Tuesday, April 8: Mike McComb will present "Grand Canyon 1956 Midair Collision - What Aviation Archaeology Reveals"
6 PM AZ time (6 PM PDT, 7 PM MDT, 8 PM CDT, 9 PM EDT)
On June 30, 1956, two commercial airliners, a United Air Lines (UAL) Douglas DC-7 and a Trans World Airlines (TWA) L-1059 Super Constellation, collided midair while both were en route eastward from Los Angeles International Airport. The accident occurred in open, un-crowded skies above the Grand Canyon with the tragic loss of life to all 128 on-board both aircraft.
As a former commercial airline pilot, currently employed at the FAA in the position of Aviation Safety Inspector, Mike McComb has maintained a deep personal interest in the events and circumstances leading to this tragic accident. But he wanted to know more beyond the newspaper articles and official reports, and so he has conducted several archaeological expeditions to the crash sites for each aircraft. Mike will describe the challenges of these expeditions and what his inspection of the wreckage has revealed.
Presenter’s Biography
Mike McComb brings a background of traditional archaeology and nearly 35 years of aviation flying experience to his interest in aviation archaeology.
His involvement in aviation archaeology dates back to 1985 when he located his first wreck, a North American Aircraft F-86 Super Sabre military fighter jet that crashed on a dry lake bed in Northern Arizona. Since then, Mike has participated and volunteered for aviation archaeology projects for the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. Most recently, he was actively involved in the establishment of the 1956 Grand Canyon Air Disaster National Historic Landmark that was established in 2014, a personal project that he has been involved with since 1990 and continues to help the National Park Service today with the identification of remaining wreckage in Grand Canyon.
Mike currently divides his time between Flagstaff, AZ and Las Vegas, NV where he works for the Federal Aviation Administration as an Aviation Operations Safety Inspector and Aviation Accident Investigator.
Mike’s website devoted to his aviation archaeology research and expeditions for Grand Canyon aviation accidents: www.lostflights.com/Grand-Canyon-Aviation