New York – Washington DC – Cincinnati – Memphis – Dallas – El Paso – Phoenix – Burbank

On January 10, 1945 at 04:10 AM, New York – Washington DC – Cincinnati – Memphis – Dallas – El Paso – Phoenix – Burbank experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-3, operated by American Airlines, with the event recorded near Burbank California.

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

24 people were known to be on board, 24 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: 21, passenger fatalities: 21, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Following an uneventful flight from El Paso, the crew started the approach to Burbank-Hollywood-Lockheed Air Terminal by night. Due to low visibility caused by poor weather conditions, the pilot was unable to localize the airport and decided to proceed to the alternate airfield, Palmdale. Few minutes later, as it was flying at a too low altitude, the aircraft hit tree tops and crashed on the slope of a wooded area located in the Verdigo mountains, some 4 miles northeast of the Burbank Airport. All 24 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration NC25684, MSN 2215, year of manufacture 1940.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 34.1812°, -118.3072°.