Commercial Aviation Archaeology Galleries

September 3, 1929, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor (NC9649) Mt. Taylor, NM : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: On the morning of Tuesday September 3, 1929, a Ford Tri-Motor departed Albuquerque's main passenger air field en route to Los Angeles, California. On board were five passengers, two pilots, and a courier. For pioneering airline Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) today's flight would be considered routine having a few months prior inaugurated 48 hour coast-to-coast service from New York to Los Angeles. The service was unique in that traveling passengers would take a train operated by the Santa Fe Railroad to travel at night and then board one of TAT's Ford Tri-Motor aircraft during the day to continue their trip. Air travel at the time was a new concept for many and well known aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were hired by TAT as paid consultants to build public confidence and acceptance. Lindbergh himself having flown and approving the transcontinental routes that TAT would fly. This was the beginning of passenger airline travel. The weather west of Albuquerque was dark with thunder clouds and rain as the flight made it's way towards Winslow, Arizona. The Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor (NC9649) was named by the airline "The City of San Francisco" and was delivered to TAT less than one year prior. The flight crew consisted of Capt: xx and Co-Pilot: xx. Courier: xx attended to the five passengers. Just a little more than hour and half passed into the stormy flight and "The City of San Francisco" had diverted north of course and into mountainous terrain of Mt. Taylor near Grants, New Mexico. Whether it was low visibility, strong downdrafts or a fatal combination of both, the answer to what really happened has been lost to the eight decades of history. What we do know is that "The City of San Francisco" and it's passengers and crew came to a violent end on the tree covered slopes of Mt. Taylor. For TAT and the rest of the world, the flight had simply vanished into thin air. Searchers, many of them local volunteers spent long hours in the air and on foot looking for the lost aircraft. It would be nearly four days before the wreckage of TAT Flight xx was discovered. This accident is considered to be one of the first commercial airline disasters and at the time it was believed that this accident would end passenger air travel. HISTORICAL SUMMARY:

September 3, 1929, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor (NC9649) Mt. Taylor, NM

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: On the morning of Tuesday September 3, 1929, a Ford Tri-Motor departed Albuquerque's main passenger air field en route to Los Angeles, California. On board were five passengers, two pilots, and a courier. For pioneering airline Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) today's flight would be considered routine having a fe ...

Updated: Dec 20, 2009 1:41pm PST

January 16, 1942, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), Douglas DC-3 (NC1946) Potosi Mountain, NV : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: Transcontinental & Western Air Flight 3, a Douglas DC-3 (NC1946) was a scheduled transcontinental coast to coast flight originating from New York City with the ultimate destination of Burbank/Los Angeles, California. Unlike today's non-stop transcontinental flights, this flight was to make several stops on it's way across the country. One scheduled stop it made in the early morning hours of January 16, 1942 was Indianapolis, Indiana where the flight boarded several passengers including actress Carole Lombard, her mother Elizabeth Peters, and MGM Studio Agent Otto Winkler. Lombard and company had just completed a successful cross-country trip selling two million dollars worth of war bonds to support the war efforts. At 5:27 AM, the flight departed Indianapolis and continued west until it reached St. Louis. Taking on cargo, the flight was delayed nearly two hours by a layer of early morning fog that reduced visibility to less than one quarter of a mile. At 9:03 AM, the fog lifted and the flight continued on with more scheduled stops and strong headwinds. By the time Flight 3 reached Albuquerque, New Mexico it was running more than three hours late. More delays were experienced in Albuquerque as passengers and cargo had to be removed in order to make room for fifteen military pilots and crew who had war time travel priority. Initially, the Lombard trio was removed from the flight, but Carole insisted that their group had priority due to her participation in the war bond tour. The gate agent not wanting to argue with the obviously irritated Lombard, allowed her party to continue their trip. The only other civilian passenger allowed to continue was Mrs. Lois Hamilton. An aircraft crew change also took place in Albuquerque. In command of TWA Flight 3 would be Captain Wayne Williams, Co-pilot Morgan Gillette, and Air Hostess Alice Getz. Under the normal planned route, the flight would have been able to continue direct to its final destination however the extra weight of passengers, cargo and headwinds required an en route fuel stop at Las Vegas, Nevada. At 4:40 PM, Flight 3 departed Albuquerque for the Las Vegas Air Terminal which unlike Boulder City (TWA Terminal) had lighted runways. It was 6:37 PM when Flight 3 reached Las Vegas. This stop was quick. Just enough time to take on more fuel, have passengers stretch their legs, and for Hostess Getz to top off the two galley containers with hot coffee. At 7:07 PM, the flight departed runway 34 and began its climbing left turn across the Las Vegas Valley. The night of January 16th was dark and moonless as the DC-3 leveled off at the cruising altitude of 8,000 feet. The night was made even darker with the government's decision to blackout the lighted airway beacons due to wartime national security threats. With the passenger cabin lights comfortably dimmed, up front in the cockpit, Captain Williams probably had the instrument and cockpit flood lights turned up to set the power for cruise flight. Perhaps Co-pilot Gillette was busy with a navigation chart or trying to confirm their course. Regardless of the reason or task at hand, neither pilot noticed the selected course was sending them into the snowcapped 8,500 foot Potosi Mountain. The collision with the vertical cliff of Potosi Mountain was devastating and all 22 passengers and crew were killed instantly. When the final report was issued nearly a year later, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigators were never able to determine why the flight flew off course and into mountainous terrain. **************************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: It was around 1990 when I started my research of TWA Flight 3. The story of the accident was interesting to me in that it involved many aspects of history, two of which were World War 2 and the other was the "Golden Age" of Hollywood and film. Armed with the CAB Report, newspaper articles, and a couple grainy photos, I had little other help in these early days of my aviation archaeology interest. I decided the best way to find the crash site was to spot the location from the ground then the air. One morning flying a rented Cessna aircraft, I flew a series of passes around Potosi Mountain and took several photographs which I compared later to an old press photo taken during the 1942 recovery efforts. In the next six months I planned my hike carefully and decided the best way to approach the site would be from the south side of the mountain (This was the route used by the recovery teams in 1942). The hike up the mountain was very steep, but I did manage to locate the crash site after a few hours. The site as I first located it during 1991 was relatively pristine with very little foot traffic. Identifiable components such as landing gear and engines were located and documented. It was the smaller items that most people stepped over that proved to be the most revealing in the visits I have made throughout the years. Unfortunately today, the crash site is a publicized hiking trip on the internet and I would guess that it is now visited by hikers every other weekend. When I last visited the site in the early part of 2008, soda cans, bottles and other trash littered the site. In addition, one engine has been rolled down the steep mountain slope by vandals. I still have plans to replace a stolen memorial plaque at the site, but I am hesitant due to possible vandalism. I would like to see the U.S. Forest Service be more pro-active and protect this historical resource from further damage. The crash site itself lies within the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area which is managed by both Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service.

