1971 — Oct 16, Scenic Airlines Cessna 402 plane crash, adverse weather, Peach Springs, AZ–10

— 10 Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland). Arizona, USA. Reg. N3250Q.
— 10 Aviation Safety Network. 1971. ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 8702…16 Oct 1971.
— 10 Chronicle Telegram, Elyria Ohio. “Ex-Education Head Dies in Plane Crash,” 10-18-1971.
— 10 NTSB. Identification: LAX72AL024…Scenic Airline…Oct 16, 1971, Colorado Cty, AZ.
— 10 Planecrashinfo.com. “1971. Accident Details. Scenic Airlines, Colorado City AZ, 10-16.”

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network: “On October 16, 1971, a Cessna 402 (N3250Q) departed from North Las Vegas Airport (KVGT) en-route to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (KGCN). The air tour flight was being operated by Scenic Airlines and was scheduled to be 90 minutes in duration. Pilot Wayne Leeth age 46, had flown the route more than 600 times and had more than 2,400 hours total time with 415 hours in the Cessna 402.

“A fast moving cold front brought snow showers and low visibility that morning as the flight of four tour aircraft made their way eastbound through the canyon. With the ceiling and visibility dropping, the four planes began to turn back for Las Vegas. Captain Leeth was the last aircraft to turn around after attempting to make it over the Shivwits Plateau near Parashant Canyon. Captain Leeth’s last radio call was that he was turning back due to weather. The time was 9:45 AM.

“With only three of his four planes safely back on the ramp, a concerned John Siebold (Scenic Airlines owner) began to take the steps in an attempt to locate the overdue aircraft. Without success, the official search was under way by 2:00 PM. The weather continued to hamper the search efforts and it wasn’t until the next day around noon that the scattered wreckage of N3250Q was discovered on a snow covered plateau. All ten persons on-board were killed.” (Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 8702…16-Oct-1971.”)

National Transportation Safety Board: “Collision with ground/water: Controlled….Probable Cause(s): Pilot in command – continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions….Weather briefing – briefed by flight service personnel, by phone. Weather forecast – forecast substantially correct….Visibility at accident site…zero….Fire after impact…” (NTSB. Identification: LAX72AL024…Scenic Airline…)

Newspaper

Oct 18: “Peach Springs, Ariz.– (UPI) –A sheriff’s posse slowly made its way today to an almost inaccessible desert plateau where 10 persons, including former U. S. Education Commissioner Dr. James E. Allen, Jr., died in the crash of a sightseeing plane.

“The twin-engine Cessna 402 of Scenic Airlines of Las Vegas, Nev., a small line specializing in charters and tourists trips to the Grand Canyon, smashed into the side of the plateau in desolate northwestern Arizona Saturday during a wintry storm. The wreckage was found yesterday morning by one of 15 search planes of the Civil Air Patrol and the Air Force crisscrossing the desert and mountains of southern Nevada and northern Arizona for the missing aircraft. Scenic Airlines President John Siebold confirmed that Dr.. Allen and his wife…were aboard the plane, which was on a trip to the Grand Canyon when it crashed….

“The pilot was Wayne Leeth, 44, Las Vegas, a veteran who had flown the Las Vegas-Grand Canyon route about 600 times….

”The Air Rescue Squadron from Hamilton AFB, Calif., said its helicopters could not land at the forbidding crash scene and a ground party from Las Vegas had to turn back because of cold, rain and snow. Recovery operations hinged on the success of a 25-man crew from the Mohave County Sheriff’s office, which set out from Kingman, Ariz., in eight four-wheel-drive vehicles yesterday. They faced an overland trek of 300 miles in snow and rain through the desert and rocky badlands from Arizona into Nevada, north into Utah and down to isolated Shivwits Plateau. The posse spent the night in the small town of St. George, Utah, and resumed their journey this morning. The crash site was 75 miles to the south and deputies said only 50 miles of that was covered by a dirt road. Deputies said the last 25 miles would have to be over open country, with progress expected to be very slow.

”A spokesman for the Mohave Sheriff’s said a helicopter from Las Vegas landed at the crash scene shortly after the wreckage was located. The chopper was stranded at the site because of heavy winds and snow and an air force helicopter dropped the crew sleeping bags and food for their overnight stay.

”Investigators said the cause of the crash apparently was icing on the plane’s wings in the storm that drove the pilot to abandon their flight to the Grand Canyon and try to return to his Las Vegas base. Authorities who observed the wreckage from the air said the plane was splattered into small pieces, with only two large hunks of the fuselage intact. The plane slammed into the wall of the 7,200-foot high plateau at about the 6,000 foot level. The plateau is about 40-miles north of Peach Springs and 95 miles northeast of Las Vegas in northwestern Arizona.” (Chronicle Telegram, Elyria Ohio. “Ex-Education Head Dies in Plane Crash,” 10-18-1971; in Beitler, “Grand Canyon, AZ Plane Crashed Into Mountain, Oct 1971,” Gendiasters.com.)

Sources

Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland). Arizona, USA. Accessed 3-3-2009 at: http://www.baaa-acro.com/Pays/Etats-Unis/Arizona.htm

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 8702…16-Oct-1971.” Accessed 2-24-2022 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/8702

Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, OH. “Ex-Education Head Dies in Plane Crash,” 1971-10-18; in Beitler, “Grand Canyon, AZ Plane Crashed Into Mountain, Oct 1971,” Gendiasters.com. At: http://www3.gendisasters.com/arizona/4532/grand-canyon,-az-plane-crashes-mountain,-oct-1971

National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB Identification: LAX72AL024…Nonscheduled operation of Scenic Airline aircraft: Cessna 402, registration: N3250Q. Accessed 2-24-2022 at: https://www.baaa-acro.com/sites/default/files/2018-10/N3250Q_0.pdf

Planecrashinfo.com. “1971. Accident Details. Scenic Airlines, Colorado City, AZ, Oct 16, 1971.” Accessed 2-24-2022 at: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1971/1971-43.htm