TWA Flight 6
{{Short description|1935 crash in Missouri killing 5}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
|name = TWA Flight 6
|image = DC-2twaSF (4422982706).jpg
|alt = TWA DC-2 airplane parked on airport's concrete apron
|caption = A TWA Douglas DC-2 (NC13784) sister ship to the accident aircraft
|date = {{start date|1935|5|6}}
|summary =Controlled Flight Into Terrain when flying in low visibility
|occurrence_type = Accident
|site = Near Atlanta, Missouri
|coords = {{coord|39.93|N|92.59|W|scale:250000_type:event|display=inline,title}}
|aircraft_type = Douglas DC-2
|operator = Transcontinental & Western Air
|tail_number = NC13785
|origin = Los Angeles, California
|stopover0 = Albuquerque, New Mexico
|stopover1 = Kansas City, Missouri
(not reached; additional stopovers omitted)
|destination = Newark, New Jersey
|passengers = 11
|crew = 2
|fatalities = 5
|injuries = 8
|survivors = 8
}}
TWA Flight 6 was a Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-2, on a route from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, that crashed near Atlanta, Missouri, on May 6, 1935, killing five of the thirteen people on board, including Senator Bronson M. Cutting of New Mexico.{{sfn|Davies|Ross|Wallace|2017|p=166}} The airliner crashed when its wingtip hit the ground as it flew under a low cloud ceiling at very low level, over dark, fog-shrouded country, while its pilots were trying desperately to reach a nearby emergency landing field before their fuel ran out.
Investigators from the Bureau of Air Commerce concluded that several factors had led up to this crisis, including communications malfunctions, darkness, inaccurate weather forecasts, worsening weather at the destination airport, and errors in judgment both from the airline dispatchers and the flight crew; they also found TWA in violation of several aviation regulations. Senator Cutting's death drove Congress to look into the Bureau's own management of civil aviation. Senator Royal S. Copeland established a special subcommittee, the Copeland Committee, which held hearings that harshly criticized the Bureau and released a controversial preliminary report that blamed the Bureau's management for the accident. This political battle played a major role in the Bureau of Air Commerce being replaced in 1938 by the newly formed Civil Aeronautics Authority.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=John |last2=Ross |first2=Alastair |last3=Wallace |first3=Brendan |title=Safety Management: A Qualitative Systems Approach |publisher=CRC Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-351-98874-2 }}
{{refend}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Komons |first=Nick A. |date=1973 |title=The Cutting Air Crash: A Case Study in Early Federal Aviation Policy |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Management Systems, Agency Historical Staff |oclc=674254 |hdl=2027/umn.31951t00466721h |hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite book |last=Komons |first=Nick A. |date=1978 |title=Bonfires to Beacons: Federal Civil Aviation Policy under the Air Commerce Act, 1926–1938 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration |oclc=3832134 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015013920528 |hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite magazine |author=U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of Air Commerce |date=July 15, 1935 |title=Scheduled Air Line Accident Report |magazine=Air Commerce Bulletin |volume=7 |issue=1 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |pages=12–18 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015021076644?urlappend=%3Bseq=20 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015021076644?urlappend=%3Bseq=20}} (Includes, in addition to the Bureau's accident report, a public statement on the accident by the Secretary of Commerce and two related memoranda by the Director of Air Commerce.)
- {{cite book |work=U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce |date=1936–1937 |title=Safety in Air: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |hdl=2027/umn.31951d021564626 |hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite book |work=U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce |date=June 15, 1936 |title=Safety in the Air: 74th Congress, 2d Session, Report No. 2455 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |hdl=2027/mdp.35112102270974?urlappend=%3Bseq=791 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112102270974?urlappend=%3Bseq=791}}
External links
- [https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19350506-0 Aviation Safety network report]
- Bureau of Air Commerce documents:
- [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32941 1935-05-06] ([https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32941/dot_32941_DS1.pdf PDF]) - Statement by Secretary Roper
- [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32951 1935-05-06] ([https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32951/dot_32951_DS1.pdf PDF]) - Memorandum of the Secretary
- [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32935 1935-05-06] ([https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32935/dot_32935_DS1.pdf PDF]) - Statement of Probable Cause
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1935}}
{{TWA}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 1930s}}
Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in Missouri
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1935
Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-2