The first crash occurred on May 22, 1968, when N303Y was en route from Disneyland to LAX. At about 550 PM, Flight 841 was flying at about 2,000 feet near Paramount when a distress message was received from the helicopter "L.A., we're crashing, help us!" All 20 passengers and the crew of 3 were killed. It was later determined that a mechanical failure in the main rotor hub allowed extreme lead-lag excursions of the rotor blades, one of which became detached from the swashplate and struck the helicopter's fuselage as it was descending through about 600 feet. This caused the other four rotor blades to go out of control, and in short order all five blades broke and the rear fuselage and tail rotor pylon separated from the aircraft.
The second crash, on August 14, 1968, involved N300Y, operating as Flight 417 from LAX to Anaheim. This time, the helicopter was flying at about 1,500 feet around 1035 AM when one of the main rotor head spindles failed and the attached rotor blade separated completely. The resulting imbalance sent the helicopter out of control and it crashed in Leuders Park, killing all 18 passengers and 3 crew. The spindle failure was caused by metal fatigue.
Newspaper photo of the helicopter crash
Newspaper photos detailing the gruesome details
Newspaper Article - Article from May, 1968
Article from August, 1968
Arriving Helicopter - Landing at the Disneyland Hotel Heliport
Loading Passengers - The Helicopter terminal at the Disneyland Hotel station
In Flight - The Heliport accross the street from the Disneyland Hotel
Helicopter Taking Off - The fence for the driving range can be seen in the background
LAA Airways Overhead - Leaving the Heliport at the Disneyland Hotel
Did they discontinue the copter service immediately after the second crash or did it continue on for awhile longer?
ReplyDeleteWhat a tragic way to begin (or end) your day at Disneyland!
Yes, I believe they did discontinue service very shortly after the accidents.
ReplyDeleteHi, new poster to the blog had to say I loved your book and share your love for The (original) Disneyland Hotel. Went there in the 60s as a very young boy and through the 70s and early 80s as well, always staying a DLH. My dad was an airline pilot, so we got to fly a lot. I flew on those helicopters a few times in the 60s. I was really young, but I do remember them. We lived (still do) in the Chicago area, and would fly into LAX and my Dad would get us on the helicopter service to Disneyland. We'd spend the whole trip at Disneyland and the Disneyland Hotel or rent a car for a day and do a day trip. I do have to say that even as a small kid, the helicopters were fascinating, but they scared me. I remember them as being loud and bumpy flights, and to a little kid, they seemed so much lower to the ground. It was sad to hear about the crashes then and seeing the picture of the helicopter on your site here brings back memories of those vacations.
ReplyDeleteMy younger brothers Dennis Neal Callopy and David Francis Callopy along with my Aunt Gladys Elizabeth Pierce were killed on that Aug 14, 1968 flight. If the company had discontinued service after the first crash 21 people including my aunt and brothers would still be alive. Also the maintenance was not being kept up . That particular helicopte had been flagged to not use and someone saw fit to remove the notice. This is a tragedy that did not have to happen and my family grieves everyday because of it.
ReplyDeleteKathy Rae, I just read your comment from back in December 2009 about the August 14, 1968 crash of that helicopter shuttle in which your family members died. I was on a search for the details of the investigation when I realized it was near the 50 anniversary. I share your dismay that the industry did not discontinue those flights after the first crash.
DeleteI witnessed the first crash in Paramount, California on May 22 of 1968. I was out on my bike with a friend as we heard a noise in the air over our heads then looked up to see the helicopter tumbling toward the ground, with something falling out (we thought it was people, but later learned it was mail bags and luggage.) We raced to the empty diary lot and saw the horrifying scene.
On August 14, I also witnessed the rising smoke from the crash in Compton where your loved ones died. I am so sorry for your loss, Kathy. In fact the reason for my search on the 50 anniversary of these tragedies was because I was approaching the 50th anniversary of my own brothers death on September 28, 1968. Our family had moved to California after a divorce between our parents and my brother hated it in California because his girlfriend was still in Ohio. He moved back in the spring of 1968, got ill with meningitis in August and passed away a month later. I also grieve every day. I am a pastor now and if I ever get into a story of my brother for more than a minute or 2, the tears come ... And I have to say I value those tears as more valuable than diamonds because they are testimony of the enduring love Kevin and I had for one another. I will pray for you on this 50th anniversary of Dennis & David's passing. Grace & Peace to you and your family, Kathy.
Pastor Bill Welsh (I pastor a church called "Refuge", affiliated with the Calvary Chapel family of churches. RefugeFamily.com)
My heart goes out to you on the losss of the members of your family. I can remove this posting if you like and did not intend to open any wounds.
ReplyDeleteI was 12 yrs. old playing with friends when we saw the helicopter going down. We ran all the way to Leuders Park (I played on a football team @ the park called the Compton Comets) I cannot forget the sights and smells of that day. I also remember how everyone was saying that the pilot was a hero. He just missed a trailer park (that is still there) and hit an open area in the park. The crash site left a scare in the grass. Every time we would practice I would look @ that scare in the grass and wonder what that pilot was thinking and did he know that he saved a lot of lives because he cared about the people on the ground and took the extra effort.Even as he faced death!
