Also, this is a great example of "GET THIS THING ON THE GROUND NOW!" No hanging on to run checklists that won't complete while you are airborne and alive. No messing with ATC. Just "MAYDAY WE ARE LANDING RIGHT THERE RIGHT NOW" and everyone gets to go home to their loved ones this Christmas. Great work.
Yes, exactly. If they had copied the Transair-Crew from Hawaii they would have crashed. As Juan shows very impressive in the video: It was even with this outstanding performance of the crew very close to not make it to the runway.
@@dirtcurt1 DC-4 / mil C-54 vertical stab was rounded -- the modified one here was closer to the large, clipped DC-7 tail. (The DC-6 / mil C-118 was kind of evolving between the rounded-or-clipped tails.) Mods history note: Northern Air Cargo had two or three "swing-tails," which got a lot of use taking vehicles and really long cargo all over the state -- putting those pickups, etc., way into those bush places. I believe the major mod was done in Belgium, and everything aft of the production break (fuselage split where the "swing" hinged) became metric. They also modified Bristol "Britannia" airliners (very similar to DC-6s), during that era of competition to keep post-war production afloat. At NAC, even though I was a non-rated mechanic's helper, my old mentor Dave DeBoer patiently taught me a priceless ton about working the mx end of that hard-working, heavy iron. 1977-80, I was with Aerial Port at EDF, enjoying loading radar site-support gear on the variety of big radial rigs flying contract air: Reeve C-46s & DC-6s, NACs C-82s & their (turbo-prop) Douglas C-133 Cargomaster -- pretty damn cool! ...and with some controversy about NAC being fined by FAA each time the -133s took off (certification stuff) -- which the Air Force paid, to have their oversize gear gotten into the sites (if true... money talks & and brings the gear up -- and BS walks). NAC even put that whopper into Sparrevohn AFS's ski-jump runway (radar site, where the approach plate has a little block that says "Successful Missed Approach Unlikely." The prior (USAF life) Military Airlift Command "MAC" tail flash painted on the vertical stab, was simply changed to "NAC" -- three of them, yanked out of the boneyard to keep working. Pretty good scouts, all of their crew, mechs, cargo & support folks.
The RH engine was windmilling and the pilot was unable to feather it. The propeller only went into feather position after windmilling into the runway. Also note the tree branches in the RH cowling, hole in wing from the trees about a block from the runway. They did an amazing job keeping this airplane out of the city and making it to an airport with one engine out. Thanks for the link. Cool report on the plane.
Wow. The landing is even more impressive knowing that they hit trees on the way in. I doubt they ever would have made it back to ANC and would have had to ditch either in water or tidal marsh. Excellent decision making to go for MRI. These pilots were at the top of their game.
The company my brother-in-law works for provided the crane to lift the plane off the tarmac. He says the plane hit those trees pictured in the video... trimmed off the tops. Maybe that's how the wing got dented?
Losing an engine during climbout is no joke. Those pilots did a great job. Credit to the controller, too. He anticipated the Merrill option, and called over to that controller to warn him.
The pilot stated that they would be entering Merril airspace on the left turn to return. I wouldn't be surprised if Merril ATC had set a radio to the frequency the plane was using.
The pilots and ATC did an outstanding job and everyone walked away with not too much damage to the aircraft. Flying in Alaska can be very unforgiving either due to terrain, IMC weather, icing, and remoteness and many other factors. I'd buy those pilots and ATC all a beer for staying cool as little Fonzie's when it mattered most!
Not sure about the super-Dak, but the normal C-47-Dak was not Performance-A. It could not climb away single engine, with the gear down - so the V1 decision-point was always ‘with the gear’ (not with a speed). ie: if the gear is not up, you close the throttles and land straight ahead, because you will never climb away on one. This gives a problem, because once the gear is up, you will degrade performance if you put it back down again. The normal Dak should climb away when clean, but only at 200 or 300 ft/min, so single-engine performance is marginal. If this flight was on on weight limits, and the good engine perhaps not performing quite as well as book performance, or the ball was perhaps not exactly central, it will simply not climb away. And then you don’t have sufficient height / speed / energy to put the gear back down again. And the gear takes a while to come down. A tricky situation - not one that I would like to be in. Lots of ways this can go wrong, and not many in which it can go right. A favourite failure mode for the engine was the magneto shaft, which also serviced the starter-motor. This put so much strain on the shaft that it regularly fractured, and took out both mags at the same time. And pots with no sparks are decidedly non productive. P
Even with both engines working and gear up in normal flight the Dak wasn't a miracle of power, it was tricky to cross high mountains like the Andes or the Himalaya with it. The C-46 (which was often used for this job) had 1600 HP more installed power and a pressurized cabin
Someone reported the right engine did not fully feather. So they had drag from the prop that was not fully feathered. With single engine performance as marginal on climb out they did a great job getting it back on the ground. Great job from both the atc and the pilots.
Bear (get it?) (Idaho, Alaska) in mind everyone quotes WW2 hp specs, that was true with the fuel they had then. Take about 15% off with modern fuel. Also the wheels were left uncovered and supported, B17 too, to take some of the load in a belly landing
Can I tell you a story? I was a young man flying his first night freight job. B-18/C-45 single pilot. I learned very quickly that freight forwarders don't always give you the correct values. They may take the shippers declaration at face value and it never gets weighed on the docks. For this event I was still pretty new at the gig. the pilot had to take the truck and go to the forwarders an collect the freight and load the aircraft. I backed up to the cargo doors with what was listed on the waybills as just under 6000 lbs. The first item to be loaded was a very large hydraulic cylinder with a TEREX label on it... needs to be forward loaded right? Anyway, one of the owners of the outfit gave me a hand winching it off the truck and uphill into the aircraft. I noticed the main struts compress about an inch at that point. packed the rest of the cargo around it and off I went. Hmmm ... a little extra power to taxi... wonder why? only 6000 lbs total...Run up normal.. depart rwy 23R at CLE enroute BWI.... halfway down the runway the tail won't come up, I would have to pick the shorter runway, hmmmm, lets give it a bit longer. Staggered off the end of the runway barely airborne on two good engines and buzzed thru my parents neighborhood 5 miles southwest at 400 'afl. I porpoised all the way to BWI and it took me to just north of PIT climb to 2500 ft... an engine failure would have been disaster. In BWI I asked the load to be weighed at AIrborne ( the handler) and the total came in at 8800 pounds. On one hand I feel very lucky for surviving that on on the other, stupid for not seeing it coming. Lessons learned.
That reminds me of a Berlin Airlift story where a DC-3 got an Avro York load. Maximum payload for the York was 20,000 pounds, but happily it was not a maximum load.
Same happened to me on a DC3. They overloaded us by 2,000 pounds. Could not climb over 5k at all. South America cargo co. Cargo pilots have to be masters of all things or wont survive. They are always lying to us about how much things weight.
Having heard a few maydays in my 46 years fishing on the Bering sea with a couple mayday relays. Hearing that word on the radio never fails to bring tearful emotion on me as people end up losing their lives at sea more often than not. Well done flight crew, excellent job. Thank you Juan.
Always like your factual presentations. No suppositions or name calling like some channels around do. You present facts and evidence for the accidents.
@@blancolirio there was a Turbo prop crash just North of me in Bedford NH...Maybe you can look into it..NTSB on the scene now..on the banks of Merrimack River..fatality unfortunately is a young man
@@PapaG603 Oh crap mate. I was so happy to hear and see how this one went, my heart goes out to his family. Going to look it up, thank you lots for the info.
