Cheyenne

Enroute, the crew was informed that weather conditions in Cheyenne were poor and was rerouted to Laramie. Unfortunately, upon arrival, weather conditions were not so good with light snow and a visibility of two miles. The captain decided to attempt to land but was unable to locate the airport and passed over without seeing it. Shortly later, while at an altitude of 75 feet and in a left bank of 70°, the aircraft hit the ground with its left wing, crashed and burned. All 13 occupants were killed.

An approach from the west was then decided on by the Captain as visibility there had been fair. The First Officer contacted the tower and was cleared to land on Runway 12 (to the southeast). While headed west the Captain started a gradual left turn at the western boundary of the field, continued it for a short time and then entered a right turn in an attempt to line up with and land on Runway 12. This right turn was continued at an altitude of some 200 feet above the ground with, wheels down, 15 degree of flap and airspeed of approximately 120 mph (once as low as 110 mph). The Captain instructed the First Officer, who occupied the right hand pilot seat, (on the low and field side of the turn) to "sing out" when he saw the field. When the First Officer did see it he said "There's the field at 2 o'clock" (at a relative bearing of 60 degree). The Captain then leaned to the right to see the field himself and during this momentary diversion from the instruments enough altitude was lost to permit the right wing tip to strike the ground. The site was on rolling prairie approximately 20 feet higher than, and about 1 1/2 miles northwest of the Cheyenne Airport, on the U. S. Military Reservation of Fort Warren. At the instant of impact the aircraft was still in a right turn, banked approximately 15 degree and headed northeast. It came to rest about 700 feet beyond the point of first impact. A gasoline fire developed on the ground along the crash path and the right wing, which had been torn from the fuselage, was partly burned. Two passengers were killed while most of the other occupants were injured, some of them seriously.

The aircraft was reported over Elko, Nevada, at 0121 and the pilot stated to the Aircraft Communicator at Elko that he had the field n and that he anticipated no difficulty in landing. The latest weather information was transmitted to the pilot and acknowledged by him: Ceiling measured 200 feet, thin overcast; lower thin scattered clouds at 100 visibility 7 miles; wind ENE at 6 mph; altimeter setting 30.14. No further transmission was received from the flight. Elko radio made several attempts to contact Aircraft 850 without success and, at approximately 0133, notified Airway Traffic control that radio contact was no longer being maintained with the flight. Salt Lake City Air Traffic Control requested Battle Mountain radio to attempt to contact the aircraft in the event the pilot had elected to continue to his alternate. However, although several attempts were made, no contact was established with the flight. United Air Lines' Flight 16, of September 4, 1946, en route to Salt Lake City on Airway Green 3, was called by the United Air Lines station at Salt Lake City and requested to check the vicinity of Elko for any sign of fire or other indications of an aircraft accident. The time of this contact was 0200, at which time Flight 16 was approximately 5 miles east of Elko Range Station. The Caption of Flight 16 returned to Elko and scanned the area in the vicinity of the airport. On approaching the airport the flight crew of the United Air Lines' DC-3 observed an intense fire approximately 2 miles west and almost directly in line with Runway 23 of the Elko Airport. This information was transmitted to the United Air Lines' ground station at Elko, Nevada, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The fire warden at Elko was immediately notified of the location of the fire and was requested to proceed to the scene of the fire. Personnel from the C. A. Communications Station at Elko arrived at the scene of the fire at approximately 0230 and found that the aircraft had crashed near the top of a ridge, the elevation of which was approximately 11' feet above that of the field, and at a point approximately 2 1/2 miles west of the west and of Runway 23 at Elko Airport. At this time the wreckage was found to be burned severely and, with the exception of two passengers, one of whom died shortly afterward, all occupants had been fatally injured in the aircraft.

The airplane was on a flight to Canada to be delivered to the Royal Air Force. En route from Ogden to Cheyenne, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions. In heavy snow falls, the airplane contacted ground and crashed near Elk Mountain. SAR operations were initiated but eventually suspended six days later. The wreckage was found in July. The pilot was killed.
Crew:
Robert S. Gleghorn, pilot.

While cruising at an altitude of 10,000 feet at night and in bad weather conditions, the pilot tried to contact ATC without any success. He could not receive any signal from the regional beacons and decided to continue ahead to Salt Lake City Airport. Few minutes later, in low visibility, the aircraft impacted the slope of Haydens Peak located 81 km east from Salt Lake City and 32 km southwest from Knight. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and all 19 occupants were killed.
Crew:
Earl D. Woodgerd, pilot,
John B. Adams, copilot,
Leah Derr, stewardess.
Passengers:
George Ferreira,
Phyllis Ferreira,
Louis Cleaver,
Ralph McKeown,
John Conroy,
Charles D. Renouf,
W. Pischell,
William Pitt,
J. Percola,
Mrs. C. Pritchett,
D. A. McMillan,
Mrs. J. Hammer,
W. J. Hart,
Charles Jamison,
C. L. Jensen,
Dr. L. Gross.

The crew was performing a local test flight out from Cheyenne Airport following modifications on few cockpit instruments. After take off, while climbing in light rain, the captain initiated a relative sharp turn to the right when the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent, reached a nose-down angle of 70° and crashed on the top of a hill. All four crew members were killed.

Following an uneventful flight from Denver, the crew initiated the approach to Cheyenne Airport. The visibility was poor due to the night and marginal weather conditions. Too low, the airplane impacted the top of a hill, continued for about 300 metres and crashed, bursting into flames. All 12 occupants were killed.

The pilot was performing a mail flight from Billings to Cheyenne with intermediate stops in Sheridan and Casper. While cruising in poor weather conditions, he reduced his altitude to maintain a visual contact with the ground. While following Route 185 to Cheyenne, he failed to realize his altitude was too low when the airplane impacted a hill located 21 kilometers south from Glendo. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The airplane was completing a schedule service from Los Angeles to Chicago with intermediate stops in Salt Lake City and Cheyenne. It departed Salt Lake City Airport at 1400LT bound for Cheyenne with five passengers and three crew members on board. Weather conditions were poor with limited visibility due to snow falls and fog. While flying at an altitude of 8,000 feet at full speed, the airplane impacted the slope of the Parley's Canyon located about 17 km southeast of Salt Lake City Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all eight occupants were killed.
Crew:
Lloyd Anderson, pilot,
Eric G. Danielson, copilot.

While cruising at night on a mail flight from Salt Lake City to Cheyenne, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions with heavy snow falls. Control was lost and the airplane crashed in a field located 6 miles east of Knight. The pilot Paul 'Red' Andret was killed.