January 16, 1942, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), Douglas DC-3 (NC1946) Potosi Mountain, NV

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: Transcontinental & Western Air Flight 3, a Douglas DC-3 (NC1946) was a scheduled transcontinental coast to coast flight originating from New York City with the ultimate destination of Burbank/Los Angeles, California. Unlike today's non-stop transcontinental flights, this flight was to make several stops on it's w ...

Updated: Oct 02, 2009 5:10am PST

June 6, 1971, Hughes Air West / USMC, McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (N9345) / McDonnell Douglas F-4B (151458) Mid-Air Collision near Duarte, CA : Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a DC-9, was to fly from Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to Seattle, WA (SEA) with intermediate stops at Salt Lake City (SLC), Boise (BOI), Lewiston (LWS), Pasco (PSC) and Yakima (YKM). The aircraft departed Los Angeles at 18:02. At 18:09 the crew reported leaving 12,000 feet and Los Angeles ARTCC cleared them direct to Daggett. At 17:16, a US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom Bu# 151458 departed Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Fallon for a flight to MCAS El Toro at low altitude. The aircraft had several technical difficulties, including an inoperative transponder and a leak in the oxygen system. Due to deteriorating visibility northwest of Palmdale, the crew climbed to 15,500 feet. Shortly after level-off, aircraft was 50 miles from MCAS El Toro. The pilot executed a 360° aileron roll at this time, which took approximately three seconds to complete. The Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) estimated that the true airspeed in the climb and after level-off was 420 knots. At 15,150 feet, the F-4B collided with the Airwest DC-9 about one minute and twenty seconds after the roll. After the collision, the F-4 began to tumble violently about the lateral axis. The RIO waited about 5 seconds and after seeing numerous warning lights in the cockpit, ejected from the aircraft. The ejection was successful and he parachuted to the ground without injury. The F-4B pilot did not survive the accident. PROBABLE CAUSE: The failure of both crews to see and avoid each other but it is recognized that they had only marginal capability to detect, assess, and avoid the collision. Other causal factors include a very high closure rate, comingling of IFR and VFR traffic in an area where the limitation of the ATC system precludes effective separation of such traffic, and failure of the crew of BuNo458 to request radar advisory service, particularly considering the fact that they had an inoperable transponder."

