Status: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Date: | Saturday 1 October 1966 |
Time: | 20:10 |
Type: | Douglas DC-9-14 |
Operator: | West Coast Airlines |
Registration: | N9101 |
MSN: | 45794/52 |
First flight: | 1966 |
Total airframe hrs: | 164 |
Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1 |
Crew: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
Passengers: | Fatalities: 13 / Occupants: 13 |
Total: | Fatalities: 18 / Occupants: 18 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
Location: | 9 km (5.6 mls) S of Wemme, OR ( United States of America)
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Crash site elevation: | 1167 m (3829 feet) amsl |
Phase: | En route (ENR) |
Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
Departure airport: | Eugene Airport, OR (EUG/KEUG), United States of America |
Destination airport: | Portland International Airport, OR (PDX/KPDX), United States of America |
Flightnumber: | 956 |
Narrative:West Coast Flight 956 departed San Francisco (SFO) at 18:44 for a flight to Eugene (EUG), Portland (PDX) and Seattle (SEA). The brand new DC-9 aircraft, which had been delivered to West Coast Airlines just 2 weeks earlier, arrived at Eugene at 19:34 and took off again 18 minutes later. At 20:04 the crew were cleared to descend from the cruising altitude of FL140 to 9000 feet. While turning to heading 300deg, the aircraft descended below the clearance altitude and impacted the wooded eastern slope of Salmon Mountain at the 3830 feet level. The aircraft attitude was 30 degrees right bank, in a 3-4 degree climbing flight path on a heading of 265 degrees.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The descent of the aircraft below its clearance limit and below that of surrounding obstructing terrain, but the Board had been unable to determine the cause of such descent."
Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: | NTSB |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | 1 year and 2 months | Accident number: | NTSB File 1-0015 | Download report: | Final report
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Classification:
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - Mountain
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 Eugene Airport, OR to Portland International Airport, OR as the crow flies is 169 km (106 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.