ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 6052
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| Date: | Tuesday 21 March 1972 |
| Time: | 13:38 |
| Type: |  Cessna 150H |
| Owner/operator: | Roy W Corrigan |
| Registration: | N50218 |
| MSN: | 150-69144 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Santa Catalina Island, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Orange County Airport, Santa Ana, California |
| Laguna Beach, California | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
Cessna 150H N50218: Written off (destroyed) March 21 1972 when hit west wall of north-south dead end canyon open to the south at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California. Aircraft recovered March 29 1972. Both on board killed.
According to contemporary local newspaper reports:
March 25, 1972 [Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach]:
“Civil Air Patrol (CAP) officials remained hopeful Friday they would find the missing son of famed flier, Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan, despite three days of fruitless search. Nearly a dozen CAP planes and two ground crews combed an area along the coast from Orange County to San Diego Friday in the hunt for Roy W. Corrigan, 22, and a companion. Corrigan and Roger Powell of Santa Ana disappeared Tuesday after taking off in Corrigan's single engine plane from Orange County Airport. The aerial search for them began the next morning. CAP officials said Powell told friends the two planned a flight over Orange County and south to San Diego to shoot some aerial photographs in the Laguna Beach area. Corrigan did not file a flight plan with the FAA, the CAP said, and a check of airports along Corrigan's probable 75-mile route failed to reveal any clues to his whereabouts.”
March 30, 1972 [Redland Daily Facts]:
“Corrigan's plane wreck on Catalina. Avalon, Calif. (UPI) — Two youngsters hiking through a rugged area of Catalina Island Wednesday found the wreckage of a small plane and the body of Roy W. Corrigan, son of famous pioneer aviator Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan. Corrigan, 22, and a passenger, Roger Powell, both of Santa Ana, Calif., disappeared March 21. The elder Corrigan, 66, flew as an observer in one of the Civil Air Patrol planes searching for them. He earned his nickname 'Wrong Way' in 1938, when he flew from Brooklyn to Ireland despite the refusal of aviation authorities to give him permission to attempt a transatlantic flight in his monoplane. He took off on what he said was a flight to California, and when he landed in Ireland explained that he must have gotten lost and flown 'the wrong way.' He returned to the United States a hero. A second body was also found in the wreckage of the plane piloted by the younger Corrigan, but authorities had not positively identified it as Powell. The wreckage was found in Silver Canyon on this island 22 miles off the coast of Southern California. Corrigan and Powell took off from the Orange, Calif. Municipal Airport, saying they intended to fly over Laguna Beach to photograph a house Powell was building there.”
Avalon is the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island, in the California Channel Islands, and the southernmost city in Los Angeles County.
Accident investigation:
|
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: LAX72AL052: https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/brief.aspx?ev_id=63668&key=0
2. FAA: https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=N50218
3. https://www.islapedia.com/index.php?title=CORRIGAN,_Roy_W.
4. https://www.islapedia.com/index.php?title=AIRPLANE_ACCIDENTS:_SANTA_CATALINA_ISLAND
5. https://www.geni.com/people/Roy-Corrigan/6000000075268158952
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Airport
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 09-Jul-2023 00:03 | Ron Averes | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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