 Sister aircraft N9102 in 1966 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | October 1, 1966 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain for undetermined reasons |
| Site | Clackamas County, Oregon, U.S. 5.5 miles (9 km) south of Wemme 45°15′35″N 121°59′43″W / 45.259617°N 121.995233°W[1] |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-9-14 |
| Operator | West Coast Airlines |
| Call sign | WEST COAST 956 |
| Registration | N9101 |
| Flight origin | San Francisco International Airport San Francisco, California |
| 1st stopover | Eugene Airport Eugene, Oregon |
| 2nd stopover | Portland International Airport Portland, Oregon |
| Destination | Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Seattle, Washington |
| Occupants | 18 |
| Passengers | 13 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 18 |
| Survivors | 0 |
West Coast Airlines Flight 956 was a scheduled commercial flight in the western United States which crashed on October 1, 1966, approximately 5.5 miles (9 km) south of Wemme, Oregon, southeast of Portland. Thirteen passengers and five crew members were aboard, but none survived. In its first week of service, the aircraft was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire.
The probable cause of the accident was "the descent of the aircraft below its clearance limit and below that of surrounding obstructing terrain, but the Board was unable to determine the cause of such descent."[2] This accident was the first loss of a Douglas DC-9,[3] and the first fatalities for the airline.[4][5][6][7][8] Three of the passengers were employees of the airline.[5]
- ^ Per GPS at debris field. The coordinates given in official NTSB report are: 45°15′21″N 121°59′36″W / 45.25583°N 121.99333°W.
- ^ Aircraft Accident Report, West Coast Airlines, Inc., DC-9, N9101, Near Wemme, Oregon, October 1, 1966 (PDF) (Report). National Transportation Safety Board. December 11, 1967. NTSB-AAR-67-AF. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ Airliners Historical Overviews/Aircraft Specifications/Crash Statistics
- ^ Wyant, Dan (October 2, 1966). "Jet airliner missing near Portland". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1A.
- ^ a b "West Coast plane missing with 18 aboard". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. October 2, 1966. p. 1.
- ^ Wyant, Dan (October 3, 1966). "Investigators sift wreckage for clues". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1A.
- ^ "Investigators probing WCA plane wreckage". The Bulletin. (Bend, Oregon). UPI. October 3, 1966. p. 1.
- ^ "None survive WCA crash". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. October 3, 1966. p. 1.