What was the worst accident involving a Constellation L-049?

Paradise Airlines operated scheduled flights between San Jose and Tahoe Valley Airport, both in California. On March 1, 1964, Flight 901A was flown by a Lockheed L-049 Constellation, the aircraft's first version. On approaching the Lake Tahoe area, visibility was very poor due to clouds and a heavy snowstorm.

The pilot attempted to land despite visibility being too low, deviating from visual flight procedures. After aborting the attempt, the crew lost track of their position while flying below the minimum safe altitude over mountainous terrain. They likely attempted to cross a low mountain pass. The aircraft crashed near Genoa Peak, on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, killing all 85 people on board. Locating the wreckage and recovering the bodies took almost a month.

With 85 victims, it is the worst accident involving the L-049 version. Other versions have their own tragic record: the worst L-749 accident occurred near Wadi Natrun, Egypt, where all 55 people on board died following an engine fire, and the worst L-149 accident was the shootdown of El Al Flight 402 over Bulgaria in 1955, killing 58.

Investigators attributed the main cause to the pilot's decision to attempt the landing without the necessary visibility.

The investigators' reconstruction describes a flight that, after abandoning the approach, continued flying low between peaks and without visual references, until it struck the slope amid the snowstorm, far from any possible help.