October 16, 1971: Scenic Airlines, Inc., Cessna 402 (N3250Q) Grand Canyon, AZ
On October 16, 1971, a Cessna 402 (N3250Q) departed from North Las Vegas Airport (KVGT) en-route to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (KGCN). The air tour flight was being operated by Scenic Airlines and was scheduled to be 90 minutes in duration. Pilot Wayne Leeth age 46, had flown the route more than 600 times and had more than 2,400 hours total time with 415 hours in the Cessna 402.
A fast moving cold front brought snow showers and low visibility that morning as the flight of four tour aircraft made their way eastbound through the canyon. With the ceiling and visibility dropping, the four planes began to turn back for Las Vegas. Captain Leeth was the last aircraft to turn around after attempting to make it over the Shivwits Plateau near Parashant Canyon. Captain Leeth's last radio call was that he was turning back due to weather. The time was 9:45 AM.
With only three of his four planes safely back on the ramp, a concerned John Siebold (Scenic Airlines owner) began to take the steps in an attempt to locate the overdue aircraft. Without success, the official search was under way by 2:00 PM. The weather continued to hamper the search efforts and it wasn't until the next day around noon that the scattered wreckage of N3250Q was discovered on a snow covered plateau. All ten persons on-board were killed.
Wayne Leeth...............Pilot
Dr. James Allen Jr.......Princeton, NJ
Mrs. Florence Allen.....Princeton, NJ
Dr. R. Lynch................Chicago, IL
Mrs. R. Lynch..............Chicago, IL
Mr. P. Dosmond...........Paris, France
Mrs. P. Dosmond.........Paris, France
Mr. Paul Haack............Erlangen, W. Germany
Mrs. Renate Haack......Erlangen, W. Germany
Mr. Walter Pilgram.......Erlangen, W. Germany
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HISTORICAL SUMMARY:
This crash site took about fifteen years of on and off searching plus a little luck to locate. The published location was vague. The various newspaper articles had the plane crashing either on Mt. Trumbull, Pine Mountain, in Parashant Canyon or near the top of Parashant Canyon. Even more confusing, the NTSB listed the accident location as Colorado City (nearly 60 miles north of the crash site). I tried to narrow it down with the Civil Air Patrol's wreckage location list and it turned out that the listed CAP coordinate was about a mile from the actual crash site.
It wasn't until 2008 I made a random turn in an aircraft near Parashant Canyon that I looked down and there it was. The crash site is remote, but accessible with four-wheel drive vehicle. The site is located within the boundaries of land managed by the Grand Canyon National Park.
A visit to the crash site revealed that even though wreckage remains today, major components were missing and were either salvaged or removed during the accident investigation process. A list of significant components not located at the crash site during my visit included:
Both Continental TSIO-520-VB turbocharged engines.
Both propellers and/or blades.
Both (left and right) wing structures and tip-type fuel tanks.
Both horizontal stabilizers and vertical stabilizer.
Main cabin door (upper and lower doors).
All three landing gear assemblies with wheels and tires.
Many flight instruments and gauges.
Both crew and passenger seats.
Somehow, this historical crash site has escaped the park service's "cleaning process" of removing aircraft wreckage from public lands. The site should be preserved not only as a memorial to those that perished in this disaster, but also as a testament to the perils faced by early air tour pilots when safety technologies to avoid weather and terrain was not available.
Three fragments of the aircraft rudder pedals again illustrate the severe destructive forces involved in this accident.
This component is made of fiberglass and was once one of two engine nacelle end caps for the aircraft.
The engine nacelle end caps were located just behind the wing locker baggage compartments on each nacelle.
This metallic ring was used in conjunction with the propeller's electrical deice system.
Even though this was the early 1970s, smoking was probably still not allowed on aircraft operated by Scenic Airlines.
Nevertheless, ashtrays were still standard installed equipment on aircraft manufactured by Cessna.
The largest piece of wreckage at the site was this 12 foot long fragment of upper aft fuselage.
When I lifted the fuselage section, I noticed that there was a section of forward vertical stabilizer still attached.
Due to the age of the accident, I found very little intact interior fabric. The few fragments I did locate had been deteriorated by exposure and weathering.
Photographed are remnants of the cabin carpeting that was originally located on the floor and the lower cabin sidewalls.
The original placement of this painted fragment puzzled me at first.
By viewing photos of the aircraft, I discovered that this fragment was a piece of the aft fuselage located on the right side of the aircraft.
