Mountain Home - San Diego

On January 24, 1952 at 06:30 PM, Mountain Home - San Diego experienced a crash involving Grumman HU-16 (SA-16) Albatross, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near Panamint Springs California.

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

6 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 6 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The crew was performing a flight from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, to San Diego. While cruising by night at an altitude of 11,000 feet, one of the engine failed. All six crew members decided to bail out and abandoned the aircraft that crashed on the slope of the Towne Peak (7,287 feet high) located in the Dolomite canyon, in the Death Valley, about seven miles northeast of Panamint Springs. All six occupants were found unarmed while the aircraft was destroyed. It was later reported that the remaining engine was running normally at impact.

Aircraft reference details include registration 51-001, MSN G-74, year of manufacture 1951.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 36.3397°, -117.4680°.