Standard Air Lines Flight 897R

Standard Air Lines Flight 897R
Accident summary
Date July 12, 1949
Summary Pilot error, CFIT
Site Chatsworth, California
Passengers 44
Crew 4
Fatalities 35
Survivors 13
Aircraft type Curtiss C-46E-1-CS
Operator Standard Air Lines
Registration ‹The template Airreg is being considered for deletion.› N79978
Flight origin Albuquerque Municipal Airport[1]
Destination Burbank Airport

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-1-CS (tail number N79978), crashed in Chatsworth, California, upon approach to Burbank, killing 35 of the 48 passengers and crew on board.[2]

A Curtiss C-46 "Commando" in flight

The flight

The Standard Air Lines flight departed from Albuquerque Municipal Airport at 4:24am for a flight to the Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal (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.

Survivors

Aiding in the rescue effort were members of Krishna Venta's "Fountain of the World" religious organization, whose retreat was located near to the crash location.[3]

Actress Caren Marsh Doll was among the survivors of the crash.[4]

Aftermath

Due to regulation violations, Standard Air Lines was ordered to cease non-scheduled operations, and it merged with Viking Air Lines to form North American Airlines shortly afterwards.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Curtiss C-46E-1-CS Commando N79978 Chatsworth, CA". Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  2. ↑ "Accident details from planecrashinfo.com". Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  3. ↑ "The Tate-LaBianca Homicide Research Blog". Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  4. ↑ "Biography for Caren Marsh at IMDb". Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  5. ↑ "Standard Air Lines Curtiss C-46". Retrieved 2013-09-13.

External links