1951 — April 6, Southwest Airways Flight 7 flies into no. slope Santa Ynez Peak, CA –all 22

–22 AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 04061951.
–22 Aviation Safety Network. Southwest Airways, Flight 7, 06 Apr 1951.
–22 CAB. AIR. Southwest Airways – 14 Miles NW of Santa Barbara, CA, April 6, 1951.
–22 Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJFM&P, 3/1, Mar 1982, Table 1, p.53.
–22 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s” Oct 23 2008 update.

Narrative Information

AirDisaster.com: “Pacific Southwest Airlines N63439 Crash near Santa Barbara, CA, 06 April 1951: The aircraft crashed into the northern slope of Santa Ynez Peak in bad weather, due to failure of the crew to maintain their assigned altitude.” (AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 04061951.)

Civil Aeronautics Board, Accident Investigation Report:

“The Accident

“Southwest Airways Flight 7 of April 6, 1951, a DC-3, N-63439, crashed 14 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, while en route there from Santa Maria, California, at about 2030 PST. All occupants, 19 passengers and three crew members, were killed and the aircraft was demolished.

“History of the Flight

“Flight 7 originated at San Francisco, for Los Angeles, with stops scheduled at San Jose, Watsonville, Monterey, Paso Robles, San Lois Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, and Oxnard, all in California. Departure from San Francisco was 1800, 15 minutes behind schedule… the altitude specified for the leg on which the accident occurred (Santa Maria–Santa Barbara) was 4,000 feet….

“Flight 7 proceeded in a routine manner and landed at Santa Maria at 2010. All previous scheduled stops had been made with the exception of the one at San Luis Obispo which was passed over because of local weather.

“Departure from Santa Maria was at 2018, 12 minutes behind schedule…The distance from the Santa Maria to the Santa Barbara airport, direct, is only 47.5 miles….

“Two minutes after takeoff from Santa Maria the flight radioed its on and off times to and from that station and gave an estimated arrival time of 2039 at Santa Barbara. This was the last radio contact with the flight, and complete search procedures were shortly placed in effect. The wreckage was located the following morning at about 1030.

“Investigation

“The aircraft struck the gradually rising slope of a ridge while on a heading of about 117 degrees magnetic….At the time of the impact the DC-3 was about level longitudinally and the left wing was raised above the horizontal by about 30 degrees. The top of the ridge was only a short distance ahead of, and some 40 feet higher than the point of initial impact, which was at an elevation of 2,740 MSL….

“General disintegration and fire followed the crash, largely destroying the structure. Examination of the wreckage indicated that there had not been any fire in flight and that there had been no malfunctioning of the aircraft, aircraft’s controls, engines or its propellers, prior to impact. From the severely broken and burned wreckage it was, nevertheless, possible to deduce with a high degree of probability that, at the time of initial impact, the wing flaps and the landing gear were up and the propellers were in the cruising PPM range. One recovered altimeter indicated an altitude of 2,800 feet, and one rate of climb indicator showed zero; other flight instruments gave meaningless indications or were unreadable. A search of the ground over which the aircraft had flown just before impact failed to yield any material or objects from the aircraft. All indications were that the aircraft was in controlled cruising flight when it struck.

“All navigational aids that could possibly have been involved in this leg of the flight were checked on the day following the accident. All were found to be functioning normally. Furthermore, Southwest Airways Flight 5, immediately behind Flight 7, later reported that it had no difficulty with such navigational aids. Investigation did not reveal any malfunctioning of the aircraft’s radio apparatus….

“The altitude of the top of the overcast is well substantiated by reports from the pilots of other aircraft in the general area at or about the time of the crash, including. Flight 5 of the same carrier, over the same route, with stops at both Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, and scheduled 40 minutes behind Flight 7. Its pilot flew at his assigned altitude of 4,000 feet between those two stops. At that altitude he was completely above the stratus layer. However, he flew to the right, or west, of the, center of Route B, as shown on the attachment, rather than the Capitan course, because as he explained it, there was no moon. At the time and he wished to assure himself of clearing the higher ground to the east….

“Analysis

“The weather over the route and in the vicinity of the crash was substantially as forecast, without turbulence, icing, or winds of any strength. It was, in fact, the commonly prevailing seasonal condition. Therefore, the Board concludes that existing weather should not have had any bearing on this accident.

