Grand Canyon Aviation Archaeology Galleries

June 30, 1956, Trans World Airlines / United Air Lines, Lockheed L-1049 (N6902C) / Douglas DC-7 (N6324C) Mid-Air Collision, Grand Canyon, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: June 30, 1956. Two transcontinental airliners departed three minutes apart from Los Angeles International Airport in California. Trans World Airlines Flight 2 N6902C, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation enroute to Kansas City, MO and then onto Baltimore/Washington D.C. TWA Flight 2 carried 70 passengers and crew, many of which were TWA employees traveling on passes. United Air Lines Flight 718 was a Douglas DC-7 N6324C bound for Chicago, IL with 58 passengers and crew. Based on their destinations and routes, both aircraft would be flying converging courses to their destinations; however a request for altitude change by TWA Flight 2 due to weather brought both aircraft to fly at a cruising altitude of 21,000 feet. At 1030 PST, both aircraft collided over eastern Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. There were no warnings, no alerts, and no survivors among the 128 persons. Only a garbled distress call received from United 718 would give any hint of a problem. After an hour of repeated calls from air traffic control, the two flights were officially reported as missing and overdue. A search for the airliners was initiated by several military and state agencies, but it was Palen Hudgin and his brother flying an air tour with Grand Canyon Airlines that would later recall seeing smoke near Temple Butte earlier in the day. The two returned before dark and confirmed the impact site of the TWA Constellation on the northeast slope of Temple Butte. Not far from the burning wreckage was the Connie's distinctive triple tail smashed against the boulders. Authorities acted quickly on the Hudgin's report of the downed aircraft and the following morning a military helicopter would not only confirm the brother's sighting, but also discovered the smoldering impact site of the DC-7 atop a 1,000 foot ledge of Chuar Butte. It was the worst disaster in the history of civil aviation. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The following photos depict this historical but tragic event in aviation history. As a result of this accident many improvements were made to the national airspace system such as nationwide radar coverage and ATC transponder requirements. After a series of congressional hearings, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was also created as a result of this tragedy. Since 1990, I have made five trips into the Grand Canyon to map and document the impact sites and remaining wreckage. Each examination visit required a 6-7 day backpacking trip (40+ miles) as well as a solo crossing by raft of the Colorado River to reach the sites. I am currently working in cooperation with the Grand Canyon National Park to help establish the entire crash site area as a National Historical Site which would further protect this historical resource.

June 30, 1956, Trans World Airlines / United Air Lines, Lockheed L-1049 (N6902C) / Douglas DC-7 (N6324C) Mid-Air Collision, Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: June 30, 1956. Two transcontinental airliners de ...

Updated: Oct 10, 2008 11:37am PST

November 16, 1979, Nevada Airlines, Inc. Martin 404 (N40438) Grand Canyon, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: November 16, 1979. The Nevada Airlines Martin 404 (N40438) had been chartered to fly 41 tourists to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, Nevada. Flight 2504 departed at 9:35 AM and after an en-route tour of the canyon landed at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport. After deplaning, the passengers proceeded on their four hour ground tour of Grand Canyon's south rim viewpoints. At 2:40 PM, the passengers returned to the airport and boarded the Martin for their return flight to Las Vegas. At 2:50 PM, the aircraft departed from Runway 3 with the copilot at the controls. Immediately after raising the landing gear, a loss of power from the left engine was sensed. The captain took control of the aircraft from the copilot and noticed that the left engine propeller autofeather light was illuminated and the autofeather button depressed. After passing the end of the runway, the aircraft encountered a downdraft which overcame the single engine climb performance of the aircraft. The airspeed had decreased and the temperature of the right engine cylinder head was rising rapidly toward the maximum limit so the captain elected to reduce the manifold pressure to avoid a possible engine failure. The inability of the aircraft to climb and the proximity of the rising terrain required the crew to return the right engine to full power and select a forced-landing area. The Martin collided with trees 7,531 feet past the end of Runway 3. The aircraft was destroyed by post-impact fire. The cause(s) for the unwanted autofeather of the left propeller was never determined. By all accounts this accident should have resulted in multiple fatalities. Had the circumstances been even less favorable, the accident would have been the second worst aviation disaster at Grand Canyon. However, by luck and to the credit of the flightcrew, all 44 passengers and crew survived the crash landing and post impact fire. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Today the crash site of Nevada Airlines Flight 2504 remains relatively unchanged since 1979. The aircraft came down in one of the very few open areas in the vicinity of the airport. Any other location and the aircraft would have been ripped apart as it descended through the pine trees. A defined line of small debris marks a path the aircraft made as it traveled across the clearing smashing into trees and rocks along the way. A few burned tree trunks remain on-site that still have embedded aircraft structure. A defined burn area is evident where the aircraft finally came to rest and burned. The area is littered with small passenger personal effects, aircraft structure and components. It is always refreshing to research and visit a crash site in which no one was killed. Unfortunately, there are very few of these "happy landings" in this rugged region.

November 16, 1979, Nevada Airlines, Inc. Martin 404 (N40438) Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: November 16, 1979. The Nevada Airlines Martin 404 ...

