Finding the Martin 404 Airliner Wreck in The Rocky Mountains
The airplane was chartered by the Wichita State University football team for a special flight from Wichita to Logan with an intermediate stop in Denver, carrying players and supporters. After departure from Denver-Stapleton Airport, the crew went off course and followed a wrong track. While cruising at an altitude of 10,800 feet, the airplane struck trees and crashed on the slope of Mt Trelease (12,447 feet high) located about 10,6 miles west of Silver Plume. Two crew members and 30 passengers were killed while eight other occupants were seriously injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.
Probable cause: The intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal. Significant factors were the overloaded condition of the aircraft, the virtual absence of flight planning for the chosen route of flight from Denver to Logan, a lack of understanding on the part of the crew of the performance capabilities and limitations of the aircraft, and the lack of operational management to monitor and appropriately control the actions of the flightcrew.
Here is the NTSB Report: www.baaa-acro.com/sites/defau...
#airplanecrashes #aviation #aircraft
Beautiful country up there... 👍
Agreed my friend
Wow, I'm old enough to remember when this happened. Same year as the Marshall University crash. Interesting video!
Wow that had to be crazy to hear about happening so close.
I remember when this crash happened too. The pilot decided to go off course to show the passengers the beauty of the mountains up close and to his horror realized he didn't have the power to climb on the mountain at the end of the canyon. He turned the airplane around but hit the mountain side with loss of life including his own. Another Martin 404 on the same trip stuck with the flight plan and landed safely at the destination airport. I use to ride on Martin 404's in the 1960's when Piedmont Airlines had 36 of them bought used from TWA and Eastern. It was a good piston/propeller airliner which crashed here due to pilot error.
That part is still crazy to think about.
@@SirDrifto Yes it is. The Martin 404 went into service with TWA and Eastern in 1951 as a replacement for the DC-3. In the early 60's they were sold to smaller airlines such as Piedmont and Southern. By the time of this crash the 404 was sold again and many were crop dusters or charter planes. The pilot here violated flight plan FAA rules and clearly wasn't aware of his terrain and the capabilities of his aircraft type. There was another Martin 404 about the same time on another charter flight from Atlanta to Florida to see property for investers, and the ground crew wasn't familiar in 1970 of an airliner built in 1950 so they filled the tanks with jet fuel assuming it was a turboprop which were very common in 1970 but the Pratt and Whitney R2800 radial engines use high octane GASOLINE!!! There was enough gasoline in the lines to start the engines and take off but just after take off the engines began popping and cutting off then both engines completely quit forcing the pilot to land on the interstate crushing an automobile killing the occupants and after hitting a bridge, several on board the airliner were killed. Another deadly mistake by people who did not know their equipment. Airplanes and that degree of incompetence is DEADLY!!!
A lot of these aircraft crash sites have a very bad feeling about them. I don't want to go ahead and say the bad h word but I've been to a couple of these places and you can't just discounted as your imagination. In particular the 737 crash just north of the Pittsburgh Airport , I think it was 93 or 94. I lived in Pittsburgh for 26 years and most of the people I knew who had been to the site turned around and left within minutes of getting there. I used to have a huge interest in aviation. Still do as a matter fact but not in Crash sites anymore. It seems a little morbid and like I said I don't want to say the bad h word.
Promo SM