Historic Loss - Grand Canyon Collision

The two commercial passenger planes both departed Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) around 9 a.m. PST. As many as 25 of the passengers on the TWA plane were airline employees or employees' relatives. The aircraft was on its way to Washington, via Kansas City and St. Louis. The UAL flight was headed for Newark, via Chicago. Both planes had been at LAX overnight for inspection by their owners' maintenance crews. The planes carried between 3,300 and 3,850 gallons of high octane gas. There were 62 passengers aboard the TWA plane, and 58 aboard the United Airlines DC-7.

Donald B. McComb, Jr. partnered with brother Michael B. McComb in preparation of an article about the tragedy. Published in the Spring 1992 issue of Airliners, the article titled "Final destination, The Story of Flight 2 and Flight 718," included photographs the brothers snapped of the crash site. "At 0850 [8:50 a.m. PST] the doors of the Star of the Seine were closed for the last time," reported Donald B. McComb. "In command of Flight 2 that morning was Captain Jack S. Gandy, accompanied by First Officer James H. Ritner, Flight Engineers (FE) Forrest D. Breyfogle and Harry H. Allen, plus two cabin crew, Tracine E. Armbruster and Beth Ellis Davis." Captain Gandy had been with TWA since 1939.

Parallel Flight Paths Eastward

As the TWA plane climbed eastward over the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, the United DC-7 Vancouver was lifting off Runway 25-L, three minutes behind the TWA Constellation. Captain Robert F. Shirley was in command. Also in the crew, reports McComb, were First Officer Robert W. Harms, and FE Gerard X. Fiore, as well as flight attendants Nancy Kemnitz and Margaret Ann Shoudt, who looked after 53 passengers. "While Capt. Shirley's hours in DC-7s were substantially less than Gandy's time in Connies, … nevertheless, in his nineteen years with United, he had accumulated 16,492 hours and had flown the Los Angeles/Chicago route on a regular basis since October 1, 1955," McComb said in the article.

The TWA route was over Daggett, California, direct to Trinidad, Colorado. The UAL flight plan, following Airway Green Five, took the craft over Palm Springs, then directed it to Painted Desert, near Winslow, Arizona and then over Durango, Colorado to Pueblo. From Palm Springs, the UAL DC-7, route was more northeasterly, and two flight plans would have crossed at the Painted Desert, some 150 miles southeast of the crash site over the eastern part of the Grand Canyon. The TWA plane was to fly at a cruising altitude of 19,500 feet at 270 kt; the UAL aircraft was to fly at 21,000 feet at a speed of 288 kt.

"It was routine for flight plans to indicate a deviation off airways to take advantage of short cuts and strong tailwinds," McComb continued. "Once off airways, the pilots had full responsibility for avoiding other aircraft. Periodic radio checks with ground stations were also required.

"At 0920, near Daggett, TWA 2 had just reached its cruising altitude. Capt. Gandy, seeing thunderhead build-ups on the far horizon, called TWA Flight Operations and requested an altitude change on it IRF (flight plan) clearance from 19,000 feet to 21,000 and, if unable, '1,000 feet on top' … at least 1,000 feet above the nearest cloud tops. The TWA radio operator who received his request from the flight called Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control and at 0921″ passed along the request. It was relayed to the Salt Lake Air Route Traffic Control, which advised back that the UAL Flight 718 was at that altitude, and "Yes, their courses cross and they are right together."

The author adds, "The Los Angeles controller then called the TWA radio operator and said, 'Advisory, TWA 2, unable to approve two one thousand [21,000 feet].' At this time the radio operator interrupted, 'Just a minute. I think he wants a thousand on top, yes, a thousand on top until he can get it.' After determining from the flight, through the TWA radio operator, that he was then 1,000 feet on top the Los Angeles controller issued the following amended clearance. 'ATC clears TWA 2, maintain at least 1,000 feet on top. Advise TWA 2 his traffic is United 718, direct Durango, estimating Needles at 0957.'" The United crew was not advised of this change in the TWA flight plan, and such noticed was not required.

