 Sixty-three people on the aircraft (including both pilots) and nine people on the ground died; 20 passengers survived, as well as the two flight attendants.The flight crew consisted of Captain William W. "Bill" McKenzie, age 54, a highly experienced pilot with 19,380 flight hours (including 3,205 hours on the DC-9), and first officer Lyman W. Keele Jr, age 34, who had 3,878 flight hours, with 235 of them on the DC-9.The crew was advised of the presence of embedded thunderstorms and possible tornadoes along their general route prior to their departure from Huntsville, but they were not subsequently told that the cells had since formed a squall line.