Sikorsky S-61L crash near Compton, California, United States

Los Angeles Airways Flight 417, a Sikorsky S-61L (N300Y) operating a scheduled service from LAX to Disneyland Heliport, lost a main rotor blade in flight over Compton, California. The helicopter crashed and was destroyed by impact and fire. All 18 passengers and 3 crew were killed. N300Y was the prototype S-61L and the sister ship of N303Y which had been destroyed in an identical accident (Flight 841) less than three months earlier on May 22, 1968. The NTSB found the cause was again a failure in the main rotor system. The two crashes within 84 days ended Los Angeles Airways scheduled helicopter passenger services and prompted the FAA to ground all S-61L aircraft pending investigation into rotor system failures.