1968 — Jan 10, USN C54 plane crash, turbulent weather, Mt. Tobin, Copper Canyon, NV–all 19

–19 Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy, DC-4, 10 Jan 1968.
–19 Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (50360 to 60009). 10-27-2011 rev.
–19 Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. “Crash of a Douglas R5D-2 on Mt Tobin: 19 Killed.”
–19 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 96.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation:
“Date: Wednesday 10 January 1968
“Type: Douglas R5D-2 (DC-4)
“Operator: United States Navy
….
“Total: Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 19
….
“Location: Copper Canyon, NV

On flight from Denver-Buckley Air National Guard Base, CO to Seattle Naval Air Station, WA, plane hit turbulent conditions causing an uncontrolled descent. “The aircraft struck Mount Tobin 300 feet. below the summit and slid 1000 feet down.” (ASN. AD. US Navy, DC-4, 10 Jan 1968.)

Baugher: “Douglas R5D-2….50850 (c/n 10427) ex USAAF 42-72322. To VC-54P. Struck high ground near Copper Canyon, NV Jan 10, 1968. 19 killed.” (Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (50360 to 60009). 10-27-2011 rev.)

Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives:
“Date & Time: Jan 10, 1968 at 1400 LT
“Type of aircraft: Douglas C-54 Skymaster
“Operator: US Navy
“Registration: 50850
“Flight Phase: Flight
“Flight Type: Military
“Survivors: No
“Site: Mountains
“Schedule: Quantico – Buckley – Seattle
“MSN: 10427
“YOM: 1944
“Location: Mt Tobin, Nevada
….
“Crew of board: 7
“Crew fatalities: 7
“Pax on board: 12
“Pas fatalities: 12
….
“Total fatalities: 19
“Circumstances: While cruising at an altitude of 12,000 feet on a flight from Buckley AFB, Denver, and Seattle, the navigator informed ATC about difficulties to maintain the assigned altitude and was cleared to descend to 10,500 feet. Few minutes later, the copilot reported icing conditions to ATC and requested the permission to gain altitude. About 20 minutes later, while cruising at the altitude of 10,000 feet in marginal weather conditions, the four engine airplane struck the slope of Mt Tobin (2,980 meters high). The wreckage was found few hours later about 300 meters below the summit and all 19 occupants have been killed.

“Probable cause: It is believed the accident was not the consequence of icing conditions but
a loss of control caused by atmospheric downdrafts.”
(Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. “Crash of a Douglas R5D-2 on Mt Tobin: 19 Killed.”)

Gero: “The four-engine transport [50850] crashed and burned 30 miles…south-west of Battle Mountain [~14:00], and all 19 servicemen aboard were killed. Including the crew of seven, the victims were all US service personnel except for one passenger, a British Royal Marine who survived the impact but succumbed to the extremely cold temperature. The downed aircraft was located the following morning on the east side of Mount Tobin, which rises to nearly 10,000ft (3,000m). Impact had occurred about 300ft (100m) from its peak, after which the wreckage slid some 1,000ft (300m) down the mountain.

“En route from Buckley Air National Guard Base, near Denver, Colorado, to the Naval Air Station at Seattle, Washington, the final segment of a domes¬tic transcontinental flight originating at the Marine Corps Air Station at Quantico, Virginia, the C-54 had been proceeding along a prescribed airway when a member of the flight crew reported diffi¬culty maintaining a cruising height of 12,000ft (3,700m). A request was granted by the Salt Lake City Regional Air Traffic Control Center to descend to 10,500ft (3,200m), but sometime later, the aircraft reported being in icing conditions and requested vectoring around them. Turning down an offer from the control center to ascend to a higher altitude, the crew then radioed that it was out of the icing conditions.

“Around 20 minutes later, in its final transmission, the transport reported losing altitude and requested clearance down to 10,000ft (3,000m), which was about 2,000ft (600m) below the minimum height for terrain clearance in this area. Although the possibility of moderate to heavy icing and snow showers over western Nevada had been included in a pilot briefing, the Salt Lake control center had, in response to its vector request, informed 50850 that there were no storm cells and no reports of icing along the airway being used. As a result, the pilot of the aircraft involved in the accident was unaware that the turbulence actually encountered would be hazardous, worse than that predicted at the time of the take-off. These turbu¬lent conditions apparently caused the uncontrolled descent of the C-54 into the ground. It was further noted in the investigative report on the crash that the pilot was not technically qualified in the type aircraft, and that had he been aware of the existing weather conditions, he should have discontinued the flight.” (Gero 1999, pp. 96-97)

Newspaper

Jan 11, Associated Press: “Battle Mountain, Nev. (AP) – The burned wreckage of a Marine transport plane was found today in a steep canyon on the rocky slope of a Nevada mountain where it crashed in a blinding blizzard. There was no sign of life in the canyon. The plane was variously reported carrying 18, 19 or 20 men on a flight Wednesday from Denver to Seattle, Wash.

“The C54 transport hit at the 9,400 foot level on the east side of Mt. Tobin, and slid into an inaccessible canyon. ‘Nobody could have survived this,’ a search pilot reported. There were skid marks on the charred spot on the mountain where the plane hit, less than an hour after its pilot reported that icing conditions were forcing it down below the 12,000 foot level. Mt. Tobin towers 10,000 feet in sparsely settled northern Nevada. It is 32 miles southwest of Battle Mountain.

“Sheriff George Schwin of Lander County reported from the desolate, snow-covered mountainside at 9 a.m. that his search party was trying to find a way down into the steep canyon. ‘I don’t know if we can,’ he said. ‘We may have to get a helicopter to land there instead.’

“The wreckage was found at daybreak, 18 hours after the crash. The sky was clear in contrast to the blinding snowstorm that forced the Marine pilot to fly on instruments, iced up the plane wings and drove it down into the mountainside.

“The plane was on a 10-day Western tour from the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia.

“The pilot reported at 1:50 p.m. that he was losing altitude. A farmer in the remote area heard a ‘boom and roar’ between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. but could see nothing because of the blizzard.

“First report of the wreckage came from Wally Swanson and Gene Corbridge of the Bureau of Land Management while driving a four-wheel vehicle. James A. Beydler, land manager of the Bureau of Land Management, said the pair had told him by radio that ‘They saw an impact area and part of the fuselage on the mountain.’…

“At Buckley Air Field in Denver, Colo., a spokesman said the plane was carrying 18 men when it left there on a flight to Seattle. The Pentagon first said the plane was carrying 19 men, but later reported it left the Quantico, Va., Marine base with 20 – seven crewmen and 13 passengers.

“The pilot was flying in a blizzard, using instruments, when he reported icing problems and loss of altitude. He told the Federal Aviation Agency in Salt Lake City: ‘I am losing altitude at 10,000 feet and at present time unable to maintain 12,000. That report, the last from the plane, came at 1:50 p.m. Wednesday….” (San Mateo Times, CA. “Fear Score Dead in Nevada Air Crash.” Jan 11, 1968, p. 1.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy, R5D-2 DC-4, 10 Jan 1968. Accessed 3-2-2009 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19680110-0

Baugher, Joseph F. US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (50360 to 60009). Oct 27, 2011 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries6.html

Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. “Crash of a Douglas R5D-2 on Mt Tobin: 19 Killed.” Accessed 4-9-2022 at: https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-douglas-r5d-2-mt-tobin-19-killed

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

San Mateo Times, CA. “Fear Score Dead in Nevada Air Crash.” Jan 11, 1968, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=47455126