Lost on United Airlines Flight 608

This describes a fatal and tragic aircraft accident that killed 53 people. Follow events leading up to the crash of United Airlines Flight 608 on October 24, 1947. Discover who the victims were and follow the official investigation. While transferring fuel between tanks, fuel overflowed through a vent, entered the cabin heater system, and ignited. The fire spread rapidly and the aircraft was doomed if it could not make an immediate emergency landing. They almost made it! But the fire burned through critical flight controls causing total loss of control as they passed just over a canyon rim about 1.5 miles from the emergency runway when the nose suddenly pitched over. Unable to overcome loss of control, the DC-6 slammed into the ground in a huge fireball.