1968 — May 22, Los Angeles Airways helicopter rotor detachment/crash, Paramount, CA–all 23

— 23 NTSB. AAR. Los Angeles Airways, Inc. Sikorsky…Paramount, Cal. May 22, 1968. 1969.
— 23 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.
— 23 Oxnard Press-Courier (CA). “Federal Team Probes Copter Crash,” May 24, 1968, p. 5.
— 23 Van Nuys Valley News and Green Sheet (CA). “$2,000,000 Suit Filed…” May 30, 1968.
— 21 Gero. Aviation Disasters…World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (2nd Ed.). 1996, p. 85.

Narrative Information

NTSB Synopsis: “About 1751 P.d.t., May 22, 1968, Los Angeles Airways Flight 841, a Sikorsky S-61L, N303Y, crashed and burned at Paramount, California. The flight was en route from the Anaheim, California, Heliport, which serves Disneyland, to the Los Angeles International Airport, All 23 persons aboard the aircraft were fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed by impact and f i r e after impact.

“The overall evidence, coupled with numerous tests and failure analyses, indicates that the accident sequence began while the aircraft was in cruising flight about 2,000 feet above the ground and about 2 miles east of the accident site. The black, yellow, and blue main rotor blades, followed by the red and white blades, underwent a series of extreme over-travel excursions in their lead/lag axis.

“During the extreme excursions, the yellow main rotor blade over-traveled in the lead direction and, as a result, its pitch change control road was subjected to downward and rearward loading many times its design operating strength. Under these forces, the rod became detached at its lower trunnion end where it is normally secured to the attachment lugs of the main rotor rotating swashplate. With this separation, the blade went out of control and struck the right side of the aircraft diagonally across the baggage loading door. The other four main rotor blades then struck and penetrated both the aft and forward portions of the aircraft. The blade strikes destroyed the main rotor blades and separated major portions of the fuselage, including the tail rotor pylon and tail rotor assemblies. The aircraft, completely uncontrollable, crashed in a near – vertical descent.

“The initial malfunction, failure, or condition which precipitated the accident sequence was probably a loss of main rotor blade damper integrity caused by either failure of the black main rotor blade damper, or a loss of effective damper action by the white main rotor blade damper. An important portion of the black damper and a portion of the black blade horizontal hinge pin to which the damper attaches were not recovered.

“The Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the loss of main rotor blade damper integrity due to either a failure of the black blade damper or a loss of effective damping action by the white blade damper. This resulted in uncontrolled excursions of the main rotor blades in their lead/lag axis, an overload detachment of the yellow main rotor blade pitch change control rod and destruction of the structural integrity of the aircraft by blade strikes. The precise reason for either of the possibilities for the loss of damper integrity is undetermined.” (NTSB 1969, 1-2)

“….The main body of the aircraft, including both engines, the main rotor head, pieces of main rotor blades, and most of the fuselage struck the ground in a near – vertical fall. It struck the ground in a nosedown attitude on its left side. A t impact, the main rotor was turning very slowly, if at all, and there was little power development from either engine. Fire followed the ground impact and caused extensive additional damage to this wreckage.” (NTSB 1969, 4-5)

“The numerous fractures of all main rotor blades were determined to been the result of gross overloads.” (NTSB 1969, 8)

“As a result of the accident, on August 14, 1968, an Airworthiness Directive, AD, was issued. This AD required that only new main rotor blade spindles be used on S-61 aircraft. It also placed a lifetime limit of 2,400 hours on the spindles. Prior to the AD, reworked spindles were used and there was no life limit on the spindles.” (National Transportation Safety Board 1969, 29)

Notable California Aviation Disasters:
“Date / Time: Wednesday, May 22, 1968 / 5:50 p.m.
“Operator / Flight No.: Los Angeles Airways / Flight 841
“Location: Paramount, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: Los Angeles Airways, a company providing regular passenger service between Los Angeles International Airport and the Disneyland-Anaheim heliport located adjacent to the Disneyland theme park, was operating a Sikorsky S-61L helicopter (N303Y) that departed Anaheim on a flight to LAX.