Updated: Aug 14, 2008 9:54pm PST

June 18, 1986, Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc. / Helitech Inc., DeHavilland DHC-6 (N76GC) / Bell 206B III (N6TC) Mid-Air Collision, Grand Canyon, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: June 18, 1986. The morning was clear and sunny when "Canyon 6", a Dehavilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter (N76GC) operated by Grand Canyon Airlines departed for it's hour long air tour. On board were 18 passengers, many of whom were Dutch citizens booked through an American Express tour company. The two crewmembers were seasoned air tour pilots with several years flying the Grand Canyon. Less than a mile north of the airport, a Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter (N6TC) operated by Helitech Inc. was preparing for It's 40 minute tour flight with four passengers. The pilot of the helicopter was also highly experienced. Both flights proceeded normally on their prescribed air tour flights even though no set regulations or standardized routes existed at the time. All flights within the airspace of Grand Canyon in regards to routes and altitudes were conducted by a "gentlemens agreement" with the various air tour companies. A suggested five hundred foot altitude separation of helicopters and airplanes was the safety cushion. At about 9:30 AM, the two flights were approaching a geologic formation known as Mencius Temple. The Twin Otter, call sign "Canyon 6" from the west and the Bell Jet Ranger, call sign "Tech 2" from the north. For reasons undetermined, both aircraft collided in a horrific impact at 6,500 feet. The collison separating the main rotor mast from the helicopter, but not before the disintergrating rotor blades tore into the Twin Otter's tail section causing it to separate in-flight. Both fell inverted into the southwestern slope of Mencius Temple killing all on both aircraft. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Unlike the June 30, 1956 accident, the wreckage from this accident was for the most part entirely removed from the national park property. The wreckage materials from both airplane and helicopter were taken to a private property location near the town of Tusayan and discarded. During 1990 I was given permission by the land owner to take what I wanted as he was frustrated by the salvage company that never removed the wreckage from his land. Within the debris I found many identifiable personal effects which were overlooked by the initial recovery efforts. I was able to return these items to very grateful surviving family members. The other fragments of wreckage that I have collected and documented provide a tangible historical record to this tragic event in the aviation history of Arizona. This accident was a catalyst event that led the FAA to require that all turbine commercial passenger aircraft be required to have Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) installed. This accident also led the FAA to develope a program for standardizing air tour routes and altitudes within selected national park boundries.

June 18, 1986, Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc. / Helitech Inc., DeHavilland DHC-6 (N76GC) / Bell 206B III (N6TC) Mid-Air Collision, Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: June 18, 1986. The morning was clear and sunny whe ...

Updated: Nov 05, 2008 12:17pm PST

September 27, 1989, Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc., DeHavilland DHC-6 (N75GC) Grand Canyon, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: The aircraft took off from Grand Canyon at around 09:00 for the second tour flight that day. After the tour, "Canyon 5" was cleared for a runway 21 approach. The plane travelled down the runway about 5 feet in the air for about 1000 feet before it bounced on landing. The aircraft travelled another 1000 feet and touched down on the right wingtip, crushing the aileron/flap hinge up into the wing. Full power was applied for a go-around. Control was lost as the aircraft attained an extreme nose-up attitude and the aircraft crashed into trees. ****************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: UPDATE DECEMBER 2008: The remaining wreckage of N75GC was recently sold to R.W. Martin Inc. of Murrieta, California. Their plans are to remove and re-build the empenage (tail section) for a Twin Otter build project. The remainder of the aircraft will no doubt be sold for scrap.

September 27, 1989, Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc., DeHavilland DHC-6 (N75GC) Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: The aircraft took off from Grand Canyon at around ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2009 4:09pm PST

May 13, 1991, Air Grand Canyon, Inc. Cessna T207A (N6280H) Grand Canyon, AZ : ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: N6280H was a Cessna T-207A operated by Air Grand Canyon as "Adventure One". On May 13, 1991, Adventure One departed Grand Canyon National Park Airport for what was to be a 45-50 minute tour flight over the spectacular Grand Canyon. The flight made a normal departure at 1:12 PM, but never made it to the rim of the canyon. A collum of black smoke was reported a few minutes later, seven miles east of the airport. After several unanswered radio calls, it was confirmed by another Air Grand Canyon company pilot flying 10 minutes in trail that "Adventure One" had gone down in a fireball on the Kaibab Plateau. No distress calls were made and there were no survivors among the seven on board. The NTSB investigation later revealed that the engine had seized/failed due to a catastrophic detonation of the number one cylinder. A post-accident engine teardown revealed ignition temperatures became so extreme within the cylinder that the piston actually began to melt. The flight manifest consisted of: Robert R. Mathews..........Pilot Doris Kalin......................United Kingdom Gaby Horler....................United Kingdom Franz Luond...................Switzerland Max Krucker....................Switzerland Paul Lipscombe...............West Germany Gitta Lipscombe..............West Germany This accident has personal meaning to me since I was originally the pilot scheduled to fly this particular flight. A group of six tourists wanting to see the canyon while I was on my lunch break provided the "Twist-of-Fate" that allowed me to avoid almost certain death or serious injury. Never again after this day would I ever take aviation for granted. *********************************************************************************************************************************** HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The majority of "Adventure One" wreckage was removed from the site shortly after the NTSB completed their on-site examination. Only a few small fragments remained. A few personal effects were recovered from the site which included a set of keys, a sunglass lens, and a partially melted wristwatch stopped at 1:20 PM (estimated time of the accident).

May 13, 1991, Air Grand Canyon, Inc. Cessna T207A (N6280H) Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: N6280H was a Cessna T-207A operated by Air Grand C ...

Updated: Jun 19, 2008 1:09am PST

February 13, 1995, Las Vegas Airlines, Piper PA-31-350 (N27245) Grand Canyon, AZ

ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS: The charter flight was on a return tour trip after ...

Updated: Nov 02, 2009 8:20pm PST