United Air Lines Flight 615

1951 aviation accident

United Air Lines Flight 615
Accident
The wreckage and remains of the accident aircraft.
Date	August 24, 1951
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Near Decoto, California, United States
Aircraft
A UAL DC-6 similar to the accident aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-6B
Aircraft name	Mainliner Omaha
Operator	United Airlines
Registration	N37550
Flight origin	Boston
1st stopover	Hartford, Connecticut
2nd stopover	Cleveland, Ohio
3rd stopover	Chicago
Last stopover	Oakland, California
Destination	San Francisco
Occupants	50
Passengers	44
Crew	6
Fatalities	50
Survivors	0

United Air Lines Flight 615 was a US transcontinental east–west airline service from Boston to Hartford, Cleveland, Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco. On August 24, 1951, the Douglas DC-6 with registration N37550 operating the service, crashed on approach to Oakland, causing the death of all 44 passengers and 6 crew members on board.

The flight departed Chicago at 10:59 p.m. CST en route to Oakland. At around 4:16 a.m., the plane was approaching Oakland. At this time, the pilot, Marion W. Hedden of Los Altos, had talked with the control tower of the Civil Aeronautics Administration at the airport preparing for his landing, and had mentioned no trouble. At 4:25 a.m. Flight 615 was cleared for the straight-in approach into Oakland.

This approach clearance was the last radio transmission with the flight. The plane crashed into mountainous terrain 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Oakland, careening into Tolman Peak and over its knoll, scattering on the downslope and into Dry Gulch Canyon below in a fiery explosion. All 50 persons on board perished.

After an investigation, it was determined that the pilot ignored the prescribed instrument landing procedures. The pilot instead relied on visual reference, using the copilot's automatic direction finder (ADF). The ADF threw the plane three miles (4.8 km) off course and below the prescribed altitude of 3,500 feet (1,100 m).

References

"FAA Registry (N37550)". Federal Aviation Administration.
"CAB Accident Investigation Report, SA-239 File No. 1-0058". 24 August 1951. Retrieved 2015-06-10.

External links

Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
Report - Civil Aeronautics Board - PDF
Union City History - Crash of Flight 615 - includes period photographs and a chart excerpt from CAB report
Wreckchasing.com - United Airlines Flight 615 - includes hiking directions to the crash site
Check-Six.com - The Crash of United Airline Flight #615 - includes full crew and passenger list
Mishalov.com - The Crash of a DC-6B in Alameda County, California - includes current-day photographs of crash site and topographic map
Accident scene photo from Airdisaster.com

37°36′52″N 121°59′33″W / 37.61444°N 121.99250°W / 37.61444; -121.99250

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1951 (1951)
Jan 14 National Airlines Flight 83Jan 31 Glitfaxi air crashMar 23 Atlantic C-124 disappearanceMar 27 Ringway Dakota crashApr 25 Cubana de Aviación Flight 493Jun 22 Pan Am Flight 151Jun 30 United Airlines Flight 610Jul 12 Rio do Sal Linhas Aéreas Paulistas C-47 crashJul 21 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505Aug 24 United Air Lines Flight 615Nov 15 LOT Li-2 crashNov 17 Novosibirsk Il-12 crashDec 16 Miami Airlines C-46 crashDec 22 Misrair LanguedocDec 29 Continental Charters Flight 44-2
1950 ◄ ► 1952

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1951 (1951)

Jan 14 National Airlines Flight 83Jan 31 Glitfaxi air crashMar 23 Atlantic C-124 disappearanceMar 27 Ringway Dakota crashApr 25 Cubana de Aviación Flight 493Jun 22 Pan Am Flight 151Jun 30 United Airlines Flight 610Jul 12 Rio do Sal Linhas Aéreas Paulistas C-47 crashJul 21 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505Aug 24 United Air Lines Flight 615Nov 15 LOT Li-2 crashNov 17 Novosibirsk Il-12 crashDec 16 Miami Airlines C-46 crashDec 22 Misrair LanguedocDec 29 Continental Charters Flight 44-2