WOW!! If EVER two airmen did it right, this is it!! You can only play the cards dealt, and these guys made the most of it. GREAT coverage and explanation Juan!! I really appreciate your knowledge and expertise in things aeronautical!! You explain it so "no fly" me can understand!! That is a task in itself. And I certainly enjoy your pride and personal involvement and feelings on any thing aeronautical or safety related. Thanks again. I would be remiss if I did not compliment ATC on the SUPERB handling and coordination of this event. Runway 07 was clear and available BEFORE they needed it from what I saw. THAT is super thinking from ATC.. Unbelievable teamwork all around.
So dramatic. Merrill is my home airfield. I believe they were a bit too high to make runway 34 (only 2640 feet) so had to put into runway 07 (4000 feet). Merrill is only 137 feet MSL and I believe the preliminary ADSB altitude data suggests they were higher than they actually were. They were out of performance and out of altitude as they turned for 07. They wouldn’t have made it if they had lowered the landing gear. Kudos to the pilots!
Excellent commentary Mr Blancolirio. I show your vids to my dad which was a pilot in the RCAF. As for myself I been an AME for 33 yrs and counting. Great job.
The one engine performance numbers always assume nothing else bad happens. Like the unfeathered prop reported elsewhere. Maybe it was just slow to feather, so by the time they stopped it looked good. Maybe contact with the ground helped it get its act together. Either way, taking a runway that isn't ten miles of ocean away on the path you need to take was a great decision. Nice to see it's already back on its gear.
Mr Brown you are the world authority on aviation. I do not want you to retire from the triple seven but when you do you have a spot in the world will see you as they do already. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with all of us
Hey Juan, just wanted to give you some context to your comments at 9:20 when you see the aircraft shot from the window of the building and said "that should be take off with two engines". That was not directly after take off and probably their most dire moment when they realized they werent going to make it back to ANC and chose Merrill off their right side. The engine was toast in that video. The video is right over busy midtown Anchorage with Merrill on the far left off that video. So the shot is looking east towards the mountains as the aircraft is moving right to left(south to north). I am in absolute disbelief seeing that. I travel that road daily. The plane was absolutely not at 900ft there. The building it flys right by is the CIRI building and is only 260ft high. Thats the main highway through Anchorage and if I was sitting in my truck facing southbound(Fireweed/New Seward Hwy) seeing a DC3 so low coming at me I probably would have browned my shorts. Unbelievable airmanship by those pilots.
First view thought, it is a mile away from the aircraft in the foreground. Second time, holy cow, you meant that aircraft! Great explanation and a lot of informative images, graphics and video put together so well and so fast. Glad it worked out this way. They definitely earned their pay.
I fly a pioneer 300 with retractable undergear. Once you drop it down you lose 20 knots right away and you need to be quick with the throttle. This crew did the right thing, all safe.
When I was stationed on French Frigate Shoals Coast Guard Loran Station in 1966-67, the stationed was supplied weekly by HU16E aircraft. After the station was rebuilt after a major storm, the station was supplied by Coast Guard C130s. Before I was there, during the early 1960s, the island was supplied by Navy R4Ds. This was during the time when Pacific Missile Range had a tracking facility on FFS along with the Coast Guard Loran Station. When the R4D was not available, the FAA would assist by using their DC3. The R4D could make the round trip from Oahu to FFS and return without refueling. The FAA DC3 had to stop for fuel at Kauai on the return leg. For reference, French Frigate Shoals is located halfway between Honolulu and Midway.
Japanese used French Frigate shoals to refuel Kawanishi flying boats, for pre Pearl Harbor recon. They tried again be fore Midway. The Navy had a minesweeper there and possibly some patrol craft. A sub would refuel the plane there
In the mid to late 70's we were supplying French Frigate Shoals with our C-130's from CGAS Barbers Point. Getting in was ok, but getting out was always touchy. Back the plane up with the tail sticking out over the water, lock the brakes, shut off the bleeds, full power and hope nothing bad happens after releasing the brakes...
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer Naval Auxiliary Air Station French Frigate Shoals was officially commissioned in October 1943 which further eliminated use of the shoal waters by the Japanese.
ATC's ass isn't onboard and they cant alter the laws of physics. This is what was going to happen whether ATC gave permission or not. ATC has to roll with the punches in such a situation. They can be jerks and try to tell the pilot no, but the pilot and Sir Issac Newton gets a veto.
@@Rorschach1024Under normal operations ATC tells you what to do. You say the magic MAYDAY words and the heirarchy does a 180. Its why its so important to make that declaration and convey how serious the problem is. ATC will do whatever you need from there.
14 CFR § 91.3(a): "The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft." The pilot is the boss. Not ATC, not the pilot's employer, nobody.
@@michaelmartinez1345 Oh, yeah! No argument there. I was reacting to the original comment where dannafe seems surprised that the PIC just, in essence, said, "We're here. We're landing," instead of asking for a clearance. FAR 91.3 is probably the best regulation ever written. Part "a" says that, as PIC, nobody can make me perform a flight that I deem to be unsafe. Not my boss, not the paying passengers, not the President. Nobody. It cuts both ways, though. While I have the final authority, I also bear the ultimate responsibility. If something goes wrong, it's my fault. That's what we all agreed to when we got our pilot certificates. Part "b" lets me, in case of an emergency, throw the rule book out the window and disregard any and all regulations I have to in order to meet the emergency. And part "c" puts me on notice that I'd better be prepared to explain myself. The "final authority" clause isn't carte blanche, but it gives me the legal standing to make unpopular decisions in the name of safety. I imagine there are some people who would like to think that 91.3(a) gives them the authority to say, "I don't care what the situation is. We're going, come hell or high water." I view it as giving me the authority to say, "Yes, boss, I know it's essential for you to be there but we're not going because it's just too risky right now." And, if I get fired for that, the job wasn't a good fit to begin with. (Edited for typos because, after all, proofreading is so much more effective _after_ publication.)
Well, just like the "Sully could have made it to a runway", it's best to have an outcome where all walk away. Overthinking producing indecision is worse than bent sheet metal.
Great job by those guys. They probably recalled what happened with that Collings Foundations B-17, and made the call early to divert to Merrill Field. The other day when I mentioned flying the Chieftain in Alaska, it was out of Anchorage International--but our maintenance facilities were over at Merrill Field. I've been in and out of there many times.
Clearly there was ice on the runway too which helped immensely with the belly slide, preventing some of the damage you would have seen on a dry concrete runway.
The crew knew what they were doing, if they had put the gear down, they would not have made the field. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830, the Doug's standard engine, is really pretty close to the same horsepower as the Wright R-1820 engine, but the Wright engine is a single row engine, so it's about 150 pounds lighter than the two row P&W R-1830.
@@flyerbob124 its a super 3 with the R2000, Some...not all super 3's were extended 22 inch and had a Slightly different rudder. Standard engine in the DC3 was R 1830.
I said that once to a pilot after he collided with a Cessna 150 and limped back to John Wayne Airport on one engine. The Cessna’s prop had cut through the wing and severed about a third of the strands of the aileron cable. After I told him that, he said, “don’t be so fast to conclude it would be safe. This is my second mid-air.”
As I recall, the original DC-3 barely met the standards that it was originally certified to (mostly in regards to the single engine rate of climb). It would most definitely not pass muster by modern certification standards. There were lots of situations where the best it could do was hold altitude on one engine. The reason that the Super DC-3 was introduced was to improve the aircraft to make it more modern and to adress the shortcomings of the original. I've heard that the most desirable "DC-3's" are actually C-47's that were built with Wright engines. Also, Douglas was able to convert DC-3's and C-47's to Super DC-3'S at the factory in Long Beach. This actually outsold new build Super DC-3'S by quite a margin.