“The pilot had flown the route no less than 1,300 times and knew it and its weather thoroughly. The question arises as to why he was at an altitude of some 2,740 feet when his flight plan called for 4,000 feet, where he would have been completely above the overcast. The only possible answer, nevertheless conjectural, is that he had been attempting to fly under the overcast and did not see the ground in time. Thus it appears that this accident may be attributable to an attempt to save a fractional amount of flight time….

In conclusion, it could be that the pilot’s long familiarity with the route may have led him to believe that he could fly the more direct course, under the overcast, through Refugio Pass, where the accident occurred. Again, the carrier’s known and long-practiced highly efficient methods on this multi-stop, short-haul operation, involving absolute minimum of time on the ground, and the use of time-saving techniques, may have induced a disproportionate need for haste in the pilot’s mind. In this connection it moist also be remembered that the subject flight was 15 minutes late out of San Francisco and 12 minutes late out of Santa Maria. This fact may well have had some bearing upon he pilot’s attempt to make up time, particularly as another company flight (No. 5) was following him and left San Francisco only 29 minutes after he did.

“Findings
“On the basis of all available evidence, the board finds that:
1.The company, the aircraft, and the crew were properly certificated.
2.There was no irregularity in the dispatching of the flight.
3.The flight plan called for a VFR operation at 4,000 feet altitude between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara and a course of 123 degree M as far as Capitan.
4.The aircraft crashed at an altitude, of approximately 2,740 feet while on a course of approximately 117 degree M, during instrument weather.
“Probable Cause

“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flight, for undetermined reasons, to maintain the specified minimum en route night altitude of 4,000 feet for the route in being flown.” (CAB, AIR. Southwest Air… Santa Barbara, CA, April 6, 1951.)

Notable California Aviation Disasters: “1951.

“Date / Time: Friday, April 6, 1951 / 8:29 p.m.

”Operator / Flight No.: Southwest Airways / Flight 7

”Location: Refugio Pass, northwest of Santa Barbara, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: The Southwest Airways twin-engine Douglas DC-3 (N63439), en route from San Francisco to Los Angeles via San Jose, Watsonville, Monterey, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and Oxnard, was reported missing after departing Santa Maria for Santa Barbara and while flying in overcast conditions with limited visibility.

“The flight had proceeded routinely following its departure from San Francisco, though the stop in San Luis Obispo was canceled due to local weather conditions. The DC-3 departed Santa Maria at 8:18 p.m. and was expected to arrive at Santa Barbara at 8:39 p.m. when it vanished and a search was initiated.

“Around 10:30 a.m. the next morning, the broken and burned remains of the plane and its 22 occupants were located on the northern slope of Refugio Pass, below the 4,299-foot high Santa Ynez Peak and 14 miles northwest of the city of Santa Barbara. All 19 passengers and the crew of three perished when the plane pancaked into the rugged terrain at an altitude of 2,740 feet, bounced several times, broke up and burned.

“It was determined that the flight crew, for unknown reasons, failed to maintain the minimum nighttime altitude — 4,000 feet — prescribed for the aircraft’s route over the rugged Santa Ynez Mountains.

“There was some speculation that the pilot in command was attempting to fly below the solid overcast present along the route and did not see the rising terrain due to the absence of moonlight and the lack of ground lights in the sparsely populated area where the crash occurred.

Southwest Airways (not to be confused with today’s Southwest Airlines), a regional airline serving California and Oregon, began passenger service on December 2, 1946, and in March of 1958 changed its name to Pacific Air Lines. A decade later, in 1968, Pacific Air Lines and two other regional carriers, Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines, all merged to form Air West.

“In 1970, multimillionaire Howard Hughes bought Air West and renamed the airline Hughes Airwest.

“Fatalities: 22.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s” Oct 23 2008 update.)

Sources

AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 04061951. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=04061951&reg=N63439&airline=Pacific+Southwest+Airlines

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. Southwest Airways, Flight 7, 06 Apr 1951. Accessed 2-17-2009 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19510406-0

Civil Aeronautics Board. Accident Investigation Report. Southwest Airways Company – 14 Miles Northwest of Santa Barbara, California, April 6, 1951. Washington, DC: CAB, November 13, 1951, 6 pages. Accessed at: http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C040651.pdf (Inoperable when double-checked 6-26-2023. Accessed 6-26-2023 at: https://www.pacificairlinesportfolio.com/crash-1951.html

Eckert, William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982, Table 1.

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.” Oct 23 2008 update. Accessed at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash50s.html