Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55
Structural failure | |
Site | Pedro Bay, Alaska, U.S. 59°46′16″N 154°08′28″W / 59.771°N 154.141°W |
---|---|
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Fairchild F-27B |
Operator | Wien Consolidated Airlines |
Registration | N4905 |
Flight origin | Anchorage, Alaska |
1st stopover | Iliamna, Alaska |
2nd stopover | Big Mountain, Alaska |
3rd stopover | King Salmon, Alaska |
Destination | Dillingham, Alaska |
Passengers | 36 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 39 |
Injuries | 0 |
Survivors | 0 |
Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight in
Flight
Flight 55 was served by a Fairchild F-27B, a twin-engine propjet aircraft[4] that had been in service since 1959.[1] The aircraft was piloted by Captain David Stanley, who had been a pilot for Northern Consolidated Airlines for seven years before that airline was merged into Wien Consolidated Airlines. Prior to that, he had been a flight instructor in Anchorage, and was described as an excellent pilot.[4]
Flight 55 departed
Crash
While preparing to approach Iliamna, the aircraft encountered extreme turbulence at 11,500 feet (3,500 m). Local witnesses reported hearing an explosion and seeing a fireball in the vicinity of the aircraft's tail before it descended in a steep, uncontrolled spiral towards the ground.[4] Other witnesses reported large quantities of black smoke from behind the wing of the aircraft, and that the plane continued on course for a short period of time, before pieces separated from the aircraft and it entered a dive.[3] The aircraft crashed into Foxys Lake, Pedro Bay,[5] an area described as being a frozen marshland surrounded by mountains.[4]
Heavy winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour (90 km/h), as well as low temperatures of −11 °F (−24 °C), hampered search, rescue, recovery, and investigation efforts.
The NTSB investigation lasted 19 months,
See also
References
- ^ Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on September 2, 2009.
- ^ "39 die in Alaskan crash". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. 3 December 1968. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d "Aircraft Accident Report: Wien Consolidated Airlines, Inc.; Fairchild F-27B, N4905; Pedro Bay, Alaska; December 2, 1968" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 22 July 1970. NTSB-AAR-70-16. Retrieved 2 September 2009. - Copy at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University
- ^ a b c d e f g "Spotsy Lake, AK Airliner Crashes into Frozen Lake". Daily Sitka Sentinel Alaska. 3 December 1968. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
- ISBN 0-387-95256-X. Retrieved 3 September 2009.