High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Allegheny Airlines Flight 853, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30, collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 at approximately 3,550 feet on September 9, 1969, near Fairland, Indiana. The DC-9 carried 78 passengers and 4 crew members. The Piper was leased to a student pilot making a solo cross-country flight. The occupants of both aircraft were killed in the accident and the aircraft were destroyed by the collision and ground impact. Allegheny 853, a DC-9-30, was a regularly scheduled flight departing Boston, Massachusetts, for St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Baltimore, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The flight departed Cincinnati at 3:15pm enroute to Indianapolis. Allegheny 853, flying under Instrument Flight Rules clearance to Indianapolis, was instructed by Indianapolis Approach Control to descend to 2500 feet after passing the Shelbyville VOR at 6000 feet. The flight was then vectored to a 280 degree heading. Meanwhile, the PA-28 was on a southeasterly heading operating under a filed Visual Flight Rules flight plan which indicated a cruising altitude of 3500 feet.