where the front door of Farrell's once was. Two plaques are
inscribed with the names of those who perished. In addition to this marker, there is
also a living memorial to the disaster: The Firefighters Burn Institute. For years
before the crash firefighters in Sacramento had been campaigning for the city to address the
lack of burn treatment facilities in the area... but their appeals were ignored, at least until the
crash dramatically highlighted the need for better provision. The institute was founded the very next
year. To this day it provides specialist care and rehabilitation for burns victims, and conducts
vital research research that, little by little, is improving the lives of burns victims not
just in Sacramento but all over the world.
