1969 — Feb 18, Hawthorne NV Airlines Flight 708 plane crash, Mt. Whitney, CA –all 35

— 35 AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 02181969.
— 35 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA). “Where Are They?…” May 25, 1969.
— 35 Newspaperarchive.com. The Daily Perspective. “1969: Flight 708 Disappears…”
— 35 NTSB. AAR. Mineral County Air…Hawthorne NV Air…Lone Pine, CA, Feb 18, 1969.
— 35 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.

Narrative Information

Baugher: “Douglas C-49J….1991 c/n 6320 (American Airlines NC30052, not del.) to USAAF Jan 08, 1943 – USA only. To RFC Feb 2, 1945. To civil registry as NC15570 (Eastern Air Lines *383*, lsd until bought Aug 31, 1949 – Glenn L Martin Co. Jun 06, 1952 – California Central Airlines – Southwest Airlines – Pacific Airlines *12* Mar 06, 1958 – Air Oasis, LB, CA. – Various – Mineral County Airlines – Hawthorne Nevada 1966). Crashed Feb 18, 1969, Sierra Nevada, CA.” (Baugher. 1943 USAAF Serial Numbers (43-001 to 43-5108). 10-27-2011 rev.)

NTSB Synopsis: “A Hawthorne-Nevada Airlines (NEVT),E3, N15570, operating as Flight 708, crashed approximately 11 nautical miles west of Lone Pine, California, about 0510 P.s.t., February 18, 1969. The 32 passengers and three crewmembers aboard the aircraft died in the accident, and the aircraft was destroyed.

“The flight departed Hawthorne, Nevada, 0350 P.s.t., on February 18, 1969, on a VFR flight plan for Burbank and Long Beach, California. At 0406, Flight 708 contacted the Tonopah Flight Service Station on the Mina VOR frequency and activated a VFR flight plan which had previously been filed by telephone from Hawthorne, Nevada. No further contact was had with the flight. The aircraft was declared missing, and presumed down somewhere between Hawthorne, Nevada, and Burbank, California. Air and ground search operations were instituted, but due to heavy snows and inclement weather, the aircraft was not located. The crash site, approximately 11 nautical miles west of Lone Pine, California, was located August 8, 1969. The aircraft crashed on the east slope of Mount Whitney, at an elevation of approximately 11,770 feet. All persons on board the aircraft perished in the impact.

“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the deviation from the prescribed route of flight, as authorized in the company’s FAA-approved Operations specifications, resulting in the aircraft being operated under IFR weather conditions, in high mountainous terrain, in an area where there was a lack of radio navigation aids.” (NTSB 1970, 1)

History of the Flight

“Hawthorne Nevada Airlines (NEVT) operated a daily round trip from Long Beach, California (LGB), to Hawthorne, Nevada (HTH), with a stop at Burbank, California (BUR)….N15570, a DC-3, operating as Flight 708, departed LGB and BUR, as scheduled, with 32 passengers and a crew of three, and arrived at HTH at approximately 2040, February 17, 1969. After arrival at the airport, the passengers and stewardess were transported by bus to a lodge in Hawthorne, a distance of 1 mile. The captain and first officer utilized a company car to reach the lodge. The captain and first officer checked into their rooms at the lodge at approximately 2115. The stewardess, after tending to the passengers, checked into her room some 15 minutes later. None of the crew visited the casino, associated with the lodge, during the layover. While at HTH, the aircraft was serviced with 200 gallons of 100-octane gas….

“At 0406, while in flight, the crew contacted the Tonopah Flight Service Station…and stated that their actual takeoff time was 0350. No further contact of any nature was made with the flight….

“An extensive ground and air search was launched after the aircraft was declared missing. Due to heavy snow accumulations on the ground, low clouds throughout the search period, and extremely hazardous terrain, the aircraft was not located until August 8, 1969….

“The aircraft wreckage was located on the east slope of Mount Whitney, approximately 11 nautical miles (NM) west of Lone Pine, California. The impact had occurred on the face of a near vertical cliff at an elevation of about 11,770 feet m.s.l. The main body of the wreckage was situated near the base of the cliff at latitude 36O35’45” N., longitude 118’15’52” W. There were no survivors….

