Investigation Summary
The flight was the penultimate leg of a multi-stop transcontinental journey from New York to Long Beach, with scheduled stops in Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Burbank. While approaching Burbank, the pilot was cleared for a straight-in approach to Runway 7. The established procedure required maintaining at least 500 feet above the overcast until reaching the Chatsworth Fan Marker. However, the aircraft entered the cloud layer prematurely. Investigators found the wreckage on the outbound leg of the prescribed procedure turn, but at an altitude approximately 1,000 feet lower than required. The right wing tip first brushed greasewood bushes before the right propeller struck an eight-foot boulder, causing the aircraft to cartwheel and disintegrate. A notable subplot involved a physical altercation between two passengers 40 minutes before the crash, which led the captain to request police presence upon landing; however, investigators concluded this distraction did not contribute to the navigational error.
Final Conclusions
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) determined the probable cause was the pilot's action in descending below the prescribed minimum altitude while executing an instrument approach. The board noted that the pilot may have anticipated the rapidly dissipating cloud layer would clear faster than it did, or he may have been misled by a brief visual sighting of a nearby lake before losing reference in the fog.
Photographic Evidence (1)
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Had performed an estimated 100 instrument approaches to Burbank.
First Officer
Systems & Failure Modes
Altimeter
A barometric instrument used to determine altitude; the recovered unit showed a setting near the local pressure but confirmed the low altitude at impact.
Chatsworth Fan Marker
A radio beacon used as a key navigational fix for the instrument approach procedure to Burbank.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was an 'irregular air carrier' operating in violation of CAB economic regulations at the time of the crash.
- 02Among the 13 survivors was actress Caren Marsh Doll, a stand-in for Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.
- 03Rescue operations were significantly aided by members of the WKFL Fountain of the World religious cult led by Krishna Venta.
- 04The recovered altimeter was found set to 30.08 and read 1,940 feet, consistent with the impact altitude.
- 05The crash site was located almost exactly on the outbound leg of the prescribed instrument procedure turn.