WELLING’S WING
On April 21, 1957 at 1321 hours a lone DC-3 operating as
Frontier Airlines flight seven departed Prescott, Arizona under visual flight
rules enroute to Phoenix, Arizona. On board the flight were twenty-one
passengers and a crew of three. As the flight proceeded southbound toward
Phoenix the weather deteriorated to a point where the flight could no longer
maintain visual flight rules and remain clear of clouds. The captain of the
flight requested and received an instrument flight rules clearance to proceed to
Phoenix via Knob intersection to the Phoenix omni range to maintain 7000 feet.
The crew never acknowledged receiving the clearance.
Frontier Airlines flight seven struck the west ridge of a mountain at the 4500’
level and sheared off twelve feet of the left wing and aileron. After declaring
an emergency, flight seven landed at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport without
further incident.
This incident went into the history books
testifying to the strength and durability of the DC-3 aircraft as perhaps the
greatest passenger airliner ever built. Over the years artist’s conceptions of
the collision with the mountain appeared on the cover of famous magazines of the
time and most all historical books written on the history of the DC-3 contain
the story of “Welling’s Wing”.
The broken off portion of the wing remained on the mountain in a very remote
area undisturbed for nearly forty-seven years untouched.
In June of 2004 former Frontier Airlines Captain’s Billy Walker and Ron
Rosenhahn (now an aviation safety inspector supervisor with the Federal Aviation
Administration), were having a discussion with former America West Captain Larry
Perkins (now an aviation safety inspector also with the FAA). The discussion
centered on Welling’s Wing and the “ Museum of the Rockies” which has an exhibit
in honor of the old Frontier Airlines. It was discussed if it was feasible to
relocate the resting place of the old wing section, recover it and donate it to
the museum in honor of the pilots who flew for the old Frontier Airlines.
It all started with Rosenhahn And Perkins studying old charts and descriptions
of where the location of the wing was according to the recollection of former
Frontier pilots who were based at the Phoenix domicile at the time of the
incident. Coordinates were developed from these descriptions and entered into
GPS. The search dragged on, days into weeks; weeks into months but the location
of the wing eluded us. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
First it was Larry Perkins and his wife Peggy, an aviatrix in her own right
searching in their personal aircraft. As they made several hundred turns around
the mountain looking for the wing it seemed impossible. Then it was Perkins and
Rosenhahn, still no wing. Other FAA inspectors joined in the search, still
nothing. Then a break came. FAA inspector Mike Halloran who had decided to
search the area on foot with his binoculars saw a glint of what he though was
the sun shining on metal high up on the mountain. FAA inspector Dave Baron
joined the search helping with mapping, chart plotting and GPS programming. Dave
also volunteered with the recovery efforts if the wing was ever found. And then
another clue showed up. In a description of the location sent in from former
Frontier Senior Captain E. P. Lietz, he mentioned that the wing bounced over the
top of the mountain and down the other side. Could it be we were looking on the
right mountain but the wrong side?
Everything seemed to be lining up into one possible location, Mike Halloran’s
visual sighting of a glint of metal. Former Senior Captain Ace Aviakan’s
description of a southeasterly heading from over the ghost town of Bumble Bee,
and finally E. P. Lietz’s description of the wing bouncing over the top of the
mountain and down the other side.
Larry Perkins together with FAA inspector Will Willbanks, a former DEA pilot
turned FAA inspector, (Will had now joined the search) and FAA inspector Gary
Martin proceeded to the search area with Larry doing the flying and Will and
Gary looking for the wing. On the second turn around the GPS position Will
Willbanks saw something near some bushes.
As Larry turned the aircraft around the lost wing appeared at twelve O’clock.
Welling’s Wing had been found at last.
Since locating the position of the sheared off wing, a six foot section of the
left aileron has been recovered by inspector Gary Martin and presented to Ron
Rosenhahn
Realizing the historical significance of this piece of aviation history several
FAA inspectors from the SDL FSDO joined the search donating their time and
resources to help locate the wing, and they found it. The wing will be preserved
for all time in the Museum of the Rockies located in Denver, Colorado. The
historical significance of this find represents a part of aviation history in an
era that has long gone by. For those of us who flew the DC-3 for the old
Frontier Airlines it represents much more. It represents an era of flight that
we lived.
Plans are being made to recover the rest of the wing at a future date.
Ronald J Rosenhahn
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