Performance was the key here: A twin on a single engine doesn't have just half the performance, it has less than that because even a feathered prop causes additional drag, the asymmetric thrust and counter steering causes drag... Old age of the engines may, too, be a concern. Add a full load of fuel and cargo. Ultimately it can bee seen along their flight path that they clawed for every inch they made forward and they lost altitude slowly but continuously. In the footage the angle of attack is definitely slightly high, they had no reserves to even that out at any point, had to use all available power just to not descend to fast, plunged into that runway with the left engine still running at a high power setting. They simply wouldn't have made it in a go-around scenario. The path to Anchorage-Merrill field was just that little bit shorter than a go-around and they didn't have an inch to spare. My congratulations to the aviators and their families, they have Christmas ahead of anyone else this year!
I hope the crew bought lottery tickets that night. Yes tons of skill and training. They kept their heads in the game for sure.There was also a whole ton of luck there too. They did a great job bringing that flying tank in for a landing!
I can’t begin to express my gratitude for your efforts with this channel. In the few years that I have been subscribed I have learned so much from your analysis. You’ve provided invaluable information and lessons for individuals just getting started in aviation (like myself) to those with thousands of flight hours. Thanks for all that you do to make aviation safer and more enjoyable.
A great lesson can be learned here for GA pilots. Because of the lack of performance off of one engine they focused on getting the plane down as safely as possibly and did not let the "upset" become the focus. It will be interesting to see what caused the poor performance of the airplane on one engine operations.
Outstanding airmanship and crew coordination. Also great ATC coordination assuming the crew was not distracted allowing them to fully focus on the emergency. Everyone walked away and no casualties on the ground . Great reporting Juan.
This proves that pilots who make their living in AK pushing vintage iron around tend to have, or develop, skills that are a cut above those possessed by most of us in the lower 48. All of the most important elements of how to fly an airplane, especially in an emergency situation, are on full display here. Thanks to modern technology, we are able to witness a spectacular performance by the crew and ATC. Kudos to all, especially to you, Juan, for your pragmatic and insightful reporting, again, by making an incident into a teaching moment. Exactly why you are THE “go - to - guy” for aviation events. Thank you…
This episode really caught my attention! My dad flew the R4-D8 extensively as a Marine enlisted aviator from 09/1955 to 03/1956 out of MCAS Iwakuni, Japan to NAS Atsugi, numerous Korean airfields (K-3, K-9, 14, 16, 44, 55, to list a few!), Taipei, & Tainan Formosa(!), and Kadena AFB, - all listed in his naval aviators' flight log book. Apparently, his favorite (?) or most flown R4-Ds were Bureau Number 39084 and 17273. I was wondering if there is a way to cross check the USN Bureau Numbers against the FAA Tail Number and discern if the aircraft that made the belly landing was ever flown by my father? Thanks! JTH
N27TN is a 1951 Douglas Super R4D-8 serial number 43332 Airworthiness Certificate issued 06/04/2009. FAA registration lists the powerplants as "reciprocating", which is correct in their database. This is the second Super DC-3 they brought into service, and at the time we chartered their first, they were operating out of Merrill Field. Shot some great photos from the ramp at PACV in 2008, just above the runway with fireweed blooming in the foreground.... The TSA guys could not their rented building but coached me from the steps, and a squall arrived as I walked back to the man gate, ready to help people offload on their return flight from McCarthy, Alaska. I hope this information helps you.
Thank you, Juan. We chartered the first of TransNorthern's two Super DC-3s for Cordova's Centennial Adventure Flight to McCarthy, Alaska in August 2008, reenacting Cordova Airlines' excursion flights of fifty years earlier. Ken Smith (son of Merle "Mudhole" Smith) told us that was the first DC-3 passenger flight to McCarthy since 1975. Also the first wedding in flight at Cordova, Alaska since 1929, when the local photographer married aboard the first airplane to land (on the water) while taking the first aerial photos of town. McCarthy, Alaska celebrated its centennial in 2007, so the mayors traded centennial coins with each other. We filled the 18 seats on the airplane twice, so we had two flights for the overnight excursion, including the crew. TransNorthern's Super DC-3 can be seen in the intro for episodes of the TV series, "Burn Notice." This first one was a VC-117 in US Marine Corps service. Ken Smith explained that Douglas wanted to sell the plentiful DC-3s with these improvements into airline service, however, they could not compete with the pressurized airliners of the time (Convair 240, as I recall). It was great to ride "jump seat" for part of the flight, and see the Copper River country from that vantage. Thank you again.
Many FAA facilities have a phone that is connected to multiple towers, ATC and FSS where they just a couple digits to that handset. Multiple people can talk at the same time or it can be monitored on a speaker. I worked an FAA satellite communications contract in the mid 90s and these were some of the circuits along with RCAG and RCO.
My current home field has class B entry and instructions built into departure clearance. Not in B, but you’re going head long into it on departure. Flown with a guy who hadn’t been there before, was asking about coordinating with approach, I said calmly, no need, tower does it. They did. So appears the separation of what they can do, and what they will do.
These are the best aircraft ever designed. Old girls have been flying for a long time. Great job by the pilots to ease her back down. Any landing you can walk away from is a great landing. Great job Juan. Keep It High.👍
Continuing straight on their flight path and possibly landing short going to Elmendorf could have been catastrophic. Anchorage has about 30 1 million to 4 million gallon fuel tanks at the port. I think they chose the correct airport. I was driving in Anchorage headed north on C street and saw the DC-3 head north and I was thinking why are they flying that way. Didn't think much about it until I read my news feed later that day. Yesterday morning it was sitting by the tower with the gear down.
Good hands and good headwork by the crew... BZ. I flew C-117D's (originally R4D-8) with H&MS-31 out of MCAS Beaufort, SC. for almost 3 years, '76 - '78. Great airplane and GREAT crews. Had several serious emergencies including extended 2 engine near complete power loss in heavy rain which shorted ignition system, engine failure after takeoff similar to this event (swallowed intake valve on #2 which cascaded cylinder failures) but was light weight so no problem for emergency return to land, and propeller governor feathering oil line fracture pumping 30+ gal of oil overboard at 1,000psi resulting in inability to feather prop and subsequent in-flight engine seizure and no energy runway end divert landing like this event. All R4D-8s were Douglas re-manufactured C-47/C-53 airframes for USN/USMC, no new production airframes, and as I recall only 50 were put into service. Although they shared many of the upgrades with the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) offered new to airlines in the late '40's, the R4D-8 was significantly changed from the legacy DC-3/C-47 series and the DST. I was honored to lead flight of our 2 birds to boneyard at D-M AFB in fall of '78 when USN/USMC C-117D program operations were discontinued. Was accompanied on that mission by by VRF-31 ferry squadron representative ACCM Robert "NAP" Jones, the last active duty enlisted Navy Pilot. All DC-3S (R4D-4/C-117D) civilian operations are/were surplus sale aircraft. Only a handful went into civil service and, unfortunately, most are now gone. Great report, Juan, on a special and unique aircraft and the great save by the crew.
That shot of him coming over that Cub was NUTS! What a great shot of some excellent piloting skills. Great outcome! Fix some bent metal, and install new props, and she lives to fly another day. 👍 Definitely looked heavy with that extended slide. Even though the runway was snowy you could still see the momentum there.
