MOHAVE COUNTY — Commercial aviation history was reshaped when two passenger airliners flying east over the tri-state area plummeted into the Grand Canyon after a collision at an altitude of 21,000 feet 69 years ago. It was the first commercial flight incident resulting in more than 100 fatalities in America as there were no survivors among the 128 people aboard both aircraft.
TWA’s mass funeral service for 67 of the victims, held on Monday, July 9, 1956, at Flagstaff Citizens’ Cemetery, Flagstaff, Arizona. One of the seven identified victims reposed here was sent home after the services. Correspondingly, there are only 66 names on the bronze memorial plaque that was ultimately set to the right of the right-most row of caskets, approximately where the large tree is growing. Note the tiny, infant’s casket in the foreground at the left.
The Flight 2 Transworld Airlines (TWA) Lockheed 1049A Super Constellation departed the Los Angeles International Airport in California for Kansas City, Missouri at 9:01 a.m. on June 30, 1956. Three minutes later the Douglas DC-7 United Flight 178 took off from the same airport for Chicago, Illinois.
This map is from the CAB Accident Investigation Report, and shows the two flights’ proposed courses from Los Angeles to about 25 miles east of the accident area, roughly the first third of the trip for TWA 2 and the first quarter of the trip for United 718. TWA 2’s course is on top and United 718’s is below. The areas marked out by solid straight lines are airways.
(CAB via Lostflights archives)
Extensive details are provided in the accident report adopted by the former Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) on April 15, 1957, with other comprehensive reports published by Wikipedia and newspapers over time.
A radio transmission indicated Flight 2 passed over Lake Mohave at 9:55 while another transmission indicated Flight 718 passed over Needles at 9:58, 33 minutes before the mid-air collision.
Capt. Jack Gandy, 41, with more than 14,900 flying hours was in command of Flight 2, assisted by First Officer James Ritner, 31, and crew. Capt. Robert Shirley, 48, with more than 16,000 flying hours was in command of Flight 718, along with First Officer Robert Harms (36) and crew.
Aerial view of the combined crash site area looking approximately north. The TWA site at Temple Butte is indicated by the white arrow at the bottom, and the United site at Chuar Butte is indicated by the white arrow toward the top. The river running vertically through the center of the photograph is the Colorado River. (Life Magazine via Lostflights archives)
The investigation determined that the DC-7 was banking to the right and pitching down at the time of impact with the L-1049A over the Canyon.
Audio analysis revealed the last radio transmission exclamation was from Harms.
“Salt Lake, United 718…ah…we’re going in,” Harms reported at 10:31.
Search and rescue protocols were initiated at 11:51 after communication could not be established with either aircraft.
Search and retrieval team members aboard an army H-21 helicopter, headed for the TWA crash site at Temple Butte to remove remains.(Lostflights archives)
One of the Swiss mountaineers preparing the equipment that was used to hoist remains out of the deep gully whose top is at the center ground of the photograph. The ropes used for this aerial rigging plainly extend across open space from his location to that of some of his teammates on the opposite side of the gully, one of whom who is also wearing conspicuous red trousers to help the others locate him should he fall. (a member of the team via Lostflights archives)
Palen Hudgin, who along with his brother Henry operated their Grand Canyon Airlines taxi service, remembered seeing smoke that he dismissed as a brush fire earlier in the day near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers.
“With his brother, he returned to the area, flew into the Canyon, and during a low pass was able to identify the empennage of the TWA,” the CAB report said. It said a second flight the next day produced discovery of the DC-7 wreckage, about 1.2 miles northeast of the TWA.
Various helicopters began arriving on July 1, delivering personnel in challenging conditions and terrain, to process the accident debris fields.
TWA 2’s horizontal tail section, the same piece as shown in the previous photo, here seen up close with two men in the picture for scale. (Lostflights archives)
“TWA crashed in a draw on the northeast slope of Temple Butte on the west bank of the Colorado River,” the CAB report said. “A relatively short wreckage distribution path showed that the aircraft contacted the ground at a steep angle.”
Investigation determined that the DC-7’s descent was not as steep when it struck the south face of Char Butte. “An intense ground fire followed impact,” the CAB report said.
No incident witnesses were identified and the CAB board ruled out aircraft issues. “There was no evidence to indicate that malfunction or failure of the aircraft or their components was a factor in the accident,” its report said.
The horizontal portion of TWA 2’s tail (the long, tilted rectangular object) with one of its three vertical fins lying nearby. Note TWA’s stripes painted on the vertical fin. These parts were located some distance from the main wreckage, showing that they came off of the plane inflight, high above the ground.
(Lostflights archives)
The report instead focused that the aircraft were flying above some clouds in uncontrolled air space, without support and guidance from air traffic control personnel where pilot responsibility is paramount. “The concept is commonly referred to as the `see and be seen’ principle.”
“The Board determines that the probable cause of this mid-air collision was that the pilots did not see each other in time to avoid the collision,” its final findings concluded. “It is not possible to determine why the pilots did not see each other.”
The Swiss-Air-Rescue and some Swiss mountain climbers were hired to gather the human remains, according to Wikipedia but no bodies were recovered intact and positive identification was not possible in most instances.
The United Air Lines memorial headstone at the grave in Grand Canyon National Park Cemetery (now known as Pioneer Cemetery) in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, shown very shortly after the services held on Thursday, August 2, 1956. The stone bears the names of all 29 unidentified victims, along with the names of two that were identified and were sent home well before the service. The families wanted for at least the names of these two to accompany the names of the family members with whom they were traveling, who were not identified. Only four caskets are interred here. (National Park Service)
Wikipedia reported that the 1956 tragedy and its aftermath facilitated awareness and concern about need to improve commercial flight safety. Congressional hearings led to increased funding for Air Traffic Control, the CAB was dissolved and what became the Federal Aviation Administration was established in 1958.
