Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114

U.S. air crash

35°56′26″N 115°15′53″W / 35.9405°N 115.2647°W / 35.9405; -115.2647AircraftAircraft typeFairchild F-27OperatorBonanza Air LinesRegistrationN745L (formerly N145L)Flight originPhoenix Sky Harbor International AirportDestinationMcCarran International AirportPassengers26Crew3Fatalities29Survivors0

Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 was a Fairchild F-27 turboprop airliner flying out of Phoenix, Arizona, to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the evening of November 15, 1964.^[1]

At 8:25 p.m., during a landing approach in poor weather conditions, it crashed into the top of a hill in open desert country about 8 miles (13 km) SSW of Las Vegas. All 29 aboard -- 26 passengers and a crew of three -- died instantly when the plane exploded on impact, no more than 10 feet (3 m) below a ridge crest.^[2] Although this was not the only incident involving a Bonanza Air Lines airplane, it is the only crash with fatalities during the airline's 23-year history.^[3]

Media reports initially stated that 28 had died,^[4] but these were corrected when the body of a very young girl was found amid the debris.^[5] The rugged terrain and snowdrifts surrounding the crash site initially prevented ground vehicles from reaching the wreckage, so four helicopters assisted in the recovery efforts.^[5] Eventually a narrow, unimproved road one mile long that climbs up a ridge and terminates at the hilltop crash site was built to assist in salvage operations; it can still be seen in current aerial photos.^[6]

Pilot Henry "Hank" Fitzpatrick, a veteran with over 11,000 hours experience, was initially blamed for flying too low due to misreading the approach chart for McCarran International, but an investigation years later showed that the chart was marked in a non-standard, and possibly confusing, manner.^[2]^[7] Some heirs of the crash victims sued the publisher of the chart, but before a verdict was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit the chart company, Jeppesen, agreed to pay the plaintiffs US$490,000.^[8]

References

^ Incident summary at baa-acro.com Archived June 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Bates, Warren (November 15, 1999). "Hunt for Lost F-27". reviewjournal.com. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on 2003-05-08. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
^ Bonanza Air Lines accidents and incidents at the Aviation Safety Network
^ "Place Crash Takes Lives Of 28 People". The Free-Lance Star. Associated Press. November 16, 1964. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
^ ^a ^b "Bodies Recovered At Air Crash Site". The Victoria Advocate. Associated Press. November 17, 1964. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
^ "ACME Mapper aerial view of crash site". Mapper.acme.com. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
^ "Aetna v. Jeppesen lawsuit, appeal ruling". openjurist.org. F2d (642): 339. April 20, 1981. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
^ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network

External links

Aircraft Accident Report for Flight 114 via baa-acro.com
Gallery of 26 historic and present-day photos of crash site from the Las Vegas Sun
Photograph of wreckage at the crash site at bonanzaairlines.com
Pre-crash photograph of the Fairchild F-27 involved in the incident from the Ed Coates collection
Color pre-crash photograph of the accident aircraft (with former registration number of N145L)
Names of passengers and crew Archived 2011-09-23 at the Wayback Machine

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1964 (1964)

Jan 13

Savage Mountain B-52 crash

Jan 28

T-39 shootdown

Feb 25

Eastern Air Lines Flight 304

Feb 29

British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802/6

Mar 1

Paradise Airlines Flight 901A

Apr 5

Machida F-8 crash

May 7

Pacific Air Lines Flight 773

May 20

Philippine Air Lines Flight F26

Jun 20

Civil Air Transport Flight 106

Jul 9

United Air Lines Flight 823

Sep 2

Aeroflot Flight 721

Oct 2

Mt. Alcazaba UTA Douglas DC-6 crash

Nov 15

Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114

Nov 20

Linjeflyg Flight 267V

Nov 23

TWA Flight 800

Dec 24

Flying Tiger Line Flight 282

1963 ◄ ► 1965

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 Capital Airlines Flight 20 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 World Airways Flight 830 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 Cal Poly football team New York mid-air collision
1961	Goldsboro B-52 American Airlines Flight 1502 Yuba City B-52 United Air Lines Flight 859 Alaska Airlines Flight 779 TWA Flight 529 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 Continental Airlines Flight 11 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 United Air Lines Flight 297 Eastern Air Lines Flight 512
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 Camden PA-24 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 Pan Am Flight 214
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 Paradise Airlines Flight 901A Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 United Air Lines Flight 823 Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 Flying Tiger Line Flight 282
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 Pan Am Flight 843 Continental Airlines Flight 12 Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 United Air Lines Flight 389 American Airlines Flight 383 United Air Lines Flight 227 Carmel mid-air (Eastern 853, TWA 42)
1966	NASA T-38 American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D Braniff International Airways Flight 250 West Coast Airlines Flight 956
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 TWA Flight 553 West Coast Airlines Flight 720 Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 Lake Erie skydiving disaster TWA Flight 159 X-15 Flight 3-65-97 TWA Flight 128
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 Braniff International Airways Flight 352 Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 Northeast Airlines Flight 946 Japan Air Lines Flight 2 Pan Am Flight 281 Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 Pan Am Flight 799 North Central Airlines Flight 458 Ozark Air Lines Flight 982
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 United Air Lines Flight 266 Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 Prinair Flight 277 Delta Air Lines Flight 821 TWA Flight 5787 Newton Cessna 172 crash Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 Mohawk Airlines Flight 411
This list is incomplete.