ReplyDeleteI was 12 yrs. old playing with friends when we saw the helicopter going down. We ran all the way to Leuders Park (I played on a football team @ the park called the Compton Comets) I cannot forget the sights and smells of that day. I also remember how everyone was saying that the pilot was a hero. He just missed a trailer park (that is still there) and hit an open area in the park. The crash site left a scare in the grass. Every time we would practice I would look @ that scare in the grass and wonder what that pilot was thinking and did he know that he saved a lot of lives because he cared about the people on the ground and took the extra effort.Even as he faced death!
ReplyDeleteIT ALWAYS TAKES MANY DEATHS TO TURN THINGS AROUND IN THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY - JUST LOOK AT ALL THE TRADIGYS WITH BOING...
ReplyDeleteI think it's part of history to include this story in your blog. I am so sorry, Kathy Rae, for your tragic loss. I am horrified they kept flying after the first accident partly because I rode a helicopter to Disneyland in early June of 1968. I was seven riding with my mom, sister, and babysitter. It was very rattly and I was glad when it was over. I heard about the second crash a few months after we got home, but I never knew of the first one until now. It gives me the chills, but I really appreciate you gathering the information here.
ReplyDeleteGod bless them all.
ReplyDeleteMy dad flew on those Sikorsky S-61Ls from Anahiem and Newport Beach to LAX. I remember he felt lucky not to be aboard on those crashes and stopped flying. The photo of the aircraft in this blog is of one of the two that crashed. As a child I was fascinated by the helicopters, which would depart sometimes in the evening and fly over our house. I shined my flashlight to the heavens one night and it appeared that the crew shined a light on their Sikorsky in my direction. I'll never know for sure, I was 9 years old when those crashes happened. I'll never gorget how those machines looked, and it took me back to the 1960s, haunting to see the blog and newspaper photos. The official NTSB report on the first crash in May 1968 can be found at this link http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR70-01.pdf
ReplyDeleteSad, an infant was aboard one of the flights as well as the family members noted by respondents to this blog.
I lived in the trailer park across the street from Lueders Park and witnessed the copter coming down in August 1968. I had just turned fourteen, and my dog and I were home alone. My neighbor attempted to rescue the pilot, but said his brain was sitting in his lap. The smell was horrible and permeated the area for a long time. Although the families who lost loved ones had their lives changed forever, so did I. Whenever I hear the sound of low flying aircraft overhead, I'm sure they're going to crash. I've also had many versions of the same dream...always seeing a plane/copter falling out of the sky. Very sad day...47 years ago and it still haunts me.
ReplyDeleteI moved with my family to Anaheim in 1969 we lived not a mile north of the Heliport. I used to watch the helicopters go over our house on approach to the heliport. Literally making the house shake. It was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI, too, witnessed the crash. I have "eidetic memory." Essentially, I remember EVERYTHING I have seen, heard, etc. With age this ability is starting to fade, however, memories from my youth are as clear as if I was watching a movie. I was a six-year-old boy at the time, and we lived just a short way from Lueders Park near the corner of Rosecrans and Rose. As it was during the summer holiday, and school had not yet started, both my sister and I were at home. On that beautiful morning, I was in our front yard riding my bicycle. The helicopter passed close by, and being a young boy, it was incredible to me to witness such an exciting thing as a huge helicopter flying almost directly overhead. I watched the helicopter as it passed by until, suddenly, I saw something fly off of it! It looked to me as if something had flown off of the back of the helicopter, but I wasn't sure. I watched the helicopter start to turn in place, when what I could clearly see was the rear of the helicopter seemed to bend sideways and then fly off of the stricken helicopter. By now out of control, the helicopter started to rotate even faster, and then it dropped behind a nearby tree line. A moment later, I saw a huge explosion. I dropped my bike and ran inside to tell my mom. She looked and saw the sky filled with smoke, then grabbed my sister, locked the door, and walked us toward the disaster. Before we arrived, as she knew it was a helicopter crash from my description, she made my sister and me stand back, but where she could see us, and she walked forward toward the crash. When she came back she was horrified by what she had seen. Also, this was the first time that I heard someone else call the pilot a hero. Other people who were much closer to the crash, were talking when my mom arrived, and they were all saying that they could see the falling helicopter somehow being steered toward the park! On one side of the park were multi-story houses and the trailer park across the street. The pilot managed to avoid both of these heavily populated areas in favor of the park, instead. He was indeed a hero. After we walked back home, none of us said a word for the rest of the day until my dad came home from work and we watched a news special on the crash. Obviously, it left indelible memories in my mind to this day. As a young boy, it was the most unlikely and horrifying thing I had ever seen, and even to this day nothing has equalled it for impact or for loss of life that I personally witnessed. My heart goes out to the people who were on the helicopter, and to any of their surviving relatives. I can honestly say that if I had known what was happening, I probably would not have watched, but I was too young at the time to think about that. As it was, I had nightmares of that crashing helicopter for a LONG time after that incident. I find it amazing that other witnesses found this same site and posted the same memory, along with the comment about the heroism of the pilot. The only nice thing about that information is that it reinforces for me the fact that the pilot WAS a hero, which, since it was such a long time ago, I wasn't sure was just a hopeful memory that I had conjured up by myself to find any sort of comfort in the situation. I am happy to know that other people who saw the crash were able to verify the pilot's heroism. Even facing death he did a most amazing thing, steering the helicopter to the only clear area for MILES. Thank God there are people as skilled and heroic as that pilot during times of incredible stress. It is essentially a miracle that no one on the ground was killed, considering that the park was heavily used, and that it was a summer holiday morning, not to mention all of the housing that was around the park. Sad to say, when I close my eyes even to this day, I can still see the helicopter, doing exactly what it did on that sad day, in my mind. It is a terrible reminder of that beautiful summer's day in 1968 in Compton, California.
