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McCarran Tower, If you read it's Mayday ! on Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:20 pm
I was working the Las Vegas Approach Control position in the old Control Tower on the West side of McCarran International Airport. It was the evening shift and with winter, it got dark early. Bonanza airlines had two flights ready to go. One was a DC-3 on it's way to LAX and the other was an FA-27 ready to depart for PHX. The Tower Local Controller was holding the two Bonanza flight just short of runway 7 while a Western Airlines DC-6B landed on runway 25.
I had just cleared Trans World 515, an L-49 Constellation for a VOR approach. Suddenly everyone in the Control Tower heard the radio transmission. It was on emergency frequency 121.5. The pilot said "McCarran Tower, if you read it's Mayday." Nothing else. All our operational positions tried to contact the aircraft using every frequency we had in the facility. No response. We contacted the Las Vegas FSS to see if there were any overdue aircraft. None reported. After about 15 minutes of trying contact we just waited to see if the pilot would call again. He never did.
This was in the days before there was any radar at McCarran. We had no idea who had made the transmission or where the aircraft was located until about 45 minutes later. We received a call from the Clark County Sheriff dispatcher inquiring if we had any missing aircraft. We told the dispatcher about the radio call, and that we had no further contact.
The CCSD dispatcher told us that an unidentified airplane had crashed into the sign atop the Landmark Plaza Tower (torn down several years ago), and had then tumbled across the street into the roof of the Las Vegas Convention Center and exploded.
We later learned that the aircraft had been based at the Jean, Nevada airport. Witnesses saw the pilot takeoff after dark and with no Nav lights displayed. It was determined that he had flown right up Interstate 15 at low altitude with no lights until directly abeam the Landmark Plaza. He then turned eastbound and supposedly intended to crash right into the windows of the tower. He missed slightly and hit the sign atop the building, causing the Cessna 180 to tumble into the roof across the street.
I had just cleared Trans World 515, an L-49 Constellation for a VOR approach. Suddenly everyone in the Control Tower heard the radio transmission. It was on emergency frequency 121.5. The pilot said "McCarran Tower, if you read it's Mayday." Nothing else. All our operational positions tried to contact the aircraft using every frequency we had in the facility. No response. We contacted the Las Vegas FSS to see if there were any overdue aircraft. None reported. After about 15 minutes of trying contact we just waited to see if the pilot would call again. He never did.
This was in the days before there was any radar at McCarran. We had no idea who had made the transmission or where the aircraft was located until about 45 minutes later. We received a call from the Clark County Sheriff dispatcher inquiring if we had any missing aircraft. We told the dispatcher about the radio call, and that we had no further contact.
The CCSD dispatcher told us that an unidentified airplane had crashed into the sign atop the Landmark Plaza Tower (torn down several years ago), and had then tumbled across the street into the roof of the Las Vegas Convention Center and exploded.
We later learned that the aircraft had been based at the Jean, Nevada airport. Witnesses saw the pilot takeoff after dark and with no Nav lights displayed. It was determined that he had flown right up Interstate 15 at low altitude with no lights until directly abeam the Landmark Plaza. He then turned eastbound and supposedly intended to crash right into the windows of the tower. He missed slightly and hit the sign atop the building, causing the Cessna 180 to tumble into the roof across the street.
