Salmon Mountain, OR Plane Crashes Into Peak, Oct 1966

WEST COAST'S JET MISSING; 20 ABOARD.

West Coast Airlines' new DC9 jetliner vanished last night south of Portland with 20 persons aboard.
The West Coast office here said no one from Walla Walla was aboard. The new 75-passenger plane started nightly service here only last Monday, but on Saturday night the plane's schedule called for bypassing Eastern Washington, with a drect Portland-Seattle flight instead.
Near Portland.
The Associated Press reported contact with the twin-jet, it was lost as it neared Portland after a stop at Eugene on its nightly flight from San Francisco. Search efforts were virtually impossible under last night's weather conditions. It vanished from radar shortly after 8:20 p.m.
State police said radio contact was lost when the aircraft was near Squaw Mountain, which is southwest of Mr. Hood about 30 miles southeast of Portland.
Rain was falling in the area and the ceiling was down to 2,900 feet, the Oregon Board of Aeronautics reported. Squaw Mountain is 4,800 feet high.
A spokesman for the board said two planes were in the area and a third was due shortly. But the terrain below was obscured by the clouds and darkness.
The Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D. C., said it was dispatching a dozen men to investigate. WILLIAM L. LAMB, CAB air safety investigator, will be in charge.
14 Passengers.
In Seattle, a vice president of West Coast, ED ALTMAN, said the plane carried 14 passengers, two pilots, an observer pilot and three stewardesses.
ALTMAN identified the pilot as Capt. DONALD ALDRICH. The co-pilot was CHARLIE WARREN. PETE LaBUSKY the observer and the stewardesses were DONNA McDONALD, BONNIE WEINBERGER and MARGARET BJORNSON, all from Seattle.
The control tower in Eugene said the plane landed and departed without unusual event at 7:52 p.m. TERRY HUNTER, West Coast station menager in Portland, said the plane was due in Portland, 106 miles north, a few minutes later.
A spokesman for the CAB said if the plane had crashed it would be the first crash involving the DC9 since it began commercial operation about one year ago for several other airlines.
Meanwhile, an F106 jet from McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Wash., flew at high altitudes over the area between Portland and Eugene on the possibility that a column of smoke might be seen.
Plane In Search.
An HU16 Albatross from the 304th rescue unit at Portland AFB also joined the search.
The control tower in Portland reported the plane was under the radar surveillance of Seattle, 180 miles north, when it disappeared. It would have been passed to the Portland tower for landing just about when it dropped from sight. At that time it had been aloft from Eugene 10 or 15 minutes.
The tower said there had been no reports from other pilots of unusual turbulence in the area. The rain came from a weak front moving through the area, but it was considered normal instrument flight control weather.
R. D. SMITH, airport manager for operations in Portland, said he saw no chance of getting a search under was Saturday night. He said Hamilton AFB undoubtedly would be in charge with planes joining from McChord AFB and from the Oregon Board of Aeronautics.
It was reported the plane received tower clearance at 8:20 p.m. to descend and was then at 12,500 feet. At 8:44 p.m. West Coast notified the Multnomah County sheriff's office that a DC9 was down 30 to 60 miles from Portland.

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Washington 1966-10-02

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18 DEATH CRASH CAUSE IS SOUGHT.

DC9 WAS FAR UNDER SET LEVEL.

Portland, Ore. (AP) -- Dozens of investigators hunted for clues Monday in the mountain ravine into which an airliner crashed, killing all 18 persons board.
The West Coast Airlines DC9 went down Saturday night in the rugged terrain about 30 miles southeast of Portland.
It took 17 hours to find the wreckage and another three hours to find a way to it. The only was turned out to be by air. The forest was like a jungle. There were no trails. Only a helicopter could get in, landing in a mountain meadow a quarter-mile from the crash.
The impact came as the jet descended the western slope of the Cascade range.
The plane almost made it. It was down to the 4,000-foot level, and if it had not been for a 4,200-foot ridge, the plane could have glided into Portland Airport on a flight from Eugene, Ore., 100 miles to the south.
The first question for crash investigators is why the pilot, who was flying on instruments, apparently thought he was higher than 4,200 feet.
Officials said he reported he was 10 minutes out of Portland. Ground control gave hjim permission to drop from 14,000 feet. He was asked to report when he got to 12,000 feet, and in no case to go below 9,000 feet without reporting.
At that point the radar controller said the plane disappeared from the radar scope. That meant it crashed, but at the 4,000 foot level instead of the 12,000 or 9,000.
EDWARD S. SLATTERY, JR., Washington, D. C., spokesman for the Civil Aeronautics Board, said it might be days, perhaps weeks, before answers would be found.
Not only was it the first crash of a DC9, but it also was the first crash to take the lives of passengers in the 20-year history of the airline, which is a feeder route operating principally in the Pacific Northwest. Thirteen passengers were killed, five crew members. The plane has a seating capacity of 75.
The 75-passenger plane was carrying 13 passengers and a crew of five.
It was the first crash to claim the lives of passengers in the 20-year history of West Coast Airlines. It also was the first crash of a DC9 in a year of operations for other airlines around the world. The original reports on the tragedy Saturday night had listed 20 persons aboard.
The pilot was Capt. DONALD ALLDREDGE, 50, of Bellevue, and the co-pilot was CHARLES C. WARREN, 42, Seattle, director of West Coast's flight operations. (WARREN piloted the DC9 on its initial flight to Walla Walla a week ago.)
Stewardesses were MRS. BONNIE WEINBERGER, 27, and MARGRETHE BJORNSON, 25. (A third stewardess, DONNA McDONALD, was erroneously listed aboard in the first reports Saturday night.)

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Washington 1966-10-03

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!