ReplyDeleteHi Ace. I too witnessed one of the Disney chopper crashes. I was riding my bike that afternoon when I saw the May 22, 1968 crash as it fell from the sky then raced to the scene. I was close enough to be one of those people in the background. I was 15 yrs. old. I also saw that tower of smoke from the crash in Compton on August 14, 1968. We lived in the apartments near the corner of Orange and Alondra. I don't have the same type of memory as you, but I will never forget what I saw that day. I still live in SoCal and pastor a church in Huntington Beach ... Refuge Calvary Chapel (RefugeFamily.com) ... Life is fragile.
DeleteThank you for writing this... My father was Capt Kenneth Waggoner. I was 2 years old when he died. What I just read makes me even more proud to be his son. Thank you again and God bless you
DeleteThank you for writing this... My father was Capt Kenneth Waggoner. I was 2 years old when he died. What I just read makes me even more proud to be his son. Thank you again and God bless you
DeleteKathy Rae, I am heartbroken to hear about your loss. My wife's father was the pilot of the helicopter that crashed in Lueders Park. His name was Ken (Kenneth) Waggoner and he was a former Marine pilot. She was 5 yrs old when this happened so she doesn't have a lot of memories of him. She was always told that he did his best to not hit any houses and that he was yelling out the window to the people below. Like you, I think all of those aircraft should have been grounded after the crash in May. It is sad to think of all the potential those people would have had. I know it has defined my wife's life and how she views things. Growing up without a father and knowing he was taken from her is hard to get over. Thank you to those who posted their memories of this and I am sorry you, especially those that were young, had to witness that. I would be interested in reaching out to those effected by this. Especially ones who lost family.
ReplyDeleteAce Hall... please let me know how to send you a private message. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMay 1968, was a bad month for me, I was 12 years old, soon to be 13 in June, my best friend David Komross, his parents and little sister, all died in the May 1968 crash, David had saved all his money from his newspaper route for 2 years so he could help out his parents for the trip, by paying his own way, we talked a lot about his upcoming trip and his excitement about the adventure he was heading off to , and all the money he saved for the trip, the night before he was due back I saw a little of the news on TV before going to bed about a helicopter crash in LA from Disneyland to the airport, I thought about my friend David, but with the innocence of youth I thought "that can't be David, he's supposed to be coming home tonight, and Vancouver, Wa. is North of Disneyland so that thats the direction he would be flying home, Why would you go South if you are heading home which is North"? Of Course as a person coming from a poor family the thought of traveling on an airplane somewhere was hard to even imagine, So I went to bed and then to school the next morning expecting to see my friend and excited to hear about his trip to Disneyland , getting off the bus and heading into the school was very strange , girls crying, people grouped together talking, teachers consoling students, I was approached by some adult , teacher, counselor, I don't remember really and lead away to the office,, I remember seeing newspapers with big headlines about LOCAL FAMILY Killed in helicopter Crash in California on tables and was wondering "what is going on"? My homeroom teacher and other Staff told me what had happened, of course my response was, "No your wrong, That helicopter was going farther South, to get home David is flying North to here" We hadn't been informed as we didn't have a telephone, and It was pure luck that we even had TV on that night, for me to even glance at, as 90% of the time the TV didn't work either, (ahh the 60's) , We left Vancouver a year later, my 8th grade a blur of Not caring about anything and basically crashing in school, fortunately we moved to the Northern part of Washington, and I went to a much smaller school which helped me come out of my shell a bit, Life goes on but the things that we experience, mold us and shape us in ways we sometimes wish they didn't , The loss of my best friend and his family in such a way closed me off emotionally, and unfortunately has impacted my relationships and the course of my life ever since, now 50 years later as I prepare to transport the ashes of my Mother who recently passed away, to a small town in Eastern Oregon, where( we found after years of searching), her mother is buried ( a mother she never saw again after she was 6 yrs old and put in a foster Home, ) So, I am trying to find where my friend David is buried so I can say goodbye, to a friend I never really got to say goodbye to properly, My feeble attempts at internet searches has got me basically, nowhere except here, but the links don't really lead me any closer, so if anyone reading this, if you help me with this search process it would be appreciated very much, Thanks, Jim Gardner
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