Illinois

The pilot stated she felt the twin engined tailwheel cargo airplane yaw to the right during takeoff. The pilot stated she applied left rudder and set differential power to correct for the perceived right hand crosswind. As the airplane lifted off, it made a sharp right turn and performed left and right banks leveling off prior to colliding with the ground. The airplane slid through security fences and a fuel supply depot before stopping. The newspaper bundle cargo moved from the two forward bays to the aft end of the cargo compartment. The newspapers were covered with plastic wrapper. The cargo compartment floor was slippery when walked upon and had traces of snow on it. According to the pilot the cargo was covered by a cargo net secured at the forward end but not at the aft end. Two cargo straps were crisscrossed over the net and secured at the aft end of the cargo load. The left throttle was found in the full forward position. The right throttle was found one inch aft of the full forward position.

The crew (one instructor and two pilots under training) was completing a local training at Glenview Airport. On approach to runway 27, the instructor decided to initiate a go-around procedure then started an approach to runway 35. He cancelled his IFR flight plan when control was lost. The airplane crashed onto several houses located near the airport. All three crew members were killed while there were no casualties on ground.

Before takeoff, the pilot received a weather briefing and was advised of thunderstorms and heavy rain along the route. The briefing included a warning of a severe thunderstorm watch with hail, wind gusts to 65 knots and a sigmet (31c). The pilot filed an IFR flight plan and took off at 1148 cst. While en route at 15,000 msl, he requested and received clearance to divert 10° left to avoid 'some clouds.' Soon thereafter, the ATC controller noticed the aircraft was about 500 feet high and reminded the pilot to maintain 15,000 feet. The pilot acknowledged, then there was no further communication with the aircraft. Subsequently, an in-flight breakup of the aircraft occurred and the plane crashed. The left outboard wing panel separated from positive overload failure and was found about one mile from the main wreckage. No preimpact fatigue was found. A witness, who saw the aircraft descending out of the clouds, saw a funnel cloud in the area before the accident. Both occupants were killed.

Purpose of the flight was to provide training to the copilot for a new (part 135) operation. Witnesses observed the DC-3, N47CE, maneuvering at 3,000 feet msl (approximately 2,200 feet agl) with the gear and flaps extended. Shortly after completing a turn, the aircraft was observed in a nose high attitude, then it entered a spin. According to witnesses, the aircraft seemed to stop spinning, but it entered a secondary spin and crashed before recovery was accomplished. The pilot-in-command (pic) had 30 hours of flight time in the make/model of aircraft. No record was found to show that the pic had been trained in approaches to stalls. No preimpact part failure/malfunction of the aircraft was found, though it was destroyed by impact and fire. The copilot was a retired airline pilot, who had flown the DC-3 in the 1940's. An examination of the wreckage revealed the gear and flaps were (fully) extended and the elevator trim was set in a full nose up (trim) position. All three occupants were killed.

Departed Marion without a weather briefing. Pilot advised during approach that last person making approach reported moderate to severe turbulence on final. Subsequently cleared to land and given wind 360 at 30 gusting 40. Also advised that another aircraft reported a 20 knots windshear on final. The pilot reported that when he had descended to 1,500 feet msl, the aircraft encountered strong turbulence and the airspeed went from stall to redline. Despite adjustment to flaps and throttle, the airplane was uncontrollable.

The first takeoff was aborted due to a perceived engine problem. Six minutes later on second takeoff, the aircraft climbed to 50 feet, drifted to the right, rolled right and impacted in the infield. This was a single pilot operation in a complex aircraft. Winds exceeded the demonstrated crosswind limitation of the aircraft. There was no evidence that the pilot was using the seat belt or shoulder harness. Post crash investigation of both engines and props determined that there were no operational defects and that both were producing power at the time of impact. Strong gusty winds varying in intensity from 15 to 30 knots and varying in direction from southwest to northwest were prevalent at the airport on the day of the accident. The prop condition levers were found in the taxi position and the power levers were set with the left engine near flight idle position and the right engine at the takeoff position. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Scheduled domestic part 121 flight could not get landing gear to extend on approach to Chicago-Midway Airport. After missed approach, crew tried unsuccessfully to extend gear manually using procedures in cockpit checklist and flight operations manual. Emergency gear-up landing was made at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport. Investigation revealed a disconnected gear selector actuating rod from the normal landing gear retract/extension actuating assembly. Crew damaged manual gear extension mechanism in manual extension attempts. FAA approved procedural checklist had omitted critical step in manual gear extension procedure.

The commercial pilot was on a repositioning flight from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Atlanta, Georgia, after having been without sleep for about 20 hours. Witnesses observed the aircraft circling a subdivision near Rockford, Illinois at a low altitude, just above the treetops. The aircraft was in a steep left bank, described as 70-90°, when it reversed direction into a steep right bank and descended into the trees. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.