Los Angeles Airways  Sikorsky S-61L  N300Y    (c/n  unknown)

                                 

                                     In 1962 Los Angeles Airways were the first carrier in the world to put the large S-61 into scheduled
                                     service.  My shot was taken at the same venue where I shot the S-51 some years previously.  This
                                     machine was the first helicopter to have the cabin formated like a regular airliner. Accomodating, as
                                     it did, a load of 28 passengers at a cruising speed of some 140 mph, it resembled the size and per-
                                     formance of a DC-3.  Unfortunately, when Congress had O.K.'d the granting of subsidies for the
                                     helicopter airlines they had put a time ceiling on it.  When that time ran out, in 1965, and the subsidies
                                     ceased, it became obvious that helicopter airlines could not make money on their own.  To make
                                     matters worse, in 1968 L A A suffered the loss of two S-61s, both due to rotor failure, and both
                                     resulting in the deaths of 20+ passengers and crew.  N300Y was one of them.   The S-61s were
                                     grounded until the problem was fixed.  The carrier never did overcome the stigma of these crashes,
                                     however, and finally sold out to Golden West Airlines in 1971.