Status: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Date: | Tuesday 18 February 1969 |
Time: | 05:10 |
Type: | Douglas C-49J (DC-3) |
Operator: | Hawthorne Nevada Airlines |
Registration: | N15570 |
MSN: | 6320 |
First flight: | 1943 |
Total airframe hrs: | 48274 |
Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 |
Crew: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Passengers: | Fatalities: 32 / Occupants: 32 |
Total: | Fatalities: 35 / Occupants: 35 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
Location: | 20 km (12.5 mls) W of Lone Pine, CA ( United States of America)
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Crash site elevation: | 3587 m (11768 feet) amsl |
Phase: | En route (ENR) |
Nature: | Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger |
Departure airport: | Hawthorne Airport, NV (HTH), United States of America |
Destination airport: | Hollywood-Burbank Airport, CA (BUR/KBUR), United States of America |
Flightnumber: | 708 |
Narrative:The DC-3 aircraft left Hawthorne (HTH) at 03:50 PST on a VFR flightplan for Burbank (BUR) and Long Beach (LGB), USA. Last contact with the flight was at 04:06 when the crew contacted the Tonopah Flight Service Station, and requested that their flight plan be opened. At 05:10, some 20 km West of Lone Pine, the airplane impacted the face of a sheer cliff on the east slope of the Mount Whitney at an elevation of 11,770 feet m.s.l. (3587 m). The main body of the wreckage slid down the cliff and came to rest 500 feet back from the cliff.
An extensive ground and air search was launched after the aircraft was declared missing. Due to heavy snow accumulations on the ground, low clouds throughout the search period, and extremely hazardous terrain, the aircraft was not located until August 8, 1969.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The deviation from the prescribed route of flight, as autorized in the company's FAA-approved operations specifications, resulting in the aircraft being operated under IFR weather conditions, in high mountainous terrain, in an area where there was a lack of radio navigation aids."
Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: | NTSB |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | 1 years | Accident number: | NTSB/AAR-70-05 | Download report: | Final report
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Classification:
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - Mountain
Follow-up / safety actions
On December 29, 1970 the FAA required the installation of an ELT on most civil airplanes of U.S. registry
FAA issued 1
Issued: 17-MAR-1969 | To: | FAA AC 91-19 |
AC Emergency locator beacons - crash, survival, personnel: advised pilots to install ELTs |
Show all...
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Hawthorne Airport, NV to Hollywood-Burbank Airport, CA as the crow flies is 480 km (300 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.