Accident description
languages:
| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 18 FEB 1969 |
| Time: | 05:10 PST |
| Type: | Douglas C-49J (DC-3) |
| Operator: | Hawthorne Nevada Airlines |
| Registration: | N15570 |
| C/n / 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 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 20 km (12.5 mls) W of Lone Pine, NV (United States of America)
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| Phase: | En route (ENR) |
| Nature: | Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Hawthorne Airport, NV (HTH), United States of America |
| Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal, 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). 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. 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: "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." Follow-up / safety actions:
Following the accident the FAA issued rulemaking with regards to crash locator beacon requirements.
Events:
Sources:
Official accident investigation report
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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 (HTH) to Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal, CA (BUR/KBUR) as the crow flies is 480 km (300 miles).
Distance from Hawthorne Airport, NV (HTH) to Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal, CA (BUR/KBUR) as the crow flies is 480 km (300 miles).