June 6, 1971, Hughes Air West / USMC, McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (N9345) / McDonnell Douglas F-4B (151458) Mid-Air Collision near Duarte, CA

Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a DC-9, was to fly from Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to Seattle, WA (SEA) with intermediate stops at Salt Lake City (SLC), Boise (BOI), Lewiston (LWS), Pasco (PSC) and Yakima (YKM). The aircraft departed Los Angeles at 18:02. At 18:09 the crew reported leaving 12,000 feet and Los Angeles ARTCC cleared them direct to Da ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2008 3:05am PST

June 29, 2008, Classic Helicopter Services / Guardian Air, Bell 407 (N407MJ) / Bell 407 (N407GA) Mid-Air Collision, Flagstaff, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: On June 29, 2008, at 1547 Mountain Standard Time, a Bell 407 emergency medical service (EMS) helicopter, N407GA, and a Bell 407 EMS helicopter, N407MJ, collided in mid air while approaching the Flagstaff Medical Center helipad (3AZ0), Flagstaff, Arizona. Both helicopters were destroyed. N407GA's commercial pilot, flight nurse, and patient sustained fatal injuries; and N407MJ's commercial pilot, flight paramedic, flight nurse, and patient sustained fatal injuries. N407GA was operated by Air Methods Corp., Englewood, Colorado, and registered to Flagstaff Medical Center, Flagstaff, Arizona. N407MJ was operated by Classic Helicopter Services, Page, Arizona, and registered to M&J Leisure, L.L.C., Ogden, Utah. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight plans were filed for each of the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 air medical flights. N407GA's flight departed the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, at 1544, and N407MJ's flight departed the Grand Canyon National Park Service South Rim helibase, Tusayan, Arizona, at 1517. At 1516, the pilot of N407GA, call sign Angel 1, contacted Guardian Air dispatch at FLG and reported that they were departing Winslow, Arizona, with four people on board; the pilot, the two flight nurses and the patient. The pilot stated that his estimated time en route was 25 minutes and he was either going to land at FLG or proceed directly to the Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) helipad. The pilot was not sure if he would be at the proper weight to land with enough power margin to execute an out of ground effect hover on the rooftop helipad. At 1519, the Guardian Air dispatch transportation coordinator contacted FMC and reported that Angel 1 was inbound to the helipad in approximately 23 minutes. At 1519, the pilot of N407MJ, call sign Lifeguard 2, contacted their communications center and reported that they had departed the south rim of the Grand Canyon and were en route to FMC with an estimated time en route of 32 minutes, and four people on board; the pilot, the flight nurse, the flight paramedic, and the patient. About a minute later, the pilot of Angel 1 called Guardian Air dispatch and reported that they were going to "drop one" at FLG before proceeding to land at Flagstaff Medical Center. At 1523, the dispatcher on duty at Classic Helicopter Service contacted Guardian Air dispatch and reported that Lifeguard 2 was en route to FMC and would be arriving from the north. The dispatcher also reported that it would be a "cold drop," and the emergency department at the hospital had already been notified. The Guardian Air dispatch transportation coordinator then informed the Classic dispatcher that Angel 1 was also en route and would be landing at Flagstaff Medical Center in 20 minutes. At the end of that call, the Guardian Air dispatch transportation coordinator called FMC and stated that Lifeguard 2 would also be landing at the hospital in "about twenty-eight minutes...and they know about mine coming in." The person who answered the phone in the emergency department responded, "all right." The transport coordinator then contacted the pilot of Angel 1 and informed him that Lifeguard 2 would also be landing at Flagstaff Medical Center in approximately 28 minutes. The pilot responded, "Roger will be looking for 'em thanks." At 1532, the pilot of Lifeguard 2 contacted the Classic Helicopter Service communication center, provided a position report and said that they were 15 minutes from landing at FMC. The dispatcher on duty responded, "comm center copies all sir...I'll talk to you on the ground in fifteen minutes, 1532." This was the last recorded communication with the pilot of N407MJ. Also at 1532, the pilot of Angel 1 contacted Guardian Air dispatch and reported that they were 10 minutes from landing at FLG. At 1544, the pilot of Angel 1 contacted Guardian Air dispatch and stated, "control Angel 1 if you haven't figured it out we've uh landed at the...airport departed and we're about two minutes out of the hospital." The transportation coordinator responded and copied the transmission. This was the last recorded communication with the pilot of N407GA. There were no recorded communications between the pilots of the two helicopters. A review of the recorded transmissions made between both medical crews and the hospital revealed that both of the medical crews contacted the emergency department at FMC and provided medical reports on their respective patients. At the time Angel 1 contacted the hospital, they provided an estimated time of arrival in 15 minutes. The Classic Helicopter Services medical crew reported an estimated time of arrival of 18 minutes. The hospital staff that received the phone calls from both aircraft did not provide any information about the other helicopter that was also en route to the Flagstaff Medical Center helipad. Several people witnessed the collision of the helicopters as they approached the hospital helipad and reported seeing both helicopters descending into wooded terrain about 1/4 mile from the heliport. There was a small fire noted rising from the hilly terrain, followed by a loud explosion shortly after the collision. A surveillance camera, mounted on a parking garage at the hospital, captured the collision on digital video. The video depicted one helicopter approaching from north and one helicopter approaching from the south, and shows both aircraft descending after the collision. The video was sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders laboratory, Washington, DC, for further examination. The accident site was located in a partially wooded, rocky mesa, approximately 1/4 mile east of the FMC helipad at an elevation of 7,060 feet mean sea level. N407GA's main wreckage was located on the top of the mesa in a rocky, grass terrain; and N407MJ's main wreckage was located in wooden terrain. The main wreckages of both helicopters came to rest approximately 300 feet apart from each other. The debris area, approximately 1/4 mile in diameter, contained fragmented sections of main rotor blades, plexiglass, and fiberglass. N407GA was partially consumed by post-impact fire and N407MJ did not have a post-impact fire. N407GA experienced a secondary post-impact explosion approximately 3 minutes after the accident. Three first responders sustained minor injuries during the explosion. At the time of the accident, the weather was reported as partly cloudy and winds were light and variable. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: **UPDATE** During a visit to the crash site in April 2009, I located an intact media card from a digital camera. The photographic contents of the card appear to be the property of an a victim involved in the collision. The card has been returned. More to follow later.