Good job pilot and departure controller. Pilot knew to FLY the plane, tell the controller what they needed to do, and let the controller do ALL the coordination!
Interesting note about the C-47 and pretty much any plane with retractable gear built in the 1930's: If you look at the landing gear when it is retracted, you'll notice that it doesn't retract fully into the engine nacelle, it sticks out a little. Looking from the side, the main wheels actually hang lower than the main fuselage when retracted. And the tail wheel doesn't retract fully. This was an intentional design due to the unreliability of retractable landing gear systems at the time. If the wheels failed to come down, you could still land on the wheels. You'd bend the props, but you still had wheels. and full control.
Juan, what have we all had drilled into our heads since we first had half our tie cut off after having completed out first solo flight? Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. What a beautiful example of this practice. These guys were busy. Fortunately weather was not a factor and I doubt density altitude was an issue either. The ability to drag it over the fence was only facilitated by what these two guys got done immediately and I mean "immediately" after they lost #2. These guys, like so many other long timers in the north, know these planes better than they know their best friends. As you have so often pointed out, know your plane and it's performance LIMITATIONS before you push the start button cuz it ain't time two learn it when crap is hitting the fan. The Arctic is filled with these types of success stories. The long timers up there are truly a special bread of aviator. With so much tragedy that aviation accidents report it is great to get some good news on occasion.
This one was close to home, I live just a few blocks south of Merrill Field. There is a quick shot of the picture in the video where he clipped the trees on Karluk Street. Running out of altitude and airspeed real fast. Great job to get down without ending up in a neighborhood.
I lived in Anchorage in the early 60's near Merrill Field. That thing would have flown over my apartment. I am surprised the field is still there since it is more or less in downtown Anchorage. It was claimed that it was the busiest air field in the US at that time, though they were light and twin engined planes.
I'm guessing that shows where training really kicks in and pays off. Amazing that it looks like it pretty much stayed in the runway limits; I'm wondering if any snow/ice on the runway prevented any sparking and assisted with the slide?
It looked like they were totally skating on ice, and did a magnificent job keeping it going straight down the runway. It was just gonna have to stop when it stopped, all they could do was aim and hope.
My dad's friend owns this plane. Took-off at or near gross. New engine just hung failed, tried to make Elmendorf, had about a 200 fpm climb rate until the prop on the failed engine came out of feather. Then no longer climbing and dropped to about 400 fpm decent . Decided to aim for Merrill. Hit some trees and a telephone pole on the way in. Amazing feat of pilotage. This man deserves an award. This is second hand info so I apologize for any misinformation.
Hey @Blancolirio, I'm surprised you didn't mention flying the DC-3 at ACCA and what the controls feel like etc. This was some DAMN GOOD pilotage. Excellent ADM! I did catch your flub though.. You can hit the gas valve with your left foot and introduce gas into the system!!! Really?? Thats awesome! I think you meant air...
Insane how he lined it up with the runway at the last second. That right bank on touchdown is, in my opinion, still from making the turn, which shows how close this came to not getting there. Came sooo close to cartwheeling the plane down the runway there. Split second decisions. amazing skills.
A fantastic job of situational awareness and knowing where optional places to set down are. He knew the limitations of landing considering how the plane was handling and his load. This is a good training video for all younger pilots. I love the R4D. Flew in one after taking my oath of enlistment. They flew us from Sacramento to San Diego in one. This plane is a wonderful example of the quality workmanship at Douglas. 70+ years later and these planes are still going great. As you mentioned, this plane will be back in the air in a relatively short amount of time.
Send it to Basler for a turboprop update? Kudo's to the pilots who did NOT follow the B-17 pilot decision to drop gear/flaps early and end up out of energy with a fatal landing/loss of ground control incident. Great presentation as always, thanks for all the time and effort you put into these!
I remember doing aerobatics in the CAP 10. Before practicing my routine, I would always do a point roll, to ensure that my harness and belt were properly tightened. My habit in doing a point roll was to spread my knees against the fuselage and console, for lateral stability. In so doing, I shut the fuel off. Luckily, I was practicing directly over an airport; it was necessary to do simultaneous troubleshooting and setting up for a dead-stick landing. I was able to restore [power after the second systems check.
Why was that select switch by the foot area? KInda stupid I'm thinking. Should be on the main panel. Great video Juan and I learned from this that the engine was out. Not made known in previous video I watched. I've noticed a lot of WWII and later aircraft had some crazy locations of vital stuff that just made no sense.
Coincidentally the DC4M, produced to BOAC spec had a similarly poorly situated tank selector valve, causing one to crash at Manchester UK whilst operated by British Midland Airways. Due to one valve being inadvertently moved to a semi open position in preparation for landing, all four RR Merlin engines shut down one by one causing the aircraft to crash in a gully known as Hopes Carr with the loss of many lives and serious injuries. The irony was that the faulty positioning of the controls had existed all through the Argonaut's life with BOAC, then with Overseas Airways and had been noted but Douglas had never issued a Bulletin, despite being aware of the problem, and each time the fleet changed hands the next operator knew nothing about it.
What outstanding airmanship. Even if it's the result of an inadvertent fuel error like you suggest, how the pilot handled the emergency was just brilliant.
Surprised they're still flying! As the guys at Buffalo Airways Yellowknife (before the pandemic) were having serious problems obtaining petrol, av gas for these birds, So were either going to convert to Jet Props or just buy different cargo planes altogether. Excellent aircraft for rugged short airport landings. It'll be a full breakdown and inspection for that Right, Wright Engine, and a new set of props etc.
Also, this is a great example of "GET THIS THING ON THE GROUND NOW!" No hanging on to run checklists that won't complete while you are airborne and alive. No messing with ATC. Just "MAYDAY WE ARE LANDING RIGHT THERE RIGHT NOW" and everyone gets to go home to their loved ones this Christmas. Great work.
Yes, exactly. If they had copied the Transair-Crew from Hawaii they would have crashed. As Juan shows very impressive in the video: It was even with this outstanding performance of the crew very close to not make it to the runway.
Is that the DC4 tail?
@@dirtcurt1 DC-4 / mil C-54 vertical stab was rounded -- the modified one here was closer to the large, clipped DC-7 tail. (The DC-6 / mil C-118 was kind of evolving between the rounded-or-clipped tails.)
Mods history note: Northern Air Cargo had two or three "swing-tails," which got a lot of use taking vehicles and really long cargo all over the state -- putting those pickups, etc., way into those bush places. I believe the major mod was done in Belgium, and everything aft of the production break (fuselage split where the "swing" hinged) became metric. They also modified Bristol "Britannia" airliners (very similar to DC-6s), during that era of competition to keep post-war production afloat.
At NAC, even though I was a non-rated mechanic's helper, my old mentor Dave DeBoer patiently taught me a priceless ton about working the mx end of that hard-working, heavy iron.
1977-80, I was with Aerial Port at EDF, enjoying loading radar site-support gear on the variety of big radial rigs flying contract air: Reeve C-46s & DC-6s, NACs C-82s & their (turbo-prop) Douglas C-133 Cargomaster -- pretty damn cool! ...and with some controversy about NAC being fined by FAA each time the -133s took off (certification stuff) -- which the Air Force paid, to have their oversize gear gotten into the sites (if true... money talks & and brings the gear up -- and BS walks). NAC even put that whopper into Sparrevohn AFS's ski-jump runway (radar site, where the approach plate has a little block that says "Successful Missed Approach Unlikely." The prior (USAF life) Military Airlift Command "MAC" tail flash painted on the vertical stab, was simply changed to "NAC" -- three of them, yanked out of the boneyard to keep working. Pretty good scouts, all of their crew, mechs, cargo & support folks.
