I found an old 1960s Era brochure from the Indianapolis Airport Hotel. As I looked at the sparsely populated landscape that used to surround the old Indianapolis Municipal Airport and flipped through the folded pages containing great old interior views of the “modern” hotel, my mind automatically went back to an event from the pages of Indy history. The Ramada Airport hotel plane crash.
I googled it and realized that the crash took place 39 years ago. The Ramada Inn air crash and resulting fire occurred when a United States Air Force pilot failed to reach the runway and the plane crashed into a nearby Ramada Inn. On Tuesday morning October 20, 1987 35-year-old Major Bruce L. Teagarden flew his US Air Force A-7D-4-CV Corsair II, serial 69-6207 airplane over the city of Indianapolis. Down below, at the Indianapolis Airport Ramada Inn, the housekeeping staff was busily preparing for the guests to check out. A salesman had stopped at the hotel in search of a pay phone. In short, it was a routine day.
At 9:10 a.m., Teagarden’s instrument panel went dark. The 12-year-veteran pilot notified controllers at Indianapolis International Airport that his aircraft was experiencing engine failure 15 miles southwest of the city at 31,000 feet. He requested to return for an emergency landing. Controllers directed the pilot to Runway 5L, but due to the low cloud ceiling and poor visibility, Teagarden was at 3,100 feet as he passed over the runway and he attempted to land on Runway 32 instead. The crippled corsair’s engine stalled, the joy stick locked up and now the plane had the aerodynamics of a brick.
Teagarden made a right turn eastward away from the airport and dropped to 2,000 feet just east of Interstate 465 when he disappeared from the radar. At 500 feet, the aircraft made a slight right turn towards the Park Fletcher complex. The pilot looked out at the open farm fields ahead, hoping his $7.9 million jet would crash harmlessly there. He hit the eject button and moments later, Teagarden hung helplessly from his parachute and looked on in horror as the plane headed towards the hotel. It bounced off the roof of the Bank One branch in the 5600 block of Bradbury Avenue and flew across the street before hitting an embankment. The hobbled missile now hit the berm like an Evel Knievel ramp, rocketing 25 feet through the air before crashing into the front of the Ramada Inn.
The plane’s cockpit and engine went careening into the lobby, killing nine people. Another person suffered severe burns and died a week later. The wings and fuselage flew into the upper floors and carport of the hotel. The jet fuel on board ignited on impact, causing a massive fireball that engulfed the entire front of the hotel up to the fourth floor. Indianapolis Airport crash trucks, which had been following the plane from runway to runway, arrived on the scene a minute after impact and immediately started to use foam to extinguish the fire, which was under control within four minutes. Airport fire and rescue team members, assisted by the Indianapolis Fire Department, Wishard Ambulance Service, Wayne Township Fire Department and the Decatur Township Fire Department, searched the building for survivors.
After making his call, Thomas D. Murray of Carmel stepped out into the parking lot just in time to see the plane barreling down towards him. The 37-year-old salesman watched the plane slide on its belly past him pushing cars out of the way as it passed before crashing through the lobby entrance. Murray avoided contact, but he was quickly enveloped in the resulting fireball. He suffered third-degree burns over 95 percent of his body. He held on for nine days at Wishard Memorial Hospital’s burn unit and died on Oct. 29. A handful of other employees and guests were slightly injured, but most of those present that day made it out relatively unscathed and stood in the parking lot watching helplessly as the hotel burned.
Inside the hotel, nine employees died almost instantly. Dawn Shelly Martin was the front desk clerk. Allen Dale Mantor, 18, and Chris Evans, 21, were bellboys. Brenda Joyce Henry, 26, and Emma Jean Brownlee, 37, were housekeepers. Katherine Cox, 33, managed the dining room. Mary Stuart Marsh, 29, and Beth Louise Goldberg, 30, were in charge of sales and Narinder S. Kanwar, 41, was the top financial officer. Their bodies were so badly burned that it would take several days to identify them through dental records.
Family members of the missing arrived on scene and the long, agonizing vigil for news of their loved ones began. The parents of Chris Evans told an Indianapolis Star reporter that they had gotten a phone call from their son that morning and were sure it happened after the crash. Their hopes were dashed when they realized the call had been made just moments before the disaster.
Pilot Teagarden landed safely in the parking lot of the Ace Supply Company four blocks away with only minor injuries. The cause of the crash, as revealed in the Air Force’s January 1988 final report, was a defective gear in the accessory gearbox. It sheared, causing the driveshaft to rip open the lubricating oil system, and the engine then seized up soon afterward. The Air Force eventually paid out $50,427 ($147,362 in 2026) in property damage claims on October 26. Major Teagarden remained grounded until a flight evaluation board investigated the incident. Ultimately, Teagarden was found blameless in the tragedy, because of the airport controller’s actions.
Over the years, Teagarden suffered the ire of family members and was often blamed for the tragedy. Many felt that he should have initially ditched the plane in the countryside, rather than heading back towards the airport. Wild rumors persisted that Teagarden had been drinking rum and cokes heavily the night before after attending a friend’s funeral in Pittsburgh. On that fateful day, he was headed back home to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. He told investigators that he couldn’t see the ground because of poor weather conditions, and therefore couldn’t pick a place to safely eject until he was below the clouds. In the transcript of his conversation with the air controllers, Teagarden twice asked to be guided away from population centers. He never spoke publicly about the crash nor gave any media interviews.
For more than two years, the charred building stood as a sad reminder of the tragedy. The hotel owners never rebuilt because they were unable to decide on an appropriate design. Today a parking lot stands on the site. The bank branch building damaged by the plane is still standing but has since been converted into a hospice, but closed its doors in 2022.
Al Hunter is the author of “Haunted Indianapolis” and “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide.” and the co-author of the “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Osborn H. Oldroyd: Keeper of the Lincoln Flame”, “Thursdays with Doc. Recollections on Springfield & Lincoln” and “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
