Newark – Chicago – Cheyenne – Salt Lake City – Los Angeles

On October 17, 1937 at 09:00 PM, Newark – Chicago – Cheyenne – Salt Lake City – Los Angeles experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-3, operated by United Airlines, with the event recorded near Knight Wyoming.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

19 people were known to be on board, 19 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 16, passenger fatalities: 16, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. While cruising at 10,000 feet at night and in bad weather conditions, pilot tried to contact ATC without any success. He could not receive any signal from the regional beacon and decided to continue ahead to Salt Lake City Airport. Few minutes later, in low visibility, the aircraft hit the Haydens Peak at a height of 10,000 feet and located 81 km east from Salt Lake City and 32 km southwest from Knight. All 19 occupants were killed. Up to date, worst plane crash in the US. Crew: Earl D. Woodgerd, pilot, John B. Adams, copilot, Leah Derr, stewardess.

Aircraft reference details include registration NC16074, MSN 1914, year of manufacture 1936.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.5657°, -109.2967°.