Golden West Airlines Flight 261

1975 mid-air collision

33°59′N 118°4′W / 33.983°N 118.067°W / 33.983; -118.067Total fatalities14Total survivors0First aircraft

N6383, the aircraft involved in the accident in February 1968 at Long Beach Airport while still in service with Aero CommuterTypeDe Havilland Twin OtterOperatorGolden West AirlinesRegistrationN6383Flight originOntario International AirportDestinationLos Angeles International AirportOccupants12Passengers10Crew2Fatalities12Survivors0Second aircraft

A similar Cessna 150TypeCessna 150OperatorCessnAir Aviation, Inc.RegistrationN11421Occupants2Fatalities2Injuries0Survivors0

Golden West Airlines Flight 261, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter,^[1]^[2] collided with a Cessna 150 (N11421), owned by CessnAir Aviation, Inc., near Whittier, California. The accident occurred on January 9, 1975, at approximately 4:07 p.m. PST, while the Sun was just 9 degrees above the western horizon, directly into the eyes of the pilots of GW flight 261.

Both aircraft were destroyed by the collision and subsequent ground impact. The 10 passengers and 2 pilots on the Twin Otter, and the instructor pilot and student pilot in the Cessna 150 were killed. Debris fell on homes and lawns but no one on the ground was injured. The wreckage of both aircraft was scattered over an 8 to 10 city block area. The fuselage of the Twin Otter fell into the schoolyard of Katherine Edwards Middle School, where about 300 spectators were watching an outdoor basketball game, while the wings landed two blocks away.^[3] The fuselage of the Cessna fell in the front yard of a house, about two blocks from the Otter fuselage.

The Cessna impacted the left side of the Twin Otter at an approximate angle of 90 degrees. "(1) the Cessna's firewall and instrument panel were embedded in the Twin Otter's fuselage forward of the wing; (2) the propeller slashes in the Cessna's right wing formed an angle of about 88 degrees with the wing leading edge; and (3) the Twin Otter's left engine nacelle and engine were driven inboard by the collision." Ground witnesses said that neither plane made any last moment maneuver attempt to avoid the collision.

GW 261 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight between Ontario International Airport (ONT) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), both in the Los Angeles area of California. The flight departed from ONT at 1556 PST, on a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan. That separated GW 261 from the larger aircraft, which arrived at LAX on instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plans.

The IFR flights were required to remain within the confines of the Los Angeles Group 1 terminal control area (TCA) (now Class B Airspace), while smaller planes were required to remain outside of the TCA, until the designated entry point, which was specified in their assigned VFR TCA arrival. In the case of GW 261, it was to remain outside of the TCA until the 10 DME fix of runway 24 right localizer, and to enter at an altitude of 1,500 feet MSL. The top of the TCA was 7,000 feet, while the base varied, depending on the distance from LAX. That mixed GW 261 in with all the other small plane VFR traffic in the Los Angeles Basin, which did not have transponders. Most of those were not flying to LAX, so they were not in radio communication with LAX radar controllers. The only defense was the "see and be seen" method of collision avoidance. That deficient method of traffic separation failed to work that day, as it has failed many other times in high density traffic areas.

Probable cause

"The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of both flightcrews to see the other aircraft in sufficient time to initiate evasive action. The Board is unable to determine why each crew failed to see and avoid the other aircraft; however, the Board believes that the ability of both crews to detect the other aircraft in time to avoid a collision was reduced because of the position of the sun, the closure angle of the aircraft, and the necessity for the Twin Otter's flightcrew to acquire visual contact with radar-reported traffic directly in front of them."^[4]

References

^ "Twin Otter".
^ "N6383 Photo".
^ Lowe, Mark (January 10, 1975). "Cal planes collide". Daily Record. Vol. 78, no. 8. Ellensburg, WA.
^ "Aircraft Accident Report - Golden West Airlines, Inc., De Havilland DHC-6 N6383, and CessnAir Aviation, Inc., Cessna 150, N11421, Whittier, California, January 9, 1975" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. August 7, 1975. NTSB-AAR-75-14. - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

External links

Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
Gendisasters.com - Whittier, CA Commuter Plane And Light Plane CollideArchived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine - includes eyewitness reports and names of the victims

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1975 (1975)

Jan 9

Golden West Airlines Flight 261

Jan 17

Kjalarnes helicopter crash

Jan 30

Turkish Airlines Flight 345

Mar 31

Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash

Apr 4

Tân Sơn Nhứt C-5 accident

Jun 24

Eastern Air Lines Flight 66

Aug 3

Agadir Royal Air Maroc Boeing 707 crash

Aug 15

Aeroflot Flight A-53

Aug 20

ČSA Flight 540

Aug 30

Wien Air Alaska Flight 99

Sep 1

Interflug Flight 1107

Sep 24

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 150

Sep 30

Malév Flight 240

Oct 14

Żabbar Avro Vulcan crash

Oct 30

Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450

Nov 12

Overseas National Airways Flight 032

Nov 29

Graham Hill plane crash

Dec 23

South African Air Force Alouette crash

1974 ◄ ► 1976

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
1970	Cornfield Bomber Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 Trans International Airlines Flight 863 Wichita State University football team plane crash Southern Airways Flight 932 Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26
1971	B-52C Lake Michigan crash Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 Pan Am Flight 845 Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 (see D. B. Cooper)
1972	Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 American Airlines Flight 96 Prinair Flight 191 Lake Winnebago mid-air collision Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 Delta Air Lines Flight 841 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accident Southern Airways Flight 49 United Air Lines Flight 553 Chicago–O'Hare runway collision Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash
1973	DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 Delta Air Lines Flight 723 TWA Flight 742 World Airways Flight 802 Texas International Airlines Flight 655 Pan Am Flight 160 National Airlines Flight 27 Iberia Flight 933
1974	Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 Pan Am Flight 806 Delta Air Lines Flight 523 Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 TWA Flight 514 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231
1975	Golden West Airlines Flight 261 Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 Overseas National Airways Flight 032
1976	Alaska Airlines Flight 60 American Airlines Flight 625 Air Manila Flight 702 TWA Flight 355
1977	Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 Southern Airways Flight 242 Delta Air Lines Flight 1080 Encino helicopter crash Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash Air Indiana Flight 216 United Airlines Flight 2860 Vieques Air Link crash
1978	Continental Airlines Flight 603 United Airlines Flight 696 National Airlines Flight 193 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 Air Caribbean Flight 309 TWA Flight 541 United Airlines Flight 173
1979	TWA Flight 841 American Airlines Flight 191 Downeast Airlines Flight 46 Air New England Flight 248 American Airlines Flight 293 American Airlines Flight 444
This list is incomplete. ALM Flight 980 ditched in waters near St. Croix. Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands