Under IFR procedures, the pilot guides the aircraft using the cockpit's instrument panel for navigation, in addition to radioed guidance from air traffic controllers and ground radar. The Phantom II departed NAS Fallon at 5:16 pm following a flight plan routing across the Fresno, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles air corridors.įlight 706 was operating under instrument flight rules (IFR). As the fighter proceeded to NAS Fallon in Nevada, the oxygen leak deteriorated until the system was disabled completely, and the pilot was instructed to fly at low altitude. Maintenance personnel were able to fix the radio and confirm the oxygen leak, but the base did not have the necessary personnel to repair either the transponder or the radar.ĭespite the inoperative transponder, Phillips received permission from his superiors to fly the F-4B anyway. Diagnostic tests at Mountain Home revealed that the aircraft had an inoperative radio, inoperative transponder, oxygen system leak, and a degraded radar system. According to routine orders, the aircraft was to effect repairs at Mountain Home AFB and then return to MCAS El Toro. '458' was part of a cross-country flight of two aircraft when its radio failed while landing at Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwest Idaho. The jet and its crew were based at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, near Irvine. Between them, the pilots had more than 1,000 total flight hours. The fighter plane was piloted by First Lieutenant James R. At the time of the accident, it was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Air Wing, though it had been operated by various squadrons prior to that. Marine Corps F-4B-18-MC Phantom II, Bureau Number (BuNo) 151458, coded '458', had been in operation since April 15, 1964. Flight 706's acknowledgement of this instruction was the last radio transmission received from the aircraft. Control of the flight was transferred to Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center at 6:06 pm, four minutes after takeoff, and passed through 12,000 feet (3,700 m) at 6:09 pm and instructed to head 040 (magnetic) until receiving the Daggett VOR, then direct. The complete flight plan included stops at Salt Lake City, Boise and Lewiston in Idaho, and Pasco and Yakima in Washington before ending at Seattle.
His co-pilot was First Officer Price Bruner, age 49, who had over 17,100 total hours' flying time and almost 300 hours in DC-9s.įlight 706 departed from Los Angeles at 6:02 pm PDT, bound for Salt Lake City, Utah, the first of the five intermediate stopovers. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Theodore Nicolay, age 50, who had logged about 15,500 hours of total flying time, with more than 2,500 hours in DC-9s.
It was operating under the livery and name of Air West the airline had been recently purchased by Howard Hughes and rebranded Hughes Airwest. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 aircraft had accumulated more than 5,500 airframe hours since entering service in 1969. The crash of Flight 706 prompted the United States Armed Forces to agree to reduce the number of military aircraft operating under visual flight rules in civilian air corridors and to require military aircraft to contact civilian air traffic controllers.įlight 706 was a scheduled passenger flight from Los Angeles International Airport, California, to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Washington. The F-4's radar intercept officer survived. The two aircraft collided in midair over the San Gabriel Mountains near Duarte, California, killing all passengers and crew on the DC-9 as well as the F-4's pilot. en route to Seattle as a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II of the United States Marine Corps was approaching Marine Corps Air Station El Toro near Irvine, California at the end of a flight from Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada. On Sunday, June 6, 1971, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 serving as Flight 706 departed Los Angeles just after 6 p.m. Hughes Airwest Flight 706 was a regularly scheduled flight operated by American domestic airline Hughes Airwest from Los Angeles, California to Seattle, Washington, with several intermediate stops. Marine Corps F-4B Phantom II similar to the one involved Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, WashingtonĪ U.S. Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah Los Angeles International Airport, California N9345, the Hughes Air West DC-9-31 involved in the collision Mid-air collision due to pilot error and ATC system limitations 1971 aviation accident in Los Angeles County, California Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Accident
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