Hughes Airwest Flight 706 - Flight Histories

Flight Histories

Flight 706 was a scheduled passenger flight operating between Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, Washington. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 aircraft had accumulated 5,542 airframe hours since entering service in 1969. The aircraft was operating under the livery and name of Air West, the airline that had been recently purchased by Howard Hughes and rebranded Hughes Airwest.

The aircraft was piloted by Captain Theodore Nicolay, 50, who had 15,490 hours of total flying time, including 2,562 hours flying DC-9s. His co-pilot was First Officer Price Bruner, 49, who had 17,128 total hours flying time, with 272 in DC-9s. Other crewmembers included three stewardesses: Joan R. Puylaar, 34; Patricia Shelton, 28; and Helena Koskimies, 30.

Flight 706 departed from Los Angeles at 6:02 p.m. PDT for Salt Lake City, Utah, the first of five intermediate stops en route to Seattle. Control of the flight was transferred to Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center at 6:06 p.m. The flight passed through 12,000 feet (3,700 m) at 6:09 p.m. and was told to head 040 (magnetic) until receiving the Daggett VOR, then direct. Flight 706's acknowledgement of this instruction was the last radio transmission received from the aircraft.

The U.S. Marine Corps F-4B-18-MC Phantom II, Bureau Number (BuNo) 151458, coded '458', had been in operation since April 15, 1964. At the time of the accident it was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Air Wing, though it had been operated by various squadrons prior to that. The fighter plane was piloted by 1st Lt. James R. Phillips, 27. The co-pilot and Radar Intercept Officer was 1st Lt. Christopher E. Schiess, 24. The jet and its crew were based in Marine Corps Air Station El Toro (MCAS El Toro), which has since been decommissioned.

'458' had been a part of a cross-country flight of two aircraft when its radio failed while landing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The aircraft was ordered to effect repairs at Mountain Home AFB and then to return to MCAS El Toro. Diagnostic tests at Mountain Home revealed that the aircraft had an inoperative radio, inoperative transponder, oxygen system leak, and a degraded radar system. Maintenance personnel were able to fix the radio and confirm the oxygen leak, but the base did not have the necessary personnel to repair either the transponder or the radar.

Lt. Phillips, the pilot, received permission to fly the F-4B with an inoperative transponder from his superiors. As the fighter proceeded to Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, the oxygen leak worsened until the system was disabled completely, and the pilot was instructed to fly at low altitude. The Phantom II departed NAS Fallon at 5:16 p.m. following a flight plan routing across the Fresno, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles air corridors.

Flight 706 was operating under instrument flight rules (IFR). Under IFR procedures, the pilot guides the aircraft using the cockpit's instrument panel for navigation, in addition to radioed guidance from Air Traffic Controllers and ground radar. BuNo 151458 was operating under visual flight rules (VFR). At the time of the accident, VFR procedures included a "see and be seen" doctrine that dated back to early aviation. The "see and be seen" formula required pilots of all planes, VFR and otherwise, to be on constant lookout for all aircraft flying in their vicinity, regardless of navigational aids.