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."
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."
Douglas DC-9-30, N9345.
The Douglas DC-9 Series of jets provided jet service to smaller growing communities. It was able to operate from shorter runways.
Back when airlines had money to burn. An airline promotional air to air photo showing the various paint schemes used by Air West during the early 1970s. N9345 is on the left in this formation flight.
With less than 11 months remaining, this is one of the last published photos of N9345. The shot was taken by Bob Garrard at Santa Ana's John Wayne County Airport during the summer of 1970. In early 1969 four color schemes were adopted by Air West utilizing the same basic livery design. They were: Blue and Mustard; Lime and Blue; Pink and Orange and Mustard and Orange as seen on the DC-9 above. (Airliners.net photo credit)
The flight deck of the DC-9 was considered "state-of-the-art" back in 1971.
The USMC F-4B Phantom was a current use military jet during 1971.
The impact site of AirWest Flight 706 as seen in this June 1971 NTSB file photo. This photo and the vague NTSB Accident Report is all I had to work with when I started to search for the crash site. It took an aerial search to locate the wreckage.
This photo shows how the wreckage of the DC-9 was concentrated at the bottom of the tributary canyon. The tail section and other debris was removed from the site after the on-site investigation was completed.
The main impact site of the USMC F-4B as seen in this June 1971 NTSB file photo. I have not been able to find this impact site, but it is probably located just west of Fish Canyon.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy is lowered by helicopter to the AirWest DC-9's forward fuselage impact site in Fish Canyon.
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