Douglas DC-3 accident at Near Vail, Washington, 1 Jan 1953

Accident narrative

On September 1, 1953, a Regina Cargo Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashed into a timbered ridge 12 miles southeast of Vail, Washington. The flight was operating as a Commercial Air Movement from Monterey, California, to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington. Both pilots and all 19 military passengers were killed, and the aircraft was demolished by the impact and subsequent fire.

**The flight**

The aircraft departed Monterey at 1408 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The crew consisted of Captain Eugene Jones, Copilot Glenn W. Dorsett, and no cabin attendant. The flight was cleared by air route traffic control to cruise 500 feet on top of the clouds via airways to McChord.

The trip proceeded routinely to Portland, Oregon. At 1820, the flight requested and received the weather for Portland, Toledo, Washington, and McChord. The crew then canceled their IFR flight plan, advising that the trip would be completed under visual flight rules (VFR). This was the last radio contact with the aircraft.

When the flight became overdue at McChord, a search was initiated. A workman located about a half mile from the crash site heard the impact between 1830 and 1900, though he did not associate the sound with an aircraft until hearing a news broadcast the following morning.

**What the investigation found**

The DC-3 struck the south side of a 3,000-foot ridge at an elevation of approximately 2,600 feet MSL. The aircraft hit in level flight on a heading of 360 degrees magnetic, closely following the airway's 355-degree course. The crash site was 16 miles north of Toledo and about 26 miles short of the destination.

The investigation found no evidence of structural failure, in-flight fire, or engine malfunction prior to impact. Examination of the engines and propellers indicated they were developing power, with the propeller blades in a cruise pitch position. The aircraft's weight and center of gravity were within allowable limits, and there was ample fuel aboard.

Weather reports given to the crew at Portland indicated overcast conditions with lowering ceilings along the route. Toledo was estimated to have broken clouds at 2,200 feet and an overcast at 3,500 feet. McChord was reporting scattered clouds at 1,500 feet, an overcast at 3,000 feet, visibility of one and a half miles, and very light drizzle. Temperatures were high enough to preclude wing ice.

An Air Force pilot flying a civil aircraft about 15 miles west of the crash site around 1800 described fog and showers on the hilltops. He offered the opinion that visual flight from the crash site to McChord would not have been possible at that time. The ground witness who heard the crash also described rain with clouds on the trees.

Investigators noted that the military was testing an uncommissioned fan marker nine miles out on the south leg of the McChord radio range. Because it shared an identification signal with another marker, investigators considered whether the crew might have mistaken its signal. However, flight checks proved the crash site was well out of aural or visual range of the military marker, and the Board ruled it out as a causative factor.

The Board noted that both pilots had flown over the region several times in recent months, and aeronautical charts showing the airway elevations were aboard the aircraft. The Board surmised that the pilot must have believed himself to be closer to his destination than he actually was, attempting to fly visually in intermittent instrument conditions. The Board noted it was highly likely the hillside was entirely obscured by cloud at the time of the crash. The captain did not request a change back to an assigned instrument altitude, which would have allowed the flight to proceed safely.

**Probable cause**

The Civil Aeronautics Board determined that "the probable cause of this accident was the pilot's attempt to continue flight under the provisions of Visual Flight Rules during instrument conditions."