Powers Crashes

Francis Gary Powers, posing in front of the KNBC Channel 4 "TeleCopter"

After the U2 fiasco had slipped from public memory, Powers settled back into a normal life's routine. Until 1970, Powers was a civilian under contract to the CIA. In 1971, Powers was hired as an aerial traffic reporter by Los Angeles radio station KGIL — a job he kept five years before joining KNBC in November of 1976, as a pilot/reporter for the station's camera-carrying TeleCopter, a modified Bell 206 "Jet-Ranger" helicopter, registered as N4TV.

On the morning of August 1, 1977, Powers and his television camera operator. George Spears were shooting aerial coverage of a follow-up of the Santa Barbara fire disaster. Powers also reported on two fires in the Los Padres National Forest, according to KNBC assignment editor Mike McCornick. McCornick said at about 12:25 pm. Powers told the assignment desk he had completed his filming in the Santa Barbara area, was inbound back to Burbank Airport, and believed he had enough fuel to return to the airport. However, shortly, Powers radioed Van Nuys Airport requesting a landing because of a low fuel supply. The tower granted the helicopter permission to land, but it would never arrive.

Many have wondered or speculated on how an experienced pilot such as Powers could have allowed the aircraft to run out of fuel. Powers had reported a fuel gauge error to the mechanics. When the plane's fuel gauge indicator displayed "Empty," he actually had enough fuel for 30 more minutes of flight time. Apparently the aviation mechanic fixed the fuel gauge in the KNBC helicopter, but did not tell Powers of the correction.

Out of Fuel and at 800 Feet...With his state-of-the art helicopter now low on fuel, and with the airport too far to reach, Powers began looking for a place to set down. However, in the heart of Los Angeles County, nearly every scrap of land features some improvement. Single-family homes and apartment building filled his view. The pickings for an emergency landing spot were slim.

One of the few exceptions, however, was Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area located near one of the busiest freeway intersections in the world, where U. S. 101 meets Interstate 405; the park is actually the flood control basin for the Sepulveda Dam, an integral part of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley. Popular with locals as a spot to exercise, play, or simply be outdoors, the park features numerous facilities, including several baseball diamonds.

Eyewitnesses suggested that Powers attempted to auto rotate the helicopter onto recreational fields at this location. At 12:35 PM, Powers had the park insight, and flew the helicopter downwards in an effort to crash-land the helicopter without injuring anyone. However, at the last moment, he saw several teenagers playing baseball on the diamonds below. Powers' last transmission was "TV four just lost -”. Powers intentionally banked to avoid children on the fields and ultimately crashed the helicopter into an adjacent agricultural field, resulting in the aircraft rolling and the occupants' deaths.

John Donley, 16, an eyewitness, said he heard a popping noise, looked up, and "saw the back prop fall off”. He added, "I saw a man fall out of the helicopter when It was about 50 feet off the ground" and he thought it might have been Powers.

"It was coughing like it was backfiring," said Willie Cooper, 15. "The engine all of a sudden died and it went shooosh, and I thought 'Oh my God, what's going to happen,' and then it hit the ground."

"I heard the engine conking out," said Mark Barela, 15, one of several teen-age boys who saw the crash. "The helicopter was sort of rocking a little, then started straightening out, made one more dip and then hit the ground. "I saw one body thrown out of the copter," Barela said. The body Mark saw was that of Powers.

The jet-powered helicopter bounced into the ground and flipped upside-down, smashing the half-million dollar chopper to pieces, and gouging a 20-foot-long crater into the ploughed fields. Powers, 47, and Spears, 43, were both killed instantly. Powers was survived by his wife Sue, and two children, Dee and Francis Gary Jr. Spears, who had been working at KNBC for only 14 months to that point, left behind a wife, Annette, and three teenage children.

The wreckage of the KNBC helicopter, now a ball of twisted metal. Firefighters responding to the scene immediately removed a smoking battery from the wreckage and prevented ignition of any leaking fuel. "His flight direction was directly toward the ball field where the boys were. He fell down, about 50 yards from where the boys were playing... and I think he purposely nosed it down in an unoccupied area," said Sgt. Dennis Ruegsegger of the Los Angeles Police Department.

A video-audio tape recorder was found in the wreckage, but a KNBC spokesman said there was nothing on it to give a clue to the trouble and that it apparently was not turned on at the time for the crash. Four video cassettes were recovered from the crash site, and three were used on the air that same evening.

The wreckage of the helicopter was taken to the Wayne Airframe Aviation Company in Van Nuys. The investigation of the cause of the crash found no mechanical defects in the helicopter, stating, "There was nothing wrong except that there was very little fuel in the system.” In fact, the fuel lines had been run dry, and only 5 ounces of fuel been found in the entire system. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the probable cause of the crash fuel exhaustion.

The Death of Francis Gary Powers

 When Francis Gary Powers became an airborne traffic reporter for radio station KGIL in the San Fernando Valley, he was known for his unique sign off “Gary Powers, KGIL sky watch”. He was then hired by Los Angeles television station KNBC to pilot their new "TeleCopter”, a helicopter equipped with externally mounted 360 degree cameras.

Sadly, on August 1, 1977, Francis Gary Powers died, at the age of 47. On his return from covering brush fires in Santa Barbara County, his helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed just a few miles from Burbank Airport where he was based. KNBC cameraman George Spears was also killed in the incident.

Power's body was taken to the Douglas Mortuary in El Segundo. Dick Spangler, president of the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California, lobbied to have Powers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. On August 3, 1977 the request was approved by President Jimmy Carter, as well as the acting Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander. Presidential Press Secretary Jody Powell telephoned Powers' widow to relay President Carter's approval of the request, the basis being Powers' service as a CIA spy pilot and as a holder of the Intelligence Star, a CIA medal equivalent to the Silver Star.

Powers was survived by his wife Sue, and two children, Dee and Francis Gary Powers, Jr. Francis Gary Powers is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Speaking at the ceremony, Air Force Brigadier General, Kevin Chilton said, "The mind still boggles (over) what we asked this man to do: Fly in a plane …over downtown Moscow, alone, unarmed and unafraid, then to suffer in prison during what indeed was a war, the Cold War." The ceremony ended with a fly-by of a lone U2 plane, in tribute to Powers and his service.

In 1998, information was declassified revealing that Powers’ fateful mission had actually been a joint USAF/CIA operation. On May 1, 2000, on the 40th anniversary of the U2 Incident, U.S. officials posthumously presented Powers' family with the Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star, and National Defense Service Medal. The awards ceremony was held at the Beale Air Force Base, north of Sacramento and home to the modern US U2 force. In addition, then CIA Director George Tenet authorized that Powers posthumously receive the CIA's coveted Intelligence Star for extreme fidelity and extraordinary courage in the line of duty.

We kindly acknowledge the Check Six Research Team and their staff for their contribution to this article.

More Information about Gary Power's and this article are available at the following links:

Crash Sites-Powers-N4TV and the Check-Six web site.