June 29, 2008, Classic Helicopter Services / Guardian Air, Bell 407 (N407MJ) / Bell 407 (N407GA) Mid-Air Collision, Flagstaff, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: On June 29, 2008, at 1547 Mountain Standard Time, a Bell 407 emergency medical service (EMS) helicopter, N407GA, and a Bell 407 EMS helicopter, N407MJ, collided in mid air while approaching the Flagstaff Medical Center helipad (3AZ0), Flagstaff, Arizona. Both helicopters were destroyed. N407GA's commercial pilot, fligh ...

Updated: Jun 08, 2009 10:12am PST

December 24, 1946, Western Air Lines, Douglas DC-3 (NC45395) Cuyapaipe Mountain, CA : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: It was Christmas Eve 1946 when Western Air Lines Flight 44 departed the town of Holtville in California's Imperial Valley for the coastal city of San Diego. The flight was then to continue on to Long Beach with it's final destination Los Angeles International Airport. Flight 44 had nine passengers and three crewmembers when the DC-3 began it's westerly climb from Holtville to cross the mountains and foothills that make up the eastern coastal range of San Diego. The twin-engine airliner was cleared by the tower at Lindbergh Field in San Diego to fly under contact (visual) rules at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The night was cold and dark with rain and overcast prevailing along most of the route. Upon reaching it's cruising altitude of 7,000 feet, the flight was still east and approaching the vicinity of Mount Laguna. Maybe it was the dark night, a mistaken visual ground reference, or possibly the pilots misread their flight instruments. The fact is no one will ever know why Flight 44 began it's premature decent into San Diego's Lindbergh Field. At 7:19 PM, while traveling nearly 175 miles-per-hour, the DC-3 struck the eastern slope of Cuyapaipe Mountain at an elevation of 6,120 feet.The impact instantly demolished the aircraft into a burning pile of metal. All twelve were killed outright. Because of bad weather, it took searchers nearly three days to discover the smoldering wreckage and ground search parties more than six hours to reach the plane by horseback. By coincidence Western Air Lines Flight 44 crashed less than a mile from where American Airlines Flight 6-103 met it's own fate just nine months prior (see story). The probable cause for either accident remains undetermined to this date. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: First located by air during a 2003 re-position flight, this site and another located within a half mile has intrigued me for years. Having known and researched the 1946 mishaps of two golden-age airliners that crashed in this area, visiting these sites were on the top of my aviation archaeology list. On November 9, 2009, I had the opportunity to hike into this remote location on Cuyapaipe Mountain with fellow wreckchasers Trey Brandt and Steve Owen. Our first discovery was not a DC-3 at all, but a Piper Cherokee that crashed in 1968 (See story in General Aviation Archaeology). The second site we visited that day was the ill-fated Flight 44. The site, as many commercial airline crash sites had been "cleaned" of large fragments. Gone was the tail section, wings, and complete whole engines. All that remained were fragments of structure and components.

December 24, 1946, Western Air Lines, Douglas DC-3 (NC45395) Cuyapaipe Mountain, CA

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: It was Christmas Eve 1946 when Western Air Lines Flight 44 departed the town of Holtville in California's Imperial Valley for the coastal city of San Diego. The flight was then to continue on to Long Beach with it's final destination Los Angeles International Airport. ...

Updated: Nov 18, 2009 10:09am PST