ACCIDENT SYNOPSIS:

On the morning of Tuesday September 3, 1929, a Ford Tri-Motor departed Albuquerque's main passenger air field en route to Los Angeles, California. On board were five passengers, two pilots, and a courier. For pioneering airline Transcontinental Air Transport (T.A.T.) today's flight would be considered routine having a few months prior inaugurated 48 hour coast-to-coast service from New York to Los Angeles. The service was unique in that traveling passengers would take trains operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and Santa Fe Railroad to travel at night by Pullman car and then board one of T.A.T.'s Ford Tri-Motor aircraft during the day to continue their trip.

Air travel at the time was a new concept for many and well known aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were hired as paid consultants to build public confidence and acceptance. Lindbergh himself having flown and approving the transcontinental routes that T.A.T. would fly. This was the beginning of passenger airline travel.

The weather west of Albuquerque was dark with thunder clouds and rain as the flight made it's way toward Winslow, Arizona. The Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor (NC9649) named by the airline; "City of San Francisco" and was delivered to T.A.T. less than one year prior. The T.A.T. flight crew consisted of Captain J.B. Stowe and Co-Pilot E.A. Dietel. T.A.T. Courier C.F. Canfield attended to the five passengers.

With just over 45 minutes passed into the stormy flight, the "City of San Francisco" had diverted north of course and into mountainous terrain of Mt. Taylor near Grants, New Mexico. Whether it was low visibility, strong downdrafts or a fatal combination of both, the answers to what really happened to the flight has been lost to the passage of nearly eighty years. What we do know is that the "City of San Francisco" along with it's compliment of passengers and crew came to a violent end on the tree covered slopes of Mt. Taylor. For T.A.T. officials and the rest of the world, the flight had simply vanished without a trace.

Searchers, many of them local volunteers spent long hours in the air and on foot looking for the lost aircraft. It would be nearly four days before the wreckage of T.A.T. Flight A19 was discovered. This accident is considered to be one of the first commercial airline disasters and at the time it was believed that this accident would end passenger air travel.
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HISTORICAL SUMMARY:

Researching and visiting this accident site was a great opportunity. In late 2008, I was notified that the United States Forest Service (USFS) in New Mexico was seeking volunteers to help document a few historical aircraft accident sites near Grants. One of which was the crash site of the "City of San Francisco". The work involved was part of the USFS's "Passports in Time" (PIT) program. I couldn't resist and had to sign up.

I was drawn to this particular crash site by the amazing story and the time period that the accident occurred. At nearly 80 years old, this was earliest crash site that I ever had the opportunity to visit and document. What also made this accident intriguing to me was that the aircraft involved was the same exact model that I currently fly for the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Valle, Arizona.

During June 2009, we began survey and excavation work on the site. Along with project leader and archaeologist Linda Popelish of the USFS, were several people from the aviation archaeology community. Both groups worked very well with one another as ideas and field techniques were shared. Thank you for viewing the following story and photos.