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Some 50 miles northwest of Burbank the San Joaquin Valley is bitten off by the small Tehachapi Mountains, which link the Coastal ranges to the main Sierra Nevada. Between the Tehachapis and the fertile San Fernando Valley, where lies Burbank, is a knot of rugged, tawny, 3,500-ft. ridges littered with olive-green scrub oaks. Into one of these ridges Pilot Blom had plowed at full speed. For 1,000 yd. the big plane sheared the trees, losing both wings and finally bashing to a stop in a deep ravine. Everyone was killed instantly. Soapy Blom saw the crash coming, for the ignition was turned off, preventing fire. Broken watches indicated that the crash occurred at 7:38. Three investigations immediately began hunting the cause with little hope of success. Pilot Blom was only five miles from the emergency field at Saugus and only two ridges away from the San Fernando Valley. Apparently he either lost his way or badly misgauged his altitude. Unable to explain why he should have done either, United could only point out that it was the line's first accident in 13 months, during which it flew 125,000,000 passenger miles. Next day there were no cancellations in United planes, which flew as full as ever.
United's crash was the last of a series in recent weeks which has the whole U. S. aviation world in a tumult. Until a month ago there had been only four major crashes of scheduled U. S. airliners in 1936. Then, on Dec. 15. a Western Air Express Boeing vanished in Utah with seven aboard. On Dec. 18 a Northwest Air Lines Lockheed vanished with two pilots, but no passengers, aboard. Last week the Boeing was still lost, but the Lockheed had been found, buried in the snow near Kellogg, Idaho, with both men dead. On Dec. 19, an Eastern Air Lines Douglas cracked up in New York, killed no one due to the landing skill of Pilot Dick Merrill. On Dec. 23, a Braniff Air Lines Lockheed plumped to earth at Dallas on a test flight, killed six. Total toll for the year on scheduled passenger transport planes was 59—high-est in history.
This provoked several reactions. New York's Senator Royal Samuel Copeland, who loves to blow off steam on airplane safety but rarely does anything about it, puffed as usual, promised an investigation. The Department of Commerce called a "private" conference of airline operators and Federal officials for Jan. 10 to 15.
Director of Air Commerce Eugene Luther Vidal declared that reports that he is about to resign are "without foundation." United Air Lines' Hostess Helen Clark who normally flew in the wrecked plane but had stayed at home last week to nurse a sick father, resigned. Colonel Edgar Staley Gorrell, president of the Air Transport Association of America, declared: "U. S. airlines this year have transported a total of 1,140,000 passengers, of whom 45 lost their lives. . . . Translated into passenger miles, it is possible to fly in a scheduled transport plane at an average speed of 160 m.p.h. for 17 years, one month, three weeks and 21 hours before meeting with a fatal accident, according to official statistics of leading casualty and surety companies. These same figures show that a person has been approximately twice as safe this year on a regular airline than when he is driving his own automobile."