Douglas DC-4 N898AT

Summary

On 30 May 2007 at about 20:00 local time, a Douglas DC-4 registered N898AT was involved in an accident near McGrath, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 May 2007 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

McGrath, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Nixon Fork Mine (AK40)

Coordinates

63.2292, -154.7603

Aircraft

Douglas DC-4

Registration

N898AT

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 125: 20+ Pax,6000+ lbs

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fairbanks → McGrath

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC07LA040

Nobody was injured.

An undershoot and collision with the runway when the pilot misjudged the distance/altitude during the landing flare/touchdown.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The captain was making a VFR landing approach to a remote mining airstrip in a modified Douglas DC-4 airplane at the end of a cross-country nonscheduled cargo flight. The modified airplane had a raised cockpit above the fuselage to accommodate an upward swinging nose door. During the landing flare/touchdown, the airplane undershot the runway threshold, and right main landing gear struck the lip of the runway. The right main landing gear was torn off, which allowed the nose and right wing to collide with the runway surface. The right wing was torn off the fuselage and caught fire. The fuselage, containing the cargo of fuel bladders, slid to a stop and rolled about 90 degrees to the left. The pilot indicated that due to the additional cockpit height of the modified airplane, versus a standard Douglas DC-4 airplane, the airplane was lower than he perceived.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.