62.9

River Mileage

R

River Right

About Crash Canyon Camp

Crash Canyon is a small camp named after the Grand Canyon mid-air collision which occurred near here on June 30, 1956. At the time, this was the deadliest air accident in history. Its incident led to the formation of the FAA.

Both planes departed LAX minutes apart from each other. The first flight was Trans World Airlines Flight 2, which was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation. The second flight was United Airlines Flight 718, which was a Douglas DC-7.

Flight 2 carried 70 people including crew and was headed for Kansas City. Flight 718 was enroute to Chicago and 58 people were onboard. They collided with each other at 10:30AM above the Grand Canyon, there were no survivors. The approximate site of the crash is now a National Historic Landmark. Debris from the wreckage is still there.

The Wikipedia page of the accident can be found here. Lost Flights has a write up including found debris.