Familiar Landscapes

Anyone familiar with the Southwest will recognize these locations. The time zones change from Pacific to Mountain at the Arizona boarder, so by 0959 PST, it was already almost 11 a.m. in Arizona, and noon in Kansas City. The cabin crews — called hostesses at the time, most of whom were also trained nurses — were preparing to serve lunch on the two transcontinental flights. Passengers by the windows would be able to look down on the Colorado River as it flowed southward from Lake Mead.

"At 0959 TWA 2 reported its position to company radio at Las Vegas," reports McComb. "Flight 2 reported that it had passed over Lake Mojave at 0955, was 1,000 [feet] on top at 21,000 feet, and estimated reaching the Winslow omni station (Painted Desert) at 1031 with Farmington [New Mexico] the next reporting position.

"A minute later UA 718 made a position report to the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration, later Federal Aviation Administration) communication station at Needles, California. Flight 718 reported that it was over Needles at 0958 at 21,000 feet and estimated crossing the Painted Desert at 1031, with Durango next. When the two aircraft crossed the Colorado River they were about 40 air miles apart. With every mile the distance between the Connie and the DC-7 closed. As they crossed of the Kaibab Plateau the two aircraft were less than ten miles apart."

It is speculated that Captain Shirley on the DC-7 might have been able to see the Constellation to his left, unless clouds blocked his view. This was in the era before flight data and voice recording black boxes.

A Mayday Message

The scene was set. But there was another contributing factor. According to the July 1, 1956 New York Times Associated Press article, the two aircraft disappeared in a thunderstorm. Grand Canyon thunderstorms are a matter of beauty and awesome power, as depicted in the fifth movement of Ferde Grof?'s Grand Canyon Suite. The two planes with their 128 occupants vanished.

"We have no way of knowing just what was going on with the two aircraft in those last few seconds, whether they were in the clouds or in the clear," McComb explained. "What we do know is that at 1031 (11:31 MST) at a point just west of the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers, the DC-7′s left aileron tip struck the leading edge of the center fin of the Constellation. A split second later the lower surface of the left wing outboard of the No. 1 engine smashed into the upper aft fuselage of the Connie with a shattering impact that started the break-up of the fuselage just forward of the pressure dome in the area of the rear galley.

"The DC-7 continued to pass laterally over the top of the Connie, the left wing next making contact with the top of the left fin, and shearing it off. Before the two aircrafts separated, the propeller on the No. 1 engine of the DC-7 inflected a series of cuts in the aft baggage compartment of the Connie. All of this occurred in less than one half of a second.

"With its triple tail missing, the TWA Constellation would have entered a steep dive," McComb postulates. "If passengers had not been wearing their seatbelts, they would have been pinned against the ceiling. It fragmented upon crashing into the ground, and fire consumed much of what was left. The United DC-7 would have been missing the left wing from beyond the Number One engine, and would have been spewing fuel from the ruptured tanks. McComb writes that it "began a turning descent to the left that was a little less rapid, but no less fatal than that of the Connie. It was at this time that a message was picked up by Aeronautical Radio (ARINC) in San Francisco and Salt Lake City. They were unable to understand the message when it was received, but by playing it back it was interpreted as 'Salt Lake, United 718… ah … we're going in….'"

As the plane fell, it apparently started to come apart and "shed[ded] bits and pieces of the elevators and rudder," McComb reports. Had it had a few more thousand feet of altitude it perhaps might have been able to pull out of the dive, he suggests, but it is unlikely that they could have reached any airport in time to land, the nearest probably being Flagstaff. Where it crashed was unknown at the time. Another pilot reported seeing smoke in the Canyon that afternoon, but at the time he had not yet heard about the crash.

This was probably the sighting noted in the New York Times article the next morning, before the location of the DC-7 was found. "Lynn Coffin, chief ranger at Grand Canyon National Park, said wreckage of the Super Constellation was sighted from the air about 25 miles northeast of Grand Canyon Village, which is on the south rim of the canyon. Mr. Coffin said the find was made by Palen and Henry Hudgin, brothers who operate the Grand Canyon Airline.

