Los Angeles – Oxnard – Santa Maria – Paso Robles – San Francisco

On October 26, 1959 at 08:18 PM, Los Angeles – Oxnard – Santa Maria – Paso Robles – San Francisco experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-3, operated by Pacific Air Lines, with the event recorded near Santa Maria California.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

20 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 19 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 5.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 17, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Flight 308 was scheduled between Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with intermediate stops at Oxnard, Santa Maria, and Paso Robles, California. The trip to Oxnard. and Santa Maria was routine. Takeoff from, Santa Maria was made from runway 30 with 17 passengers on board and a crew of three. A few seconds after the first power reduction following takeoff, a loud explosion was heard and fire was seen in the left engine. The left propeller was immediately feathered, the engine was shut off, and appropriate power was applied to the right engine. At the time this happened the aircraft was at an approximate altitude of 550 feet m s.l., or 300 feet above the ground. Shortly after this the fire was observed to be out; however, the airplane began to buffet. This buffeting became so severe that the aircraft lost altitude and the captain was forced to make an emergency landing about 1-1/2 miles north of the airport. The copilot was killed, the captain was seriously injured, and the purser and 17 passengers received injuries of varying degrees.

Aircraft reference details include registration N67589, MSN 19656, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 34.9531°, -120.4359°.