Accident
A night mail flight en route from Amarillo to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport encountered severe weather conditions. The aircraft descended into terrain in an area of extremely violent weather, crashing in a mountainous region near Claude. Search and rescue operations were conducted but later suspended after no trace of the aircraft or the pilot was found. The wreckage was eventually discovered on 29 August 1975 in an isolated area. The aircraft was totally destroyed, and the pilot was killed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the probable cause to be controlled flight into terrain after the pilot continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions. The following contributing factors were reported: improper in-flight decisions, instruments misread or failed to read, low ceiling, rain, thunderstorm activity, visibility limited to half a mile or less, and haze.