“The main body of the wreckage slid down the cliff and came to rest 500 feet back from the cliff at an elevation of 11,400 feet m.s.l. The gradient from the main body of the wreckage to the base of the cliff varied from 45O to 55O, and aircraft parts were located between the main body of the wreckage and the cliff base. The site is above the snow line… The cliff, against which the aircraft crashed, formed a part of the south wall of an oblong bowl-shaped canyon, oriented east to west.

Parts of the structure and engines of N15570 were located at the base of the cliff, where impact occurred. Parts were scattered for approximately 400 feet down the slope to an area where large sections of the aircraft had come to rest, after sliding down the slope. The centerline of the wreckage scatter was aligned on a north-south heading. The forward portion of the fuselage, including the cockpit enclosure, could not be identified, although portions of cockpit equipment were found in the wreckage….

Analysis

“The examination of the aircraft wreckage and systems disclosed no evidence of any mechanical, electrical, powerplant, radio, or navigational system malfunctions that would have contributed to this accident. Further, there was no evidence of any flight instrument error. The Board finds that the causal factors of this accident lie within the areas of navigation and weather.

“The wreckage was located on the east slope of Mount Whitney, 11 nautical miles west of Lone Pine, California. The aircraft had impacted the south wall of an oblong, bowl-shaped, east-west oriented canyon at a measured altitude of 11,770 feet m.s.l. The aircraft was on a southerly heading of approximately 170° to 195′ magnetic and in a cruise attitude at the time of impact. Except for an area north to northeast, the walls of the canyon extend to an elevation greater than the altitude of the impact point. The aircraft would have had to track between 180° to 225° magnetic to gain entrance to the canyon on its north side and reach the crash site on the south wall.

“Although the authorized route for this flight, as set forth in Hawthorne Nevada Airlines operations specifications, required the aircraft to join V105 airway northwest of Mina VOR, then proceed via V105 to Beatty VTAC, then direct to Inyokern Airport, direct to Palmdale VTAC, then via Federal Airways to Burbank, the crew filed a VFR flight plan requesting a direct flight between Hawthorne and Burbank. The most obvious route from Hawthorne to the impact site would have been down the Owens Valley, over Bishop, California, to the impact site. This route most closely approximated the direct route as requested on the VFR flight plan.

“The ATD (Actual Time of Departure) as given by the crew to Tonopah FSS was 0350. The approximate time of impact, as determined by the stopped watches at the crash site, was 0510. The approximate elapsed time of 1 hour and 20 minutes was sufficient to permit Flight 708 to fly the route from Hawthorne, over Bishop, down the Owens Valley to the impact site. This is considered the route taken by the flight. There was no logical or conceivable reason to believe the crew would fly the authorized route part way and then deviate. Also, the elapsed time from ATD to impact was insufficient to allow such a route to be flown.

“The width of the Owens Valley (a NNW-SSE oriented valley), measured from mountain peak to mountain peak, is only about 20 nautical miles. The terrain rises above 14,000 feet m.s.1. on either side of the valley. No VOR airways traverse the valley, nor are there any VOR/VTAC facilities close enough to supply reliable navigation information. There were no usable facilities in this area that would permit accurate utilization of the ADF. In addition, both ADF switches were found in the off position, with no evidence of impact damage.

“At an altitude of 11,500 feet m.s.l., the route required the crew to navigate a slot approximately 100 nautical miles long and about 20 nautical miles wide. To accomplish this feat safely, the flightcrew would have to maintain continuous reference to known ground checkpoints, and the mountains would have to be visible.

“The crash occurred at night. There was no moon. The aircraft impacted in a cruise attitude. There was no indication of any evasive action being taken. Therefore, the Board is of the opinion that the terrain was not visible to the crew.

“At 0400, a cold front was lying along the western side of the valley. By 0700, the front had crossed the valley. Sequence reports showed lowering ceilings over the route of flight. The first weather report of the day from Bishop, issued at 0600, reported a measured ceiling of 3,200 feet with light rain. The accident probably occurred behind the cold front. The weather would have been characterized by low overcast, clouds, and snow. The accident site would have been obscured by clouds, and cloud tops would have been above 20,000 feet m.s.1. Precipitation and moderate to heavy icing conditions would have been encountered.

