Investigation Summary
The flight originated in New York on March 2, 1946, and proceeded through several scheduled stops without incident. After a crew change in El Paso and a brief stop in Tucson, the aircraft departed for San Diego at 05:59 PST. The flight crew maintained regular radio contact, reporting their position over El Centro at 8,000 feet at 07:53 PST. Shortly thereafter, Los Angeles air traffic control issued a clearance to maintain 8,000 feet, but the San Diego radio station was unable to relay this message as the aircraft failed to respond to further calls. The wreckage was spotted later that afternoon by a Navy aircraft at an elevation of 4,870 feet on Thing Mountain, approximately 50 miles east of San Diego. The investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) found that the aircraft had struck the mountain while in a normal cruising attitude, indicating the pilots were likely unaware of their proximity to the terrain. While the CAB determined the pilot permitted a descent into instrument conditions below the safe minimum altitude, the specific reason for this descent could not be established due to the lack of flight recorders and the total destruction of the aircraft.
Final Conclusions
The Civil Aeronautics Board determined the probable cause was the action of the pilot in descending, or permitting a descent to be made, into instrument conditions to an altitude below that required to maintain clearance over Thing Mountain. The reason for the descent has not been determined.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Samuel Edward Stoner, age 30.
First Officer
Emmett Edward Baker Jr., age 25. 1,000 hours were obtained in the Navy.
Systems & Failure Modes
Radio Navigation
The crew used routine position reports over Casa Grande, Gila Bend, Yuma, and El Centro to track their progress along the airway.
Altimeter
The aircraft was cleared for 8,000 feet but was found at 4,870 feet, indicating a significant unintended or unrecognized loss of altitude.
Interesting Facts
- 01The accident was the deadliest American airliner crash at the time of its occurrence.
- 02The aircraft had accumulated 16,322 flying hours since its first flight in 1940.
- 03While the wreckage was partially cleared in 1946, the exact GPS location of the site remained undocumented until its rediscovery in 2015.
- 04The 27 fatalities consisted of 3 crew members and 24 passengers (22 adults and 2 infants).
- 05The impact occurred approximately 50 miles east of the destination in San Diego.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Altitude Clearance Enforcement
The investigation emphasized the necessity of maintaining cleared altitudes in instrument conditions, particularly when traversing mountainous terrain where minimum safe altitudes are critical for obstacle clearance.