“It was westbound over the suburb of Paramount at an altitude of 2,000 feet when controllers received a distress message from the craft: ‘L.A., we’re crashing, help us!’ The helicopter suddenly descended with an erratic action of the main rotor blades, crashed onto a Paramount dairy farm and burst into flames.

“All 23 passengers and crew members aboard died in the crash. Among those killed was a group of nine vacationers from Ohio; a Hunt-Wesson Foods executive; the mayor of the northern California town of Red Bluff; and a UC Berkeley professor.

“The helicopter’s severed tail rotor was discovered in a used truck and tractor yard a block east of the crash site. A mechanical failure in the helicopter’s main rotor hub caused one of the rotor blades to detach and it sliced into the fuselage. The other four rotor blades subsequently went out of control and splintered. The craft came apart and crashed to earth.

“Fatalities: 23 — 20 passengers and 3 crew members.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.)

Newspaper

“Paramount, Calif. (UPI) — A team at federal safety investigators today collected pieces of wreckage strewn over a half mile area around the site of the worst civilian helicopter crash in U.S. aviation history. Twenty-three persons died in the flaming crash Wednesday of the Los Angeles Airways passenger helicopter. The victims included nine Ohio vacationers, the mayor of Red Bluff, Calif, and a noted mathematics professor.

“The cause of the crash remained a mystery today. Witnesses reported hearing a loud “pop” and seeing the craft disintegrate about 500 feet in the air. Others said the tail rotor flew off and the fuselage went into a spin. The main section of the copter plunged into a dairy cow feed pen while wreckage rained on the rooftops of nearby homes and businesses.

“Investigators from the National Transportation and Safety Board appealed to residents of this Los Angeles suburb to turn in any bits and pieces of debris….

“Los Angeles Airways, which began carrying passengers in 1952, grounded all flights Thursday morning while FAA technicians checked over the firm’s remaining six Sikorsky S-61LS helicopters….

“The helicopter lifted off from its pad at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday bound for International Airport. Fifteen minutes later the burning wreckage of the fuselage lay in the cow corral about 12 miles southeast of Los Angeles Civic Center.

“Many of the passengers had spent the day at the amusement complex built by the late Walt Disney. Their bodies were found crumpled in the seats of the main section. There were no survivors.

“The FAA said it was the worst helicopter crash in the history of American commercial aviation. A Sikorsky S58 was involved in the previous worst civilian helicopter disaster – the 1960 crash of a Chicago Helicopter Airways copter in Forest Park, Ill., which claimed 13 lives….” (Oxnard Press-Courier, CA. “Federal Team Probes Copter Crash,” May 24, 1968, p. 5.)

May 30: “A $2,000,000 wrongful death suit has been filed in Superior Court today in connection with last week’s crash of a Los Angeles Airways helicopter. Twenty-three persons died when the helicopter crashed in a vacant field in Paramount. There were no survivors.

“The suit was filed by attorney Irving H. Greene on behalf of the administrator of the estate of Milton J. Osborne Jr., one of the passengers killed. Named were Los Angeles airways; Sikorsky Aircraft which manufactured the helicopter, and General Electric which made the engine.

“The suit charged crash was due to ‘the negligence of the defendants in failing to take proper precautions and failing to train and supervise employes in the care and maintenance of the helicopter.’

“Osborne 43, of Detroit Mich., was an executive with Chrysler Corp…” (Van Nuys Valley News and Green Sheet (CA). “$2,000,000 Suit Filed in Copter Crash Casualty,” May 30, 1968, p. 34.)

Sources

Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (Second Edition). London: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1996.

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Los Angeles Airways, Inc. Sikorsky S-61L, N303Y Paramount, California May 22, 1968 (NTSB-AAR-70-1). Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted December 19, 1969, 36 pages. Accessed at: http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR70-01.pdf

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update. Accessed 10-17-2009 at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash60s.html [Inoperable when double-checked 4-8-2022]

Oxnard Press-Courier, CA. “Federal Team Probes Copter Crash,” May 24, 1968, p. 5. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=81818417

Van Nuys Valley News and Green Sheet, CA. “$2,000,000 Suit Filed in Copter Crash Casualty,” May 30, 1968, p. 34. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=46275132