Airplane Crash - Mt. Trelease, Near Silver Plume, Colorado 10/02/1970

Details of airplane crash/ shootdown - Mt. Trelease, near Silver Plume, Colorado

Date	10/02/1970
Time	12:00
Location	Mt. Trelease, near Silver Plume, Colorado
Operator	Charter, Golden Eagle Aviation Inc.
Flight #	108
Route	Wichita - Denver - Logan, Utah
Type	Martin 404
Registration	N464M
Cn/In	14151
Aboard	40
Fatalities	30
Ground	0
Summary	Two charter planes took off Wichita for a flight to Logan, Utah via Denver. The flight was uneventful to Denver. The crew of N464M decided to fly a sceniroute the rest of the way to Logan. The aircraft, which was overloaded by 5,165 lbs. , flew into a box canyon. Confronted with steeply rising terrain, the pilot made a sharp bank trying to turn around in the narrowing valley and stalled, crashing into a mountainous forested area on Mt. Trelease. Numerous members and staff of the Wichita State Football team were killed. The pilot had only 123 total hours in a Martin 404, the copilot 30 hours. Intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal. Other factors included overloaded conditions, lack of a flight planning and minimum qualifications of the crew.