Mass fatality aircraft disaster processing

On Dec. 12, 1985, a contract transport carrying 248 U.S. Army personnel crashed on takeoff at Gander, Nfld., Canada, killing all the passengers as well as the crew of eight. This was the worst aircraft accident in U.S. military history and, at the time was the fifth worst accident in aviation history. Cooperation between the governments of Canada and the United States allowed for the transport of all human remains to the U.S. Air Force mortuary facility at Dover AFB, DE, where they were processed, identified, and ultimately returned to their families for burial. Under ideal circumstances, any medical examiner's office or mortuary facility would be overwhelmed by a mass disaster of this magnitude. Before the arrival of the first shipment of bodies, a concerted planning effort was undertaken and the facility arranged so that remains would pass in a logical sequence through a series of 10 "work stations." This report details the process and outlines the logistics of the operations.