Yeah, because checklists have no use...
@@dananichols1816 cool stories.
_"Successful Missed Approach Unlikely"_ 😬
The RH engine was windmilling and the pilot was unable to feather it. The propeller only went into feather position after windmilling into the runway.
Also note the tree branches in the RH cowling, hole in wing from the trees about a block from the runway. They did an amazing job keeping this airplane out of the city and making it to an airport with one engine out.
Thanks for the link. Cool report on the plane.
thanks for adding this information
Thank you. Great info..
Wow. The landing is even more impressive knowing that they hit trees on the way in. I doubt they ever would have made it back to ANC and would have had to ditch either in water or tidal marsh. Excellent decision making to go for MRI. These pilots were at the top of their game.
How do you know it was windmilling?
@@prophetsnake How many blades were bent?
Nice to see someone kept their head and adapt to a fluid situation. Well done pilot/tower team.
The company my brother-in-law works for provided the crane to lift the plane off the tarmac. He says the plane hit those trees pictured in the video... trimmed off the tops. Maybe that's how the wing got dented?
Losing an engine during climbout is no joke. Those pilots did a great job. Credit to the controller, too. He anticipated the Merrill option, and called over to that controller to warn him.
Might not be his first rodeo :)
The pilot stated that they would be entering Merril airspace on the left turn to return. I wouldn't be surprised if Merril ATC had set a radio to the frequency the plane was using.
The pilots and ATC did an outstanding job and everyone walked away with not too much damage to the aircraft. Flying in Alaska can be very unforgiving either due to terrain, IMC weather, icing, and remoteness and many other factors. I'd buy those pilots and ATC all a beer for staying cool as little Fonzie's when it mattered most!
Not sure about the super-Dak, but the normal C-47-Dak was not Performance-A. It could not climb away single engine, with the gear down - so the V1 decision-point was always ‘with the gear’ (not with a speed). ie: if the gear is not up, you close the throttles and land straight ahead, because you will never climb away on one.
This gives a problem, because once the gear is up, you will degrade performance if you put it back down again. The normal Dak should climb away when clean, but only at 200 or 300 ft/min, so single-engine performance is marginal. If this flight was on on weight limits, and the good engine perhaps not performing quite as well as book performance, or the ball was perhaps not exactly central, it will simply not climb away. And then you don’t have sufficient height / speed / energy to put the gear back down again. And the gear takes a while to come down.
A tricky situation - not one that I would like to be in.
Lots of ways this can go wrong, and not many in which it can go right.
A favourite failure mode for the engine was the magneto shaft, which also serviced the starter-motor. This put so much strain on the shaft that it regularly fractured, and took out both mags at the same time. And pots with no sparks are decidedly non productive.
P
Even with both engines working and gear up in normal flight the Dak wasn't a miracle of power, it was tricky to cross high mountains like the Andes or the Himalaya with it. The C-46 (which was often used for this job) had 1600 HP more installed power and a pressurized cabin
Someone reported the right engine did not fully feather. So they had drag from the prop that was not fully feathered. With single engine performance as marginal on climb out they did a great job getting it back on the ground. Great job from both the atc and the pilots.
Bear (get it?) (Idaho, Alaska) in mind everyone quotes WW2 hp specs, that was true with the fuel they had then. Take about 15% off with modern fuel. Also the wheels were left uncovered and supported, B17 too, to take some of the load in a belly landing
It's not a 'super Dak". Brits never ordered them. And it still would have gone better than any Brit POS on one.
@@billdurham8477There is no power difference with modern fuel.
BREAKING: Super Cub owner submits request to Merrill Field management for different tie down spot. That was close! ( should paint "Lucky" on cowl)
Cleared by less than two feet on the super cub’s right wing
Can I tell you a story? I was a young man flying his first night freight job. B-18/C-45 single pilot. I learned very quickly that freight forwarders don't always give you the correct values. They may take the shippers declaration at face value and it never gets weighed on the docks.
For this event I was still pretty new at the gig. the pilot had to take the truck and go to the forwarders an collect the freight and load the aircraft. I backed up to the cargo doors with what was listed on the waybills as just under 6000 lbs. The first item to be loaded was a very large hydraulic cylinder with a TEREX label on it... needs to be forward loaded right? Anyway, one of the owners of the outfit gave me a hand winching it off the truck and uphill into the aircraft. I noticed the main struts compress about an inch at that point. packed the rest of the cargo around it and off I went.
Hmmm ... a little extra power to taxi... wonder why? only 6000 lbs total...Run up normal.. depart rwy 23R at CLE enroute BWI.... halfway down the runway the tail won't come up, I would have to pick the shorter runway, hmmmm, lets give it a bit longer. Staggered off the end of the runway barely airborne on two good engines and buzzed thru my parents neighborhood 5 miles southwest at 400 'afl. I porpoised all the way to BWI and it took me to just north of PIT climb to 2500 ft... an engine failure would have been disaster.
In BWI I asked the load to be weighed at AIrborne ( the handler) and the total came in at 8800 pounds.
On one hand I feel very lucky for surviving that on on the other, stupid for not seeing it coming.
Lessons learned.
That reminds me of a Berlin Airlift story where a DC-3 got an Avro York load. Maximum payload for the York was 20,000 pounds, but happily it was not a maximum load.
Same happened to me on a DC3. They overloaded us by 2,000 pounds. Could not climb over 5k at all. South America cargo co. Cargo pilots have to be masters of all things or wont survive. They are always lying to us about how much things weight.
I hope you charged the liars for the extra weight.
@@OMGWTFLOLSMH they did I believe
Kudos to pilots on basic airmansh maintaining VMC1, aviating, navigating and communicating
Having heard a few maydays in my 46 years fishing on the Bering sea with a couple mayday relays. Hearing that word on the radio never fails to bring tearful emotion on me as people end up losing their lives at sea more often than not. Well done flight crew, excellent job. Thank you Juan.
It's amazing to see when a pilot has a true feel for his/her aircraft.
Ab-so-lutely!
Always like your factual presentations. No suppositions or name calling like some channels around do. You present facts and evidence for the accidents.
Thanks Ken!
@@blancolirio there was a Turbo prop crash just North of me in Bedford NH...Maybe you can look into it..NTSB on the scene now..on the banks of Merrimack River..fatality unfortunately is a young man
@@PapaG603 Oh crap mate. I was so happy to hear and see how this one went, my heart goes out to his family. Going to look it up, thank you lots for the info.
WOW!! If EVER two airmen did it right, this is it!! You can only play the cards dealt, and these guys made the most of it. GREAT coverage and explanation Juan!! I really appreciate your knowledge and expertise in things aeronautical!! You explain it so "no fly" me can understand!! That is a task in itself. And I certainly enjoy your pride and personal involvement and feelings on any thing aeronautical or safety related. Thanks again. I would be remiss if I did not compliment ATC on the SUPERB handling and coordination of this event. Runway 07 was clear and available BEFORE they needed it from what I saw. THAT is super thinking from ATC.. Unbelievable teamwork all around.
Juan is talking straight out of his ass.
So dramatic. Merrill is my home airfield. I believe they were a bit too high to make runway 34 (only 2640 feet) so had to put into runway 07 (4000 feet). Merrill is only 137 feet MSL and I believe the preliminary ADSB altitude data suggests they were higher than they actually were. They were out of performance and out of altitude as they turned for 07. They wouldn’t have made it if they had lowered the landing gear. Kudos to the pilots!
