fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
Thirty five SOB, the aircraft crashed near the last reported position, but the wreckage wasn’t found for six months. It was 1969, not in the jungles of the Amazon, it happened in California.
Today in Aviation History
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.
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
I took this photo at the Lone Pine airport about 10 years ago looking west towards the accident site.
The DC-3 remains on the mountain where it crashed but hikers to the site are kind of freaked out and don’t stay long. A lot of personal items like shoes and handbags litter the site. The USAF lost a helicopter at the site too.
Today in Aviation History
| 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 (
|
| 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 |
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.
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 |
I took this photo at the Lone Pine airport about 10 years ago looking west towards the accident site.
The DC-3 remains on the mountain where it crashed but hikers to the site are kind of freaked out and don’t stay long. A lot of personal items like shoes and handbags litter the site. The USAF lost a helicopter at the site too.
Last edited:
