Standard Air Lines Flight 897R

Standard Air Lines Flight 897R

Aerial photo of the crash (visible upper center) with rescue operations in progress
Accident
Date	July 12, 1949 (1949-07-12)
Summary	Pilot error, CFIT
Site	Chatsworth, California, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Curtiss C-46E Commando
Operator	Standard Air Lines
Registration	N79978
Flight origin	Albuquerque Municipal Airport
Destination	Burbank Airport
Passengers	44
Crew	4
Fatalities	35
Survivors	13

Standard Air Lines Flight 897R was a domestic passenger flight between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Burbank, California. At 7:43am on July 12, 1949, the flight, operated by a Curtiss C-46E (registered N79978), crashed in Chatsworth, California, upon approach to Burbank, killing 35 of the 48 passengers and crew on board.

N79978, the aircraft involved in the accident

The airline

Main article: Standard Air Lines (1945–1949)

Standard Air Lines was an irregular air carrier, a hybrid charter/scheduled airline of the day. It operated scheduled flights from New York to Los Angeles in violation of Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulations, the CAB being in control of the US airline industry at the time. The CAB had already ordered the airline to cease operations. It was within a week or so of its final day.

The flight

The Standard Air Lines aircraft was on a multi-stop flight from New York to Long Beach, California, via Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque and Burbank. It departed on the penultimate segment from Albuquerque Municipal Airport at 4:24am for a flight to the Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California (today called Burbank Airport). At 7:36am the aircraft was cleared to land at Burbank. After that, there was no other communication from the flight.

Crash

The aircraft was flying in level flight with the gear down, on an ILS approach to Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal (today called Burbank Airport) on a Tuesday morning. The aircraft descended in patchy fog below the minimum altitude permitted and its right wing tip struck the side of a hill at 1,890 feet above sea level, pulling the plane around 90 degrees. The C-46 hit the ground and bounced 300 feet into the air before crashing in Chatsworth, CA, some 430 feet below the crest of Santa Susana Pass, just north of the Chatsworth Reservoir.

Tail section after crash

It was originally reported that a fist fight had broken out between two male passengers, however survivors later stated that the fight was not the cause of the crash but instead it was based on pilot error. The CAB report stated, "This accident was caused solely by the pilot voluntarily going below the prescribed minimum altitude and descending into the overcast...".

Survivors

Actress Caren Marsh Doll was among the survivors of the crash. She recalled "I heard screams and a fire crackling....Then I remember a woman grabbed my arm. She was wonderful. I heard her say 'Let's get out of here'. She dragged me out of the plane and into the brush." Members of the religious cult WKFL, led by Krishna Venta, were involved in the rescue operations, giving them national prominence.

Aftermath

The crash happened only a week before the effective date of the revocation, by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), of Standard's economic authority to operate due to failure to adhere to CAB regulations.

Further information: Standard Air Lines (1945–1949)

At the time, the CAB tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transport. It was also the federal body that investigated aircraft accidents, so it produced the official accident report for this accident.

See also

• Controlled flight into terrain

External links

• Civil Aeronautics Board accident report: Aircraft Accident Report: Standard Airlines, Inc., Chatsworth, California, July 12, 1949 (Report). Civil Aeronautics Board. 27 February 1950. doi:10.21949/1500496.
• http://planecrashinfo.com/1949/1949-32.htm
• Night photo of aircraft
• Photo of aircraft
• Photo of crash from L.A. Times archive
• Image of men searching the wreckage of Standard Airlines C-46 for clues regarding the cause of the crash, 1949. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.