Thanks.
My wife took a video from Fireweed and Denali st from the top floor of her building and they were below her.
Excellent commentary Mr Blancolirio. I show your vids to my dad which was a pilot in the RCAF. As for myself I been an AME for 33 yrs and counting. Great job.
Say thanks to your Dad for his service, for me, eh!
The one engine performance numbers always assume nothing else bad happens. Like the unfeathered prop reported elsewhere. Maybe it was just slow to feather, so by the time they stopped it looked good. Maybe contact with the ground helped it get its act together. Either way, taking a runway that isn't ten miles of ocean away on the path you need to take was a great decision. Nice to see it's already back on its gear.
They demonstrated there superior flying skills. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Outstanding report and ending.
Mr Brown you are the world authority on aviation. I do not want you to retire from the triple seven but when you do you have a spot in the world will see you as they do already. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with all of us
It also looks like they demonstrated their superior judgement and CRM as well in what had to be a high-adrenaline, task-saturated few seconds.
Superior flying skills: Number of landings equals number of takeoffs.
Hey Juan, just wanted to give you some context to your comments at 9:20 when you see the aircraft shot from the window of the building and said "that should be take off with two engines". That was not directly after take off and probably their most dire moment when they realized they werent going to make it back to ANC and chose Merrill off their right side. The engine was toast in that video. The video is right over busy midtown Anchorage with Merrill on the far left off that video. So the shot is looking east towards the mountains as the aircraft is moving right to left(south to north). I am in absolute disbelief seeing that. I travel that road daily. The plane was absolutely not at 900ft there. The building it flys right by is the CIRI building and is only 260ft high. Thats the main highway through Anchorage and if I was sitting in my truck facing southbound(Fireweed/New Seward Hwy) seeing a DC3 so low coming at me I probably would have browned my shorts. Unbelievable airmanship by those pilots.
this can't be stressed enough. those guys were at 300 feet over Seward Hwy and Fireweed.
Exactly! I was going to say the same thing. Definitely not video of the takeoff.
First view thought, it is a mile away from the aircraft in the foreground. Second time, holy cow, you meant that aircraft! Great explanation and a lot of informative images, graphics and video put together so well and so fast. Glad it worked out this way. They definitely earned their pay.
I bet that aircraft finds a new parking spot soonish too. I think the DC-3 would have survived landing on top of it, but it certainly wouldn't have.
I fly a pioneer 300 with retractable undergear. Once you drop it down you lose 20 knots right away and you need to be quick with the throttle. This crew did the right thing, all safe.
When I was stationed on French Frigate Shoals Coast Guard Loran Station in 1966-67, the stationed was supplied weekly by HU16E aircraft. After the station was rebuilt after a major storm, the station was supplied by Coast Guard C130s. Before I was there, during the early 1960s, the island was supplied by Navy R4Ds. This was during the time when Pacific Missile Range had a tracking facility on FFS along with the Coast Guard Loran Station. When the R4D was not available, the FAA would assist by using their DC3. The R4D could make the round trip from Oahu to FFS and return without refueling. The FAA DC3 had to stop for fuel at Kauai on the return leg. For reference, French Frigate Shoals is located halfway between Honolulu and Midway.
Japanese used French Frigate shoals to refuel Kawanishi flying boats, for pre Pearl Harbor recon. They tried again be fore Midway. The Navy had a minesweeper there and possibly some patrol craft. A sub would refuel the plane there
In the mid to late 70's we were supplying French Frigate Shoals with our C-130's from CGAS Barbers Point. Getting in was ok, but getting out was always touchy. Back the plane up with the tail sticking out over the water, lock the brakes, shut off the bleeds, full power and hope nothing bad happens after releasing the brakes...
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer Naval Auxiliary Air Station French Frigate Shoals was officially commissioned in October 1943 which further eliminated use of the shoal waters by the Japanese.
They didn't "ask" the Tower at Merrill for permission to land, they just TOLD the tower what they were going to do.
and that is exactly what should happen. Fly the plane, tell ATC what you are doing... and do it.
ATC's ass isn't onboard and they cant alter the laws of physics. This is what was going to happen whether ATC gave permission or not. ATC has to roll with the punches in such a situation. They can be jerks and try to tell the pilot no, but the pilot and Sir Issac Newton gets a veto.
@@Rorschach1024Under normal operations ATC tells you what to do. You say the magic MAYDAY words and the heirarchy does a 180.
Its why its so important to make that declaration and convey how serious the problem is. ATC will do whatever you need from there.
14 CFR § 91.3(a): "The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft."
The pilot is the boss. Not ATC, not the pilot's employer, nobody.
@@michaelmartinez1345 Oh, yeah! No argument there. I was reacting to the original comment where dannafe seems surprised that the PIC just, in essence, said, "We're here. We're landing," instead of asking for a clearance.
FAR 91.3 is probably the best regulation ever written. Part "a" says that, as PIC, nobody can make me perform a flight that I deem to be unsafe. Not my boss, not the paying passengers, not the President. Nobody. It cuts both ways, though. While I have the final authority, I also bear the ultimate responsibility. If something goes wrong, it's my fault. That's what we all agreed to when we got our pilot certificates.
Part "b" lets me, in case of an emergency, throw the rule book out the window and disregard any and all regulations I have to in order to meet the emergency.
And part "c" puts me on notice that I'd better be prepared to explain myself.
The "final authority" clause isn't carte blanche, but it gives me the legal standing to make unpopular decisions in the name of safety.
I imagine there are some people who would like to think that 91.3(a) gives them the authority to say, "I don't care what the situation is. We're going, come hell or high water."
I view it as giving me the authority to say, "Yes, boss, I know it's essential for you to be there but we're not going because it's just too risky right now." And, if I get fired for that, the job wasn't a good fit to begin with.
(Edited for typos because, after all, proofreading is so much more effective _after_ publication.)
If he would have extended the gear, he would probably met the same fate as the Collins Foundation B-17! GREAT job!
Well, just like the "Sully could have made it to a runway", it's best to have an outcome where all walk away. Overthinking producing indecision is worse than bent sheet metal.
Absolutely brilliant handling ….great decision to get it down with plan B !
Great job by those guys. They probably recalled what happened with that Collings Foundations B-17, and made the call early to divert to Merrill Field.
The other day when I mentioned flying the Chieftain in Alaska, it was out of Anchorage International--but our maintenance facilities were over at Merrill Field. I've been in and out of there many times.
Clearly there was ice on the runway too which helped immensely with the belly slide, preventing some of the damage you would have seen on a dry concrete runway.
The crew knew what they were doing, if they had put the gear down, they would not have made the field. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830, the Doug's standard engine, is really pretty close to the same horsepower as the Wright R-1820 engine, but the Wright engine is a single row engine, so it's about 150 pounds lighter than the two row P&W R-1830.
the super 3 used a R 2000 not a 1820....the 1820 was common on early dc3's used by Pan Am.
There is a DC3 with R2000s in So Cal. I saw it a Paso Robles.
@@brucemiller8109 If you read the accident report on this aircraft which is already on the Aviation Safety Network, it says the engines are R-1820's
@@flyerbob124 its a super 3 with the R2000, Some...not all super 3's were extended 22 inch and had a Slightly different rudder. Standard engine in the DC3 was R 1830.
Respect. Whatever the cause that’s next-level skills!
Sliding in safe at home!
Funny! That's what I was thinking!
Thanks for walking us through this. Well done to the two pilots.
Good presentation of a crew handling an evolving critical situation and airmanship. Thank you Juan.
