ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 8764
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| Date: | Sunday 27 November 1977 |
| Time: | 17:30 |
| Type: |  Cessna 414 |
| Owner/operator: | Cameron & Cameron |
| Registration: | N1682T |
| MSN: | 414-0475 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Capital Creek Valley, near Aspen, CO -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Aspen–Pitkin County Airport, Aspen, Colorado (ASE.KASE) |
| Pueblo Memorial Airport, Pueblo, Colorado (PUB/KPUB) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot initiated the takeoff from a snow covered runway at Aspen-Pitkin County-Sardy Field and with an aircraft covered with ice and snow on wings. At liftoff, the twin engine airplane struck a fence located past the runway end and despite the situation, the pilot continued departure. Few minutes later, at an altitude of 11,800 feet, the pilot encountered downdrafts/updrafts and lost control of the airplane that crashed in a canyon located few miles from the airport. The wreckage was found two days later. A passenger was killed while six other occupants were seriously injured.
"PROBABLE CAUSE(S)
Controlled collision with fence during initial climb then controlled flight into terrain due to inadequate preflight preparation. The following contributing factors were reported:
- Failed to abort takeoff,
- Airframe ice,
- Improper in-flight decisions or planning,
- Snow on runway,
- Icing conditions including sleet, freezing rain,
- Downdrafts, updrafts,
- Ice and snow on wings,
- Hit fence at liftoff,
- Continued departure.
According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Aspen Daily News", December 9, 2011)
"Lynda Cameron has never forgotten the plane crash outside Aspen that she survived, but which claimed her father’s life 34 years ago. Nor has she forgotten those who rescued her and five others after the plane went down in the Capitol Creek Valley during a snowstorm on Nov. 27, 1977.
On Nov. 29, the survivor from Oklahoma returned to Aspen and the Main Street headquarters of Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA). Standing before members of the group, including two who took part in the rescue, Cameron announced that she was awarding a $1.5 million grant to fund a new MRA “cabin,” as the headquarters is known.
“There was not a dry eye in the room,” said Doug Paley, MRA president.
An MRA press release issued Wednesday says the plane took off from Sardy Field amid a snow squall. Communication with the aircraft was lost soon after, and a search was initiated. Ground crews, helicopters and other aircraft were deployed to canvass a large search area, as rescuers had few clues where the plane was.
“It’s an amazing story,” Paley said.
The morning after the crash, a friend of Cameron’s brother began following a creek downstream in an effort to walk out. “He had no success and spent that night out in frigid conditions, and then continued on the next day and was spotted that afternoon,” Cameron said in the press release. “He was able to help direct the helicopters toward the crash site.”
Meanwhile, another person in the party also began walking out and was spotted in a clearing by a helicopter team.
“It was quite a rescue,” Cameron said in the release. “Once they found us, the helicopter had nowhere to land, and the entire recovery operation was carried out raising and lowering people and equipment on a cable.”
Cameron, her mother, brother and the pilot were brought out, as was “my father’s body,” the release says. “My father’s name was CB Cameron, and [he] was the only one to perish in the crash.” The new facility will be named for CB Cameron. Paley said he was impressed by Lynda Cameron’s sensitivity when she spoke to MRA members.
“She was very cautious about what people in that room have gone through,” he said. “In the rescue world, there are a lot of very emotional rescues. They’re dealing not just with rescues but the families” of victims.
For her part, Cameron said in the release that she hopes “to be an ambassador for all those who did not have the chance to thank Mountain Rescue Aspen themselves.”
The grant has been in the works for some time, as have MRA’s plans for a new rescue cabin. The group, founded in 1966, has outgrown its current environs. The cabin is seeing more volunteers, and subsequently is conducting more training, and also has more equipment and vehicles than ever before. A recent meeting was standing-room only.
Paley said the decision-making process about whether MRA will remain in its present spot has just begun. “We’re exploring that option,” he said of staying on Main Street. “If we can make it work, that would be ideal.”
The all-volunteer, 50-member MRA is an arm of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, and Sheriff Joe DiSalvo shared Cameron’s news with the Pitkin County commissioners at their meeting Wednesday evening.
The officials applauded the news, and Commissioner Rachel Richards said the board and sheriff’s office should draft a thank-you letter to the Cameron family. Victims and their family members have made donations before — the current cabin was paid for in that fashion — but Paley said Cameron’s announcement was still remarkable.
“The team was just in awe,” he said. “They were so amazed.”
Accident investigation:
|
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: DEN78FA010 at https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=44101&key=0
2. FAA: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=1682T
3. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-cessna-414-chancellor-aspen-1-killed
4. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2011/12/cessna-414-n1682t-plane-crash-survivor.html
5. http://planecrashmap.com/plane/co/N1682T/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 02-Jul-2018 18:56 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Mar-2020 02:01 | Captain Adam | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
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