“As Flight 708 proceeded down the valley, it was operating close to the cold front. The aircraft could have been flying beneath an overcast, between cloud levels, in an area of precipitation, or completely upon instruments. Support for the conclusion that the aircraft was operating in or into icing conditions was found in the position of the propeller anti-icing flow valves….The valves would not have been opened unless the aircraft was either in, or entering into, icing conditions….Whatever the flight conditions, forward visibility must have become severely restricted. With the loss of ground reference, the possibilities of navigating the Owens Valley at 11,55 feet m.s.l were almost nil….

“The crew received no winds aloft information and therefore could not know that they were flying in a headwind of about 35 knots. This, of course, results in a lower than anticipated ground speed. Therefore, in the flight time of a little over an hour at a ground speed of approximately 105 knots, and with due consideration for climb-to-flight altitude, the aircraft would progress to a position north-northeast of Mount Whitney, instead of out of the Valley south of Owens Lake. The Board, therefore, concludes that the crew proceeded down Owens Valley, unaware of the headwinds, to a point in time where they felt they were out of the Valley. At this position, they took up a more southerly heading (170⁰ to 195⁰) in order to proceed to Palmdale. In actuality, they were north-northeast of Mount Whitney. The southerly heading placed the aircraft on a course which took it into the north opening of the canyon and against the south wall.

“In summary, the Board finds that after takeoff, Flight 708 climbed and proceeded toward Bishop, California, at an altitude of 11,500 feet m.s.1. Sometime after the aircraft passed over Bishop, an area of deteriorating weather was encountered, with an ensuing loss of forward visibility. The loss of visibility rendered pilotage by outside visual reference impossible, and the flight attempted to traverse the Owens Valley using DR navigational methods. There were no accurate radio navigational aids available. Unaware of the headwinds, the crew changed course when they thought they were out of the Valley and struck the mountains on the west side of the Valley….

Recommendations

“….A crash locator beacon, activated once the aircraft had crashed, would have provided an expeditious means of locating the aircraft. By letter dated May 31, 1968, the Safety Board commented favorably to the FAA Administrator concerning Information Release 68-12 and Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) 68-4 on the subject “Crash Locator Beacon Requirements for General Aviation.”

“In March of 1969, the FAA circulated NPRM 69-11, “Crash Locator Beacons and Survival Radio Equipment for Air Taxi Operators and Commercial Operators of Small Aircraft.” By letter to the Administrator dated May 26, 1969, the Safety Board commented favorably to the proposal. It was pointed out that a crash locator beacon would have been of assistance in locating N15570, which was missing at that time.” (NTSB. Mineral County Air…Hawthorne NV Air…Lone Pine, CA, Feb 18, 1969.)

Notable California Aviation Disasters:
“Date / Time: Tuesday, February 18, 1969 / 5:10 a.m.
”Operator / Flight No.: Mineral County Airlines / Flight 708
“Location: Near Lone Pine, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: The vintage twin-engine Douglas DC-3 airliner (N15570), a scheduled ‘gamblers special’ flight popular with casino-goers, was en route from Hawthorne, Nevada, to Burbank and Long Beach, carrying 32 passengers and a crew of three.

“Following a visual flight rules (VFR) flight-plan while flying in instrument flight rules (IFR) weather conditions, the aircraft disappeared in the vicinity of the 14,495-foot-high Mount Whitney — the highest peak in California (and highest in the U.S. outside Alaska).

“The search for the missing aircraft was suspended a week later when heavy snows blanketed the region. Almost six months later, on August 8, searchers finally were able to locate the remains of the DC-3 and its occupants when melting snows exposed the wreckage.

“The airliner had slammed into the face of a near-vertical cliff at the 11,770-foot level on the eastern slope of Mt. Whitney, instantly killing all on board. Most of wreckage had then tumbled over 350 feet down a slope below the cliff.

“The crash was attributed to the pilot’s improper VFR flight in IFR weather conditions, and subsequent deviation from the prescribed course into area where there were no reliable navigational aids. Fatalities: 35 — 32 passengers and a crew of 3.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update.)