I would love to see a interview with the pilots. That would be a great video.
I'd fly with these pilots any time.
Good job.
I said that once to a pilot after he collided with a Cessna 150 and limped back to John Wayne Airport on one engine. The Cessna’s prop had cut through the wing and severed about a third of the strands of the aileron cable. After I told him that, he said, “don’t be so fast to conclude it would be safe. This is my second mid-air.”
I would too, thankfully both of us can't make that particular flight and thankfully they both made it safely to a home.
As I recall, the original DC-3 barely met the standards that it was originally certified to (mostly in regards to the single engine rate of climb). It would most definitely not pass muster by modern certification standards. There were lots of situations where the best it could do was hold altitude on one engine. The reason that the Super DC-3 was introduced was to improve the aircraft to make it more modern and to adress the shortcomings of the original. I've heard that the most desirable "DC-3's" are actually C-47's that were built with Wright engines. Also, Douglas was able to convert DC-3's and C-47's to Super DC-3'S at the factory in Long Beach. This actually outsold new build Super DC-3'S by quite a margin.
Performance was the key here:
A twin on a single engine doesn't have just half the performance, it has less than that because even a feathered prop causes additional drag, the asymmetric thrust and counter steering causes drag...
Old age of the engines may, too, be a concern. Add a full load of fuel and cargo.
Ultimately it can bee seen along their flight path that they clawed for every inch they made forward and they lost altitude slowly but continuously. In the footage the angle of attack is definitely slightly high, they had no reserves to even that out at any point, had to use all available power just to not descend to fast, plunged into that runway with the left engine still running at a high power setting.
They simply wouldn't have made it in a go-around scenario.
The path to Anchorage-Merrill field was just that little bit shorter than a go-around and they didn't have an inch to spare.
My congratulations to the aviators and their families, they have Christmas ahead of anyone else this year!
I hope the crew bought lottery tickets that night. Yes tons of skill and training. They kept their heads in the game for sure.There was also a whole ton of luck there too. They did a great job bringing that flying tank in for a landing!
I can’t begin to express my gratitude for your efforts with this channel. In the few years that I have been subscribed I have learned so much from your analysis. You’ve provided invaluable information and lessons for individuals just getting started in aviation (like myself) to those with thousands of flight hours. Thanks for all that you do to make aviation safer and more enjoyable.
Fellow sharks fan up here in Alaska 🦈🦈🦈
A great lesson can be learned here for GA pilots. Because of the lack of performance off of one engine they focused on getting the plane down as safely as possibly and did not let the "upset" become the focus. It will be interesting to see what caused the poor performance of the airplane on one engine operations.
Staggering recovery! Well flown, you guys.
Outstanding airmanship and crew coordination. Also great ATC coordination assuming the crew was not distracted allowing them to fully focus on the emergency. Everyone walked away and no casualties on the ground . Great reporting Juan.
As an Anchorage resident and AAWU met, thank you for covering this! Was going to tip you off to it.
That's truly flying the aircraft all the way to the scene of the accident...
That was no accident 🤗
The calmness of the pilot made this landing an absolute success, very well done
This proves that pilots who make their living in AK pushing vintage iron around tend to have, or develop, skills that are a cut above those possessed by most of us in the lower 48. All of the most important elements of how to fly an airplane, especially in an emergency situation, are on full display here. Thanks to modern technology, we are able to witness a spectacular performance by the crew and ATC. Kudos to all, especially to you, Juan, for your pragmatic and insightful reporting, again, by making an incident into a teaching moment. Exactly why you are THE “go - to - guy” for aviation events. Thank you…
I hope the pilots employers appreciate the great job they did and getting this aircraft on the ground this could have ended in a total disaster!!!
Indeed.
This episode really caught my attention! My dad flew the R4-D8 extensively as a Marine enlisted aviator from 09/1955 to 03/1956 out of MCAS Iwakuni, Japan to NAS Atsugi, numerous Korean airfields (K-3, K-9, 14, 16, 44, 55, to list a few!), Taipei, & Tainan Formosa(!), and Kadena AFB, - all listed in his naval aviators' flight log book. Apparently, his favorite (?) or most flown R4-Ds were Bureau Number 39084 and 17273. I was wondering if there is a way to cross check the USN Bureau Numbers against the FAA Tail Number and discern if the aircraft that made the belly landing was ever flown by my father? Thanks! JTH
N27TN is a 1951 Douglas Super R4D-8 serial number 43332 Airworthiness Certificate issued 06/04/2009. FAA registration lists the powerplants as "reciprocating", which is correct in their database. This is the second Super DC-3 they brought into service, and at the time we chartered their first, they were operating out of Merrill Field. Shot some great photos from the ramp at PACV in 2008, just above the runway with fireweed blooming in the foreground.... The TSA guys could not their rented building but coached me from the steps, and a squall arrived as I walked back to the man gate, ready to help people offload on their return flight from McCarthy, Alaska. I hope this information helps you.
Sounds like an amazing guy!
It pains me to see one of these beautiful old birds suffer damage like this. Hopefully she's back in the air soon.
Thank you, Juan. We chartered the first of TransNorthern's two Super DC-3s for Cordova's Centennial Adventure Flight to McCarthy, Alaska in August 2008, reenacting Cordova Airlines' excursion flights of fifty years earlier. Ken Smith (son of Merle "Mudhole" Smith) told us that was the first DC-3 passenger flight to McCarthy since 1975. Also the first wedding in flight at Cordova, Alaska since 1929, when the local photographer married aboard the first airplane to land (on the water) while taking the first aerial photos of town. McCarthy, Alaska celebrated its centennial in 2007, so the mayors traded centennial coins with each other. We filled the 18 seats on the airplane twice, so we had two flights for the overnight excursion, including the crew.
TransNorthern's Super DC-3 can be seen in the intro for episodes of the TV series, "Burn Notice." This first one was a VC-117 in US Marine Corps service. Ken Smith explained that Douglas wanted to sell the plentiful DC-3s with these improvements into airline service, however, they could not compete with the pressurized airliners of the time (Convair 240, as I recall). It was great to ride "jump seat" for part of the flight, and see the Copper River country from that vantage. Thank you again.
Great to see a good resolve to a bad situation. Thanks for the coverage and analysis. May they all be flying again soon.
That was a really good emergency landing.... On a side note, I used to fly on another DC-3 that had those 1,475 hp R-1820s.
Great bit of flying! I really hope these guys don't wind up getting an FAA flight violation for operating over gross weight.
Love your satisfied smile as you watch them slide out safely at the end of the video. Top airmanship and as always excellent coverage Juan.
Great review. I was wondering about the gear up landing. Zack has our answer, failure to fully feather the engine.
Many FAA facilities have a phone that is connected to multiple towers, ATC and FSS where they just a couple digits to that handset. Multiple people can talk at the same time or it can be monitored on a speaker. I worked an FAA satellite communications contract in the mid 90s and these were some of the circuits along with RCAG and RCO.
My current home field has class B entry and instructions built into departure clearance. Not in B, but you’re going head long into it on departure.
Flown with a guy who hadn’t been there before, was asking about coordinating with approach, I said calmly, no need, tower does it. They did.
So appears the separation of what they can do, and what they will do.
Shame hopefully they will be able to rebuild this old stand by. Great flying for sure.
the snow on either side of the runway must have made them feel like they were inside a pinball machine.
thanks Juan.
These are the best aircraft ever designed. Old girls have been flying for a long time. Great job by the pilots to ease her back down. Any landing you can walk away from is a great landing. Great job Juan. Keep It High.👍
Or as my Navy friends say, "any landing you can swim away from....."
