On April 4, 1979, a TWA Boeing 727 flying from New York City to the Twin Cities, carrying 80 passengers at 39,000 feet over Flint, suddenly swerved to the right, completed a 360-degree barrel roll, and nose-dived five miles at a speed the plane’s instruments could not record.
Harvey “Hoot” Gibson, the pilot, finally regained control at about 5000 feet by putting the landing gear down and made an emergency landing at Detroit Metro Airport. No fatalities occurred among the 82 passengers and seven crew members. Eight passengers reported minor injuries related to high G forces.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the accident. In its final report, published in June 1981, the NTSB concluded the probable cause of the accident was pilot error. However, the pilot and crew always maintained they were turned into scapegoats.
This incident was the subject of a 44-minute CBS News Special titled: The Plane That Fell From The Sky
Sources:
Mich-Again’s Day.
TWA Flight 841 (1979) wikipedia entry
H.G. Bissinger, “11 Years After Plane Took a Dive, Pilot Tries to Clear His Reputation“, Chicago Tribune, October 14, 1990.