It was not in communication with air traffic control and was not equipped with a transponder,[2] and there was no evidence that it appeared as a primary radar target on the radarscope.

[3] The impact severed the entire tail assembly of the DC-9, which rolled left until it was inverted and crashed into a soybean field at an approximate speed of 400 mph (350 kn; 640 km/h) about 100 yards (300 ft; 91 m) north of the Shady Acres mobile home park.

[3] The National Transportation Safety Board released the following probable cause in a report adopted July 15, 1970:[1] The Board determines the probable cause of this accident to be the deficiencies in the collision avoidance capability of the Air Traffic Control system of the FAA in a terminal area wherein there was mixed instrument flight rules (IFR) and visual flight rules (VFR) traffic.

The deficiencies included the inadequacy of the see-and-avoid concept under the circumstances of this case; the technical limitations of radar in detecting all aircraft; and the absence of Federal Aviation Regulations which would provide a system of adequate separation of mixed VFR and IFR traffic in terminal areas.The NTSB and FAA realized the inherent limitations of the "see and be seen" principle of air traffic separation in visual meteorological conditions, especially involving aircraft of dissimilar speeds or cloud layers and other restrictions to visibility.

[1] Over a period of years, following similar incidents and taking advantage of technological advances, the two agencies drove a number of corrective steps for the aviation industry, including: This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.