The Hudgin brothers said the wreckage was on the side of a butte about 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, in rugged terrain difficult to enter. The wreckage was scattered over the hillside, they said, and two fires were burning in the area. Mr. Coffin said Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada had been notified that the wreckage had been found and was making arrangements to fly to the area in the morning.

The Arizona National Guard and the U.S. Park Service, including a Swiss mountain rescue team, made rescue attempts but there were no survivors. Bits and pieces of the two aircrafts were found, but they were never reconstructed as is now common with major airliner disasters. The National Park Service contracted with the Arizona Air National Guard, however, to collect most of the larger pieces to prevent danger to potential souvenir hunters.

The Civil Aeronautics Board Report

On April 17, 1957, nine months after the crash, the Civil Aeronautics Board released its official report. The probable cause, they found, "was that the pilots did not see each other in time to avoid the collision. It is not possible to determine why the pilots did not see each other, but the evidence suggests that it resulted from any one or a combination of the following factors: intervening clouds reducing time for visual separation, visual limitations due to cockpit visibility, preoccupation with cockpit duties, preoccupation with matters unrelated to the cockpit duties such as attempting to provide the passengers with a more scenic view of the Grand Canyon area, physiological limits to human vision reducing the time opportunity of en route air traffic advisory information due to inadequacy of facilities and lack of personnel in air traffic control."

"The area over which the planes disappeared is a broad expanse of wasteland covering thousands of square miles of high, jagged mountains, deep canyons and parched desert, the Times report continued. "Heavy thunderclouds hung over the area during the day, but no one in authority would speculate as to what might have happened to the planes. The total number of persons aboard the craft raises the possibility of the worst commercial air disaster in history in event they may have collided or otherwise been involved in a single mishap.

"The first word that the planes were in trouble came from Winslow, in northern Arizona," the article continued. "The Civil Aeronautics Authority reported it had started a search for the planes at 11:46 a.m. MST, after trying unsuccessfully for [almost] an hour to establish radio contact. The terrain features sparsely populated ranchlands, Indian reservations and forestlands with few communities, few roads, and virtually no communications."

A Historic Loss

At the time, 1956, the death of 128 people in an airline accident was unique and record-setting, although there had been greater numbers of fatalities in military air disasters. Prior to 1956, the greatest number of fatalities was 80, in a 1950 Avro Tudor Airline crash in Wales. But a Venezuelan Super Constellation had crashed on June 20, 1956, killing 74 people. Four days after that, a British Overseas Airways Argonaut craft had crashed in North Nigeria, with a death toll of 26. As is so often the case, it seemed that tragedies of this sort came in triplicate.

It is not known by this writer which insurance companies may have been involved in the hull and liability claims resulting from the 1956 Grand Canyon accident. It is most likely that the coverages had been placed with either the U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group, or the Associated Aviation Underwriters, pools of 20 to 40 different insurance companies. At the time about 20 different Lloyd's syndicates also wrote aviation insurance, or Lloyd's may have been involved through reinsurance treaties.

According to David L. Bickelhaupt and John H. Magee in their 1970 edition of General Insurance (Irwin Press) the Insurance Company of North America (INA, now CIGNA) and the Royal Globe companies (now the Royal) wrote a considerable amount of aviation insurance. "With the passage of federal regulatory legislation, the business of aviation attained stability," they wrote. "The control of aviation activities exercised by the federal government through the Civil Aeronautics Authority, the Civil Air Board and the Federal Aviation Agency [have] made mandatory safety measures that might otherwise be disregarded. Control is exercised with respect to the certification of pilots, and regulations cover aircraft flights in the United States."

Undoubtedly, the two aircraft crashes cost the airlines and insurers millions of dollars. There was not only the value of the aircraft themselves, but the liability and life insurance coverages on the passengers and the crew. In addition, there would have been a loss of airmail carried on the planes, and inland marine coverage on jewelry and luggage. It was the possibility of a shipment of diamonds aboard one of the airplanes that became the basis of Hillerman's novel. As in the case of jewels aboard the Titanic, if any were there and were lost, they may still be lost. Or maybe not….

Ken Brownlee, CPCU, is a former adjuster and risk manager based in Atlanta, Ga. He now authors and edits claim-adjusting textbooks.