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Historic Loss - Grand Canyon Collision

How a 1950's airline tragedy triggered the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration and its flight safety rules, and the historical impact on insurance claims.

By Ken Brownlee | Updated on December 17, 2008

Editor’s Note: As part of an expanded editorial approach, Claims is offering first-run, feature-length articles on our web site before they appear in our monthly print issue. These articles will be clearly marked and are intended to expand the editorial breadth of the magazine while at the same time delivering even more useful and educational insights to our readers. We hope you find this extended coverage helpful.

When Tony Hillerman wrote Skeleton Man, a novel in his 2004 Navajo Tribal Police series, the mystery writer chose a very real and deadly accident as a source of the fictional story. Hillerman writes that the accident “triggered the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration and its flight safety rules.” The story transpires along the cracks and crevices of the eastern part of the Grand Canyon National Park and the western edge of the Navajo Nation’s Reservation at the convergence of the Little Colorado with the Colorado River. It focuses on a courier aboard one of the two airliners involved in the crash who was transporting diamonds. The 21st century story reflects one of the worst tragedies of the 1950s.

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