| - | ACCIDENT DETAILS |
| Date: | October 02, 1970 |
| Time: | 1200 |
| Location: | Mt. Trelease, near Silver Plume, Colorado |
| Operator: | Charter, Golden Eagle Aviation Inc. |
| Flight #: | 108 |
| Route: | Wichita - Denver - Logan, Utah |
| AC Type: | Martin 404 |
| Registration: | N464M |
| cn / ln: | 14151 |
| Aboard: | 40 (passengers:37 crew:3) |
| Fatalities: | 32 (passengers:30 crew:2) |
| Ground: | 0 |
| Summary: | Two charter planes took off Wichita for a flight to Logan, Utah via Denver. The flight was uneventful to Denver. The crew of N464M decided to fly a scenic route the rest of the way to Logan. The aircraft, which was overloaded by 5,165 lbs. , flew into a box canyon. Confronted with steeply rising terrain, the pilot made a sharp bank trying to turn around in the narrowing valley and stalled, crashing into a mountainous forested area on Mt. Trelease. Numerous members and staff of the Wichita State Football team were killed. The pilot had only 123 total hours in a Martin 404, the copilot 30 hours. Intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal. Other factors included overloaded conditions, lack of a flight planning and minimum qualifications of the crew. |
Sources
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