Latest news with #DouglasDC-4
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NTSB: Faulty repair partly caused fatal crash of fuel-laden cargo plane near Fairbanks
Apr. 16—A cargo plane loaded with fuel that crashed near Fairbanks last year, killing both pilots on board, had a recently replaced engine and an ongoing fuel leak in the days before the crash, federal investigators say. The Douglas DC-4 owned and operated by Wasilla-based Alaska Air Fuel went down after leaving Fairbanks International Airport in April 2024. The plane, en route to the Northwest Alaska village of Kobuk for a fuel delivery, carried 3,400 gallons of unleaded fuel and two 100-gallon propane tanks. The plane crashed onto Tanana River ice about 7 miles southwest of the airport, slid into a bluff and was consumed by flames. Pilot John Sliwinski, 68, and co-pilot Harry Secoy, 63, died in the crash. Both men were experienced pilots; Sliwinski owned Alaska Air Fuel. A final report released by the National Transportation Safety Board this month describes a series of sudden and catastrophic mechanical problems that preceded the crash. Three minutes into the flight, the pilots reported a fire and turned back for the airport, according to the new report. Witnesses said they noticed one of the plane's four engines wasn't running before seeing a plume of white smoke and then flames before the engine exploded. The plane dropped into an uncontrolled left turn and crashed within five or six minutes of takeoff, the report said. Air-traffic control audio that circulated after the crash includes the voice of one pilot informing controllers the plane is returning before saying, "Tell 'em I love 'em, man, tell 'em I love 'em," as it dropped from radar. Maintenance records showed the engine that malfunctioned was an overhauled unit installed a week before the crash, the report said. The Alaska Air Fuels director of operations also told the NTSB a fuel tank near the engine "was reported in the days before the accident to leak when full," lead investigator Mark Ward wrote. Fuel leaked into a space behind the engine and dripped out of the wing, the report said. "Although a repair had been made, this repair did not fix the leak," Ward wrote. "For several days before the accident, the airplane was parked with full fuel tanks, dripping fuel into the wing space" behind the engine. Investigators also discovered an incorrectly installed nut that would have produced "a spray of high-pressure oil around the hot exhaust system" when the pilots tried to feather the plane's propeller as they tried to control the aircraft in those last moments, the report said. That's what caused the white smoke and fire witnesses described before the fuel behind the engine ignited, resulting in the explosion, it said. The agency determined the probable cause of the crash was a loss of power in that engine "for reasons that could not be determined" and the incorrect installation of the nut, allowing oil to spray onto the exhaust system. Investigators found a contributing factor was the incorrectly repaired fuel leak. Alaska Air Fuel used the Douglas DC-4 to haul fuel to remote locations. The planes, which are increasingly rare, were originally used by the military, including during World War II. The military version of the DC-4 is known as the C-54 Skymaster. Sliwinski was remembered at a memorial service last year as a passionate aviator, family man and active member of the Anchorage Grace Church community. Secoy worked as an attorney in Washington state for about two decades, according to the Everett Herald. He was a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot who spent his last years working in Alaska as a DC-4 pilot.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DC crash ‘almost identical' to 1949 collision: Aviation expert
(NewsNation) — The collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River shares striking similarities to a 1949 crash in the same airspace, an aviation attorney tells NewsNation. 'There was a prior accident at Washington National (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) 75 years ago almost identical to what happened last night,' said Edward Booth. 'It was Eastern Airlines, 537, Nov. 1 of 1949.' In that crash, an Eastern Air Lines-operated Douglas DC-4 aircraft collided with a military fighting plane over the Potomac River, killing 55 people. What we know about the DC plane crash victims 'It was the worst airline disaster in the world up until that point in time,' said Booth. While President Donald Trump promised a swift investigation into Wednesday night's crash, Booth said an investigation will likely take 'probably a year-and-a-half to two years. 'The probable cause determination by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) may come out within a year because I have every reason to believe this will be given top priority.' Flights resumed at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday. But many flights had been canceled, and airport information boards were covered in red cancellation messages. Other flights were delayed until late morning or afternoon. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
30-01-2025
- General
- USA Today
DC plane crash has striking similarities to a 1949 tragedy
A passenger plane near Washington, D.C. An unexpected military aircraft. And a fatal mid-air collision. Wednesday's deadly collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) shares striking similarities to a crash that happened in the same airspace on Nov. 1, 1949. In that crash, a military Lockheed P-38 Lightning having engine trouble slammed into an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4, according to the Arlington Historical Society. Fifty-five people died in the crash, all of them from Eastern Air Lines Flight 537. At the time it was the deadliest airliner incident in American history, the historical society said. Wednesday's crash killed 67 people, 64 aboard the American Air Lines flight and three aboard the Black Hawk. In that crash, experts said the American flight was on final approach to land at DCA when it collided with the low-flying helicopter on a "proficiency training flight" when it crashed, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. In the 1949 crash, the pilot of the P-38 was with the Bolivian Air Force and was testing out the plane as part of a sale from the United States to Bolivia. "Glen Tigner, 21, an air traffic controller on duty at the National Airport Tower on Nov. 1, 1949, sounded the crash alarm," the historical society says in describing the crash. "'Turn left! Turn left!' Tigner had radioed moments earlier as a Bolivian Air Force fighter on a practice run veered toward a commercial flight on approach to the airport from the south." News reports at the time captured the grim recovery of bodies from the Potomac, victims still strapped to their seats. Flight 53 had taken off from Boston, stopped in New York City, and was headed south to New Orleans. According to a 2005 Arlington Fire Journal report, retired firefighter Frank Higgins recalled finding body parts amidst the debris, which landed in waist-deep mud. The P-38 pilot was recovered, injured, by a rescue boat launched from Bollin Air Force Base, the Journal reported. The Bolivian ambassador later told reporters the pilot hadn't heard Tigner's warnings because he was managing engine problems aboard the single-seat turbocharged twin-engine fighter, the Journal reported. There have been other crashes near DCA as well: On Jan. 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and sank in the river shortly after takeoff, killing more than 80 people. In that case, authorities blamed a winter storm for lowering visibility and causing ice to accumulate on the 737's wings, hampering its ability to climb. Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