The bottom part of a shoe was located in the debris field.
A passenger's hotel room key (Room 2202) was one of the few personal effects located at the site.
Of the nine passengers that were traveling on the ill-fated flight, four were women. These metal change purse frames were all that was left of these personal effects.
A zipper still fastened after nearly forty years tells of a warm jacket worn on that cold October morning in 1971.
This passenger's 35mm camera, much like the aircraft it was traveling, literally exploded on impact.
The 35mm camera was an expensive Ihagee Exa, made in Dresden, Germany. A top of the line camera in the early 1970s
I found this circuit board card in the debris field and I instantly had a mystery.
The card, apparently part of a video processor? Personal home video cameras were not available until 1976 and were more common during 1980s.
I am not sure if the aircraft was equipped with a weather radar system or if video processors are components of aircraft weather radars.
Grimes manufactures aircraft lighting systems for both general and commercial aviation aircraft. This fragment probably was part of the rotating beacon light installed on the aircraft.
This attached placard with engine oil information was located on an engine cowling door.
Considering the violent manner at which the aircraft broke apart in the ravine, it was not too surprising to find fragments of aircraft wreckage such as this still embedded in a tree.
WRECKAGE IN THE DRY WASH
The lowest point of this crash site crosses this dry wash. Four decades of rain and seasonal flooding carried away many fragments both large and small down this sandy drainage.
The first significant fragment I found in the dry wash was part of the Cessna 402's aft cabin structure.
A piece of the aircraft cabin's interior plastic was found entangled in some washed down branches.
This large fragment of the aircraft's right side fuselage had the only intact window found at the crash site. The fragment was deeply embedded in the sand and debris of the wash.
This photo illustrates the original location of the above fragment. The oval windows of the early Cessna 402s suggest the aircraft cabin was pressurized. The passenger cabin however was not.
Some fragments located in the wash were only a few inches in length, such as this piece of fiberglass fairing.
This cargo door with window would have been located on the left side of the aircraft next to the main cabin entrance door.
NOTE: The painted red stripe is long gone, faded by sunlight and sand erosion. The black painted stripe remains. Over time, red paint tends to fade faster than other colors.
The main cabin door along with the hinged cargo door of the Cessna 402 provided a wide entry for over-sized baggage or cargo.
Considering the close proximity to the aircraft's cockpit, the emergency exit hatch exhibited little damage other than a few bent edges and a broken out window pane. The hatch most likely broke away early during the initial impact sequence.
The Cessna 402 had only one emergency exit hatch and it was located on the right side of the aircraft.
This photo shows the location of the emergency exit hatch. The hatch has no external release handle. Due to it's design, the hatch can only be opened from inside the passenger cabin.
The main switch and circuit breaker panel was carried several hundred feet down the dry wash by years of flooding.
The panel originally contained switches for engine starting, magnetos, aircraft lighting, fuel pumps, as well as circuit breakers for various aircraft systems.
Some fragments carried down the wash ended up on tall bushes and boulders. Physical evidence that flash flooding water levels in this wash can exceed 3-4 feet in height during severe rain storms.
A fragment of cockpit instrument panel and wiring was wrapped around this tree.
I was amazed to see how many different ways the washed-down fragments were caught by terrain and vegetation.
This flight control armature showed signs of both rust and impact damage.
These fragments of cabin interior carpet were carried by flood waters nearly a quarter of a mile down the wash.
More cabin interior carpeting. Small and lightweight items such as interior plastic and carpet were the only materials I located in the wash about a half mile from the crash site.
My search of the dry wash was concluded when I found this bright shiny object glinting in the sunlight. A discarded "Happy Birthday" balloon made of reflective Mylar.
As I hiked out of the dry wash and back on top of the ravine. I paused to take a look across the canyon to a plateau about 17 miles away to the south. The site of another weather related air tour accident:
August 17, 1983
Las Vegas Airlines, Inc.
Piper PA-31-350 (N88LV)
IN MEMORY
At the time, the loss of Scenic Airlines N3250Q was the worst commercial air tour accident in the Grand Canyon. For Scenic Airlines, in operation only four years, it was their first fatal accident. A devastating event for the small family air tour company.
Myself, having recently spoken with Scenic Airlines founder and former owner John Siebold about the accident and the aftermath. He sadly recalled tragedy as if it was yesterday. For some, the memories of that October day in 1971 are far from distant and never forgotten.
*THE END*
