1981 Plane Crash Kills Two

A twin-engine cargo plane lost power early today and crashed in a rugged canyon about three miles southeast of Newhall, killing both people aboard, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Today's rain and steep terrain delayed search efforts until daylight, when a sheriff's helicopter spotted the wreckage. Two bodies were found inside. Authorities withheld identity of the victims pending notification of relatives.

A Federal Aviation Agency spokesman said the cargo plane, a Beechcraft operated by Western State, took off from Van Nuys Airport shortly after midnight, bound for Las Vegas. Not long after radio control shifted to Palmdale tower, the pilot radioed, "I lost an engine." the FAA said.

The pilot was quickly cleared for a return landing at Van Nuys, then abruptly reported additional engine trouble, the spokesman said. At 12:41 a.m., the aircraft disappeared from the radar screen at Hollywood-Burbank Airport, where the FAA was monitoring the flight.

Los Angeles police and fire crews immediately converged on the apparent crash site near the new Los Angeles Reservoir, just west of Interstate 5 below Newhall Pass. That fruitless search was suspended until daylight.

A sheriff's helicopter found the wreckage at 6:30 a.m., a spokesman at the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Substation reported. The site was in rugged Elsmere Canyon, about one mile east of Highway 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway, and nine miles north of Van Nuys.

From the National Transportation Safety Board's accident database website comes this additional information:

Location: Newhall, Ca.
Make/Model: Beech H18
Registration Number: N787Q
Event Severity: Fatal(2)
Type of Air Carrier Operation and Carrier Name (Doing Business As): Part 135 Nonscheduled Western States

Accident Synopsis (and note, besides the weather, they report "alcoholic impairment" of the pilot as a factor):

The crash site is high up on a ridge east of, and overlooking, Elsmere Canyon. The collision with the ground was "controlled" which I guess means they didn't just plow into the ground creating a crater. (12-24-2007)

"87Q" on piece of twisted metal. The registration number of the plane was "N787Q" confirming that this is the crash site.

Various pieces of metal and hardware from the site. All of the big pieces of the plane were probably removed after the crash.

More pieces including some circuit boards and small (empty) bottles. The larger circuit board says "Transmitter Control" on the front and "Det D836535-01(A) 05/77" on the back. The "05/77" is probably the date of manufacture of the board. The smallest bottles say "Hexadrol Phosphate Injection 1ml - For IM or IV use - Organon Inc. - West Orange, N.J." and "Lot 1080796D Expires 09/83". The cargo obviously included medical supplies. The date of the circuit board and the expiration date of the bottles also fit the crash date of 1981.

The back of this device has an air inlet. The label says "Directional Gyro - Type 332E-3G - Ser. No. 355 - Wt 4.7 lbs - TSO C6c - Collins Part No 5222645 - Remanufactured by Collins Radio Company - Cedar Rapids, Iowa"

The front of the directional gyro with the data for the pilot has a broken face plate and has a "Collins" insignia.