56-4388

Safety history

• April 25, 1964Accident

  Shortly after takeoff from Valdez Airport, while climbing at night and in heavy snow falls, the airplane entered a nose-down attitude then plunged into the sea about 1,5 km offshore. All four crew members were killed. They were performing a local training flight on behalf of the Air National Guard.

  Fairchild C-123 Provider · 4 fatalities

  The assumption that the pilot-in-command suffered a spatial disorientation is not ruled out. Also, icing may have been a likely cause of failure to gain altitude. There were no deicing procedures at the time. It's likely both icing and spatial disorientation contributed to the crash. Full accident record