Newspapers

May 25: “Three months ago, 32 people flew off to Nevada to gamble. They laughed and talked and gambled…and died. No one knew it at the time, but the odds had been stacked against the return of the ‘gambler’s special’.

“Fourteen people clambered aboard a twin-engined Mineral County Airlines DC-3 at Long Beach Airport. It was 6 p.m., Feb. 17, 1969, and although dusk had settled it didn’t dim the spirit of the passengers — who had paid $10.50 for a mini-holiday in the one-casino gambling city of Hawthorne. The 26-year-old plane…detoured, as usual, to Burbank Airport. Eighteen more passengers jumped aboard. Then, as night fell, they flew over the ruggedly beautiful Sierra Nevadas. At 20 minutes to 9, the 32 passengers…ran through the gathering cold to a bus for the one-mile, ride to the brightly lighted El Capitan Casino….Not much is known about the passengers or crew … or what they did in Hawthorne during the seven hours they were there…. [A] couple got married by the Hawthorne justice of the peace a few hours after they arrived in Nevada.

“As the passengers gambled over hot, green crap tables, cold, grey storm clouds gathered over the Sierras. At 3:25 a.m., the Tonopah flight service station received a call from the crew for weather information. Tonopah gave them the information:

Southern California mountains mostly obscured by clouds and a few showers with passes marginal or closed. Moderate icing in clouds above 8,000 feet … moderate to local severe turbulence up through 15,000 feet…extensive low clouds coastal slopes with ceilings less than 1,000 feet and visibility less than two miles with fog. Mountain clouds spreading…

“Despite the weather, the crew decided to take off, filing a visual flight plan — they planned to fly at an altitude of 11,500 feet and reach their destination in two hours and 15 minutes.

“THIRTY-TWO passengers, after gambling until 3:30 a.m., ran through the icy morning air to the same plane that had brought them to Nevada and seven hours of fun. At 3:50 a.m. Hawthorne Nevada Airlines flight number 708 took off into the still-dark, threatening sky. Sixteen minutes later the crew contacted Tonopah again and activated their visual flight plan. Then silence. And the silence hasn’t been broken.

“As the World War II vintage plane snaked its way between mountain peaks which stretched 12,000 to 14,000 feet, the weather that had been predicted, moved in. N15570 was equipped with windshield and propeller anti-icing systems, but no deicing boots.

“All but two of 37 search planes were grounded. In two days 30 inches of snow covered the route of the “gambler’s special”. “Some of those mountain canyons have 30 to 40 feet of snow in them,” Esmeralda County Sheriff Lee Gozart reported. “We were up against it from the beginning,” Mineral County sheriff Hefty Sanderson says. “For two weeks after the disappearance, it snowed every day in the mountain areas. Just the tops of the trees are sticking out.” (Independent Press-Telegram. “Where Are They?” May 25, 1969.)

Newspaperarchive.com: “Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disappeared today carrying 32 passengers and three crew members. The plane, which had taken the passengers to Nevada from Long Beach, California, for a seven-hour gambling trip on February 17, had received a blizzard-like weather report but still took off around 4 a.m. The flight hit a cliff face at about 11,770 feet up Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the Continental United States, killing all 35 aboard. The plane was not found until August due to weather and terrain conditions.”

Sources

AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 02181969. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=02181969&reg=N15570&airline=

Baugher, Joseph F. 1943 USAAF Serial Numbers (43-001 to 43-5108). Oct 27, 2011 revision. Accessed 12-18-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_1.html

Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA. “Where Are They? Only the High Sierra Knows,” May 25, 1969, pp. A1 and A8. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=49122717

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Mineral County Airlines d.b.a. Hawthorne Nevada Airlines, DC-3, N15570, Near Lone Pine, California, February 18, 1969 (File No. 3-2594; NTSB-AAR-70-5). Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted February 4, 1970, 28 pages. Accessed 3-28-2022 at: https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR70-05.pdf

Newspaperarchive.com. The Daily Perspective. “1969: Flight 708 Disappears Between Nevada and California.” Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/DailyPerspectiveFullView.aspx?viewdate=02/18/2009&jumpto=#3

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update. Accessed 10/17/2009 at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash60s.html