July 7, 2020 Safer Today

The Liberty Gazette

July 7, 2020

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: On June 29, 1956, my dad was working for TWA at their downtown Los Angeles ticket office trying to get someone on the next morning’s flight to New York City. Whether they made a deal with another passenger to take a later flight or just found an open seat, I don’t remember, but he accomplished it, and I know he thought of it often the rest of his life.

Just after 9:00 the following morning, TWA Flight #2 left the ground at Los Angeles International as the Lockheed Super Constellation named Star of the Seine, headed first for Kansas City, and then New York. Aboard were 6 crew members and 64 passengers, eleven of which were TWA employees. A few minutes later, just behind TWA, United Flight #718, a Douglas DC-7 named Mainliner Vancouver, took off for Chicago with 53 passengers and 5 crew.

The way air traffic control worked back then pilots would radio their airline’s dispatch office on a private company frequency to request route and altitude changes. The dispatchers would contact air traffic controllers via telephone. Controllers moved markers with the airplane’s number along a map to keep track of airliners’ location and progress. When a route change was requested, the controller using the map would determine if it was safe, then issue instructions to the airline’s dispatcher who would radio the clearance to the pilots. This caused a delay because pilots were not talking directly to the air traffic controllers except on takeoff and landing.

The flights started out on diverging eastward routes. As they approached the Colorado River, they would converge over the Grand Canyon, but at different altitudes. Because of thunderstorms the TWA pilot requested higher. The request was denied because it would cause a conflict with the United airplane in the same air space. They were later cleared to a higher altitude but had to remain in visual conditions and out of the clouds. This clearance placed responsibility on the TWA crew to avoid other aircraft. It is believed both airplanes were maneuvering around clouds in the same area and probably never saw each other when they collided near the eastern end of the canyon. Everyone on both planes perished.

The investigation that followed what was one of the most significant air disasters in history marked the beginning of the safest air traffic control system in the world.

Cooperation between pilots, airlines, the FAA, and the NTSB improves safety every day. But investigations take time. They follow a process, finding a cause in a chain of events, taking a systematic approach. There is never instant gratification, and those who do the work mourn the losses that create a purpose for their lives, hoping one day to put themselves out of business. With pain, comes hope.

On July 1, 1956, my dad flipped the page of TWA’s promotional calendar to the new month. There in all its amazing color and glory was an awe-inspiring picture of the Grand Canyon.

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