Western Air Lines Trip 1
Douglas DC-3A-191 · Structural failure following an abrupt flight manoeuvre
From Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 17 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 2
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 2
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas DC-3A-191
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- NC16060
- Operator
- Western Air Lines
- Onboard fatalities
- 17
- Route
- From Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)To Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
Western Air Lines Trip 1 was a domestic scheduled flight of Western Air Lines from Salt Lake City, Utah to Burbank, California with a scheduled stopover in Las Vegas, Nevada. On 15 December 1942 a serious accident occurred on this flight when the Douglas DC-3A-191 aircraft used that day broke apart in the air after an abrupt flight manoeuvre and crashed to the ground. 17 of the 19 people on board were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft lifted off from Salt Lake City airport at night at 01:05 local time for the flight to Burbank with a scheduled stopover in Las Vegas. The first and only radio message from the aircraft was the report "off the field at Salt Lake at 1:05 a.m." at 01:07 to the Western Air Lines radio and dispatch officer. The aircraft then climbed to its cruising altitude of 10,200 feet. At this altitude a sudden loss of control occurred, with the aircraft crashing to the ground at 01:22.
When neither further radio messages were received from the crew nor the aircraft arrived at the airport in Las Vegas, a search for the aircraft was launched. In the morning hours it was sighted, and at 11:25 rescue teams reached the aircraft. They found two seriously injured passengers and could only confirm the deaths of the remaining 17 people on board.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) took over the investigation into the cause of the accident. From the wreckage and its positions, the investigators were able to conclude that parts of the wings and horizontal stabilisers had already broken off the aircraft in the air. The investigators were able to determine that at an altitude of 10,200 feet the left wingtip, possibly even both wingtips, had failed, as had the outer tips of the horizontal stabilisers. This had reportedly occurred when the aircraft was abruptly pulled up, whereupon the aircraft structure was overloaded. It could not be established beyond doubt whether the abrupt manoeuvre was performed by the crew or whether other forces acted on the aircraft. Since no plausible evidence for an alternative theory could be found, it was assumed that the manoeuvre was initiated by a crew member, possibly to avoid a collision with a bird, another aircraft or another object that the pilots saw or believed they had seen. It was further established that the captain had not been in his seat at the time of the accident. The aircraft was being flown by the first officer and the trainee first officer.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Western-Air-Lines-Trip 1” (revision 257279158, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Western-Air-Lines-Trip 1
- Article
- Western-Air-Lines-Trip 1
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 257279158 · 2025-06-23 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q130547992
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Western-Air-Lines-Trip 1" (page 13249929, revision 257279158), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.