Summary Pilot error, CFIT Crew 4 Survivors 13 Number of deaths 35 Operator Standard Air Lines | Passengers 44 Fatalities 35 Date 12 July 1949 Destination Bob Hope Airport Location Chatsworth | |
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Site Chatsworth, California, United States Summaries Pilot error, Controlled flight into terrain Similar 1949 Strato‑Freight Curtiss C, Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, 1949 MacRobertson Miller Avi, 1949 Queensland Airlines L, 1949 Manchester BEA Dou | ||
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.
Contents
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
Actress Caren Marsh Doll was among the survivors of the crash.
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.