1950 ◄ ► 1952

v t e United Airlines Holdings
Current airlines	United Airlines fleet
Current marketing brands	United Express
Former airlines	Capital Airlines Continental Airlines Continental Micronesia Continental West New York Air Pan Am People Express Airlines Frontier Airlines Texas International Airlines
Former marketing brands	Continental Connection Continental Express Continental Lite Shuttle by United Ted
Former holding companies	Jet Capital Corporation Texas Air Corporation UAL Corporation
Frequent flyer services	United Club MileagePlus
People	William A. Patterson Glenn Tilton Larry Kellner Jeff Smisek Oscar Munoz Walter Varney Robert Six
Legal and public relations	Blakey v. Continental Airlines, Inc. Untied.com "United Breaks Guitars" 2017 United Express passenger removal
United Airlines accidents and incidents	Flight 23 (1933) 1934 Boeing 247 crash Flight 4 (1935) Flight 34 (1936) 1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai (1943) Flight 521 (1947) Flight 608 (1947) Flight 624 (1948) Flight 610 (1951) Flight 615 (1951) 1955 MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash Flight 409 (1955) Flight 629 (1955) 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision Flight 736 (1958) 1960 New York mid-air collision Flight 859 (1961) Flight 297 (1962) Flight 823 (1964) Flight 389 (1965) Flight 227 (1965) Flight 266 (1969) Flight 553 (1972) Flight 2860 (1977) Flight 173 (1978) Flight 2885 (1983) Flight 811 (1989) Flight 232 (1989) Flight 585 (1991) Flight 826 (1997) Flight 175 (2001) Flight 93 (2001) Flight 1175 (2018) Flight 328 (2021)
United Express accidents and incidents	Flight 2415 (1989) Flight 6291 (1994) Flight 5925 (1996) Flight 3411 (2017) Flight 4933 (2019)
Continental Airlines accidents and incidents	Flight 11 (1962) Flight 12 (1965) Flight 603 (1978) Flight 1713 (1987) Flight 55 (2000) Flight 1883 (2006) Flight 1404 (2008)
Continental Express / Connection accidents and incidents	Flight 2286 (1988) Flight 2574 (1991) Flight 3407 (2009)
Facilities	Willis Tower (Chicago) 77 West Wacker Drive (Chicago) 1600 Smith Street (Houston) 600 Jefferson (Houston) American General Center (former)
Category List of airline holding companies

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1950s
1950	Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307 (March 1950) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 (June 1950) Myrtle Beach USAF C-46D crash (July 1950) Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash (August 1950)
1951	National Airlines Flight 83 (January 1951) Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 (April 1951) United Air Lines Flight 610 (June 1951) United Air Lines Flight 615 (August 1951) Miami Airlines C-46 crash (December 16 1951) Continental Charters Flight 44-2 (December 29 1951)
1952	American Airlines Flight 6780 (January 1952) National Airlines Flight 101 (February 1952) Pan Am Flight 526A (April 1952) American Airlines Flight 910 (June 1952) Mount Gannett C-124 crash (November 22 1952)* Tacoma C-54 crash (November 28 1952) Moses Lake C-124 crash (December 1952)
1953	National Airlines Flight 470 (February 1953) Transocean Air Lines Flight 942 (March 1953) Western Air Lines Flight 636 (April 1953) Delta Air Lines Flight 318 (May 1953) USMC R4Q NROTC crash (July 1953) American Airlines Flight 723 (September 1953) BCPA Flight 304 (October 1953)
1954	Western Air Lines Flight 34 (February 1954}
1955	Cincinnati mid-air collision (January 1955) TWA Flight 260 (February 1955) American Airlines Flight 711 (March 20 1955) Hawaii R6D-1 crash (March 22 1955)* Pan Am Flight 845/26 (March 26 1955) MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash (April 1955) American Airlines Flight 476 (August 1955) United Air Lines Flight 409 (October 1955) United Air Lines Flight 629 (November 1955)
1956	TWA Flight 400 (April 1 1956) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (April 2 1956) Grand Canyon mid-air collision (June 1956) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 304 (July 9 1956) United States Air Force Flight 441/13 (July 13 1956)
1957	American Airlines Flight 327 (January 6 1957) Pacoima mid-air collision (January 31 1957) Northeast Airlines Flight 823 (February 1957) Northeast Airlines Flight 285 (September 1957)
1958	Capital Airlines Flight 67 (April 1958) Capital Airlines Flight 300 (May 1958) Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash (June 1958) Northeast Airlines Flight 258 (August 1958)
1959	Southeast Airlines Flight 308 (January 1959) The Day the Music Died (February 3 1959) American Airlines Flight 320 (February 3 1959) Capital Airlines Flight 75 (May 1959) American Airlines Flight 514 (August 1959) Braniff International Airways Flight 542 (September 1959) Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 (October 1959) National Airlines Flight 967 (November 1959) Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 (December 1 1959) San Diego F3H crash (December 4 1959)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory, including Alaska and Hawaii prior to statehood. 1940–1949 ◄ 1950–1959 ► 1960–1969

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