I have never seen an aircraft come so close to crashing without actually crashing.
you've never flown with me ;)
@@operationscomputer1478 FAA has joined the chat
@@highflyerl23 :)
Continuing straight on their flight path and possibly landing short going to Elmendorf could have been catastrophic. Anchorage has about 30 1 million to 4 million gallon fuel tanks at the port. I think they chose the correct airport. I was driving in Anchorage headed north on C street and saw the DC-3 head north and I was thinking why are they flying that way. Didn't think much about it until I read my news feed later that day. Yesterday morning it was sitting by the tower with the gear down.
Good hands and good headwork by the crew... BZ.
I flew C-117D's (originally R4D-8) with H&MS-31 out of MCAS Beaufort, SC. for almost 3 years, '76 - '78. Great airplane and GREAT crews. Had several serious emergencies including extended 2 engine near complete power loss in heavy rain which shorted ignition system, engine failure after takeoff similar to this event (swallowed intake valve on #2 which cascaded cylinder failures) but was light weight so no problem for emergency return to land, and propeller governor feathering oil line fracture pumping 30+ gal of oil overboard at 1,000psi resulting in inability to feather prop and subsequent in-flight engine seizure and no energy runway end divert landing like this event.
All R4D-8s were Douglas re-manufactured C-47/C-53 airframes for USN/USMC, no new production airframes, and as I recall only 50 were put into service. Although they shared many of the upgrades with the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) offered new to airlines in the late '40's, the R4D-8 was significantly changed from the legacy DC-3/C-47 series and the DST.
I was honored to lead flight of our 2 birds to boneyard at D-M AFB in fall of '78 when USN/USMC C-117D program operations were discontinued. Was accompanied on that mission by by VRF-31 ferry squadron representative ACCM Robert "NAP" Jones, the last active duty enlisted Navy Pilot.
All DC-3S (R4D-4/C-117D) civilian operations are/were surplus sale aircraft. Only a handful went into civil service and, unfortunately, most are now gone.
Great report, Juan, on a special and unique aircraft and the great save by the crew.
That shot of him coming over that Cub was NUTS! What a great shot of some excellent piloting skills. Great outcome! Fix some bent metal, and install new props, and she lives to fly another day. 👍 Definitely looked heavy with that extended slide. Even though the runway was snowy you could still see the momentum there.
Good job pilot and departure controller. Pilot knew to FLY the plane, tell the controller what they needed to do, and let the controller do ALL the coordination!
R4Ds were used by USN in ops into the Antarctic from NZ during Operation Deep Freeze in the late 50s.
Brilliant landing at the 11th hour, keeping the working engine high then leveling off at the last second. Perfect timing.
Interesting commentary on your part. This pilots did a great job in my perspective. It seems like the plane came down with minimal damage.
Interesting note about the C-47 and pretty much any plane with retractable gear built in the 1930's: If you look at the landing gear when it is retracted, you'll notice that it doesn't retract fully into the engine nacelle, it sticks out a little. Looking from the side, the main wheels actually hang lower than the main fuselage when retracted. And the tail wheel doesn't retract fully. This was an intentional design due to the unreliability of retractable landing gear systems at the time. If the wheels failed to come down, you could still land on the wheels. You'd bend the props, but you still had wheels. and full control.
all true, but this wasn't a c-47
Juan, what have we all had drilled into our heads since we first had half our tie cut off after having completed out first solo flight? Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. What a beautiful example of this practice. These guys were busy. Fortunately weather was not a factor and I doubt density altitude was an issue either. The ability to drag it over the fence was only facilitated by what these two guys got done immediately and I mean "immediately" after they lost #2. These guys, like so many other long timers in the north, know these planes better than they know their best friends. As you have so often pointed out, know your plane and it's performance LIMITATIONS before you push the start button cuz it ain't time two learn it when crap is hitting the fan. The Arctic is filled with these types of success stories. The long timers up there are truly a special bread of aviator. With so much tragedy that aviation accidents report it is great to get some good news on occasion.
This one was close to home, I live just a few blocks south of Merrill Field. There is a quick shot of the picture in the video where he clipped the trees on Karluk Street. Running out of altitude and airspeed real fast. Great job to get down without ending up in a neighborhood.
I lived in Anchorage in the early 60's near Merrill Field. That thing would have flown over my apartment. I am surprised the field is still there since it is more or less in downtown Anchorage. It was claimed that it was the busiest air field in the US at that time, though they were light and twin engined planes.
Still busy.
One of the only times I have ever heard an American pilot actually call "mayday". Nice work.
Any chance you could get an interview with crew ?
I'm guessing that shows where training really kicks in and pays off. Amazing that it looks like it pretty much stayed in the runway limits; I'm wondering if any snow/ice on the runway prevented any sparking and assisted with the slide?
It looked like they were totally skating on ice, and did a magnificent job keeping it going straight down the runway. It was just gonna have to stop when it stopped, all they could do was aim and hope.
Juan,
Thank you for this video! Im glad everyone was OK.
Paul (in MA)
My dad's friend owns this plane. Took-off at or near gross. New engine just hung failed, tried to make Elmendorf, had about a 200 fpm climb rate until the prop on the failed engine came out of feather. Then no longer climbing and dropped to about 400 fpm decent . Decided to aim for Merrill. Hit some trees and a telephone pole on the way in. Amazing feat of pilotage. This man deserves an award. This is second hand info so I apologize for any misinformation.
took my type rating on the douglas in an old R4D. glad they made it...looks like the prop did not feather all the way...fly safe
9:30 Also note the guy wires in the middle of the frame. So, the pilots were also swerving to miss the power pole those guy wires are holding up.
"Please remain in your seats, until the aircraft has stopped moving!"
...stopped sliding.
Leadership..when your back is against the wall..Outstanding job!
Hey @Blancolirio, I'm surprised you didn't mention flying the DC-3 at ACCA and what the controls feel like etc. This was some DAMN GOOD pilotage. Excellent ADM! I did catch your flub though.. You can hit the gas valve with your left foot and introduce gas into the system!!! Really?? Thats awesome! I think you meant air...
How to deal with an emergency, beautifully demonstrated by some complete pros. Well done all. Kudos to the ATC, and the aircrew.
You do a great job; and I enjoy your videos. Merry Christmas to you and your family
Insane how he lined it up with the runway at the last second. That right bank on touchdown is, in my opinion, still from making the turn, which shows how close this came to not getting there. Came sooo close to cartwheeling the plane down the runway there. Split second decisions. amazing skills.
Beautiful plane, awesome landing, great coverage! Thank you!
A fantastic job of situational awareness and knowing where optional places to set down are. He knew the limitations of landing considering how the plane was handling and his load. This is a good training video for all younger pilots.
I love the R4D. Flew in one after taking my oath of enlistment. They flew us from Sacramento to San Diego in one. This plane is a wonderful example of the quality workmanship at Douglas. 70+ years later and these planes are still going great. As you mentioned, this plane will be back in the air in a relatively short amount of time.
Send it to Basler for a turboprop update? Kudo's to the pilots who did NOT follow the B-17 pilot decision to drop gear/flaps early and end up out of energy with a fatal landing/loss of ground control incident. Great presentation as always, thanks for all the time and effort you put into these!
Good call by the pilots, get down asap with this Lack of Performance
Airspeed is life. Great job by all involved.
Thanks for adding, in the last few seconds, why the landing gear could not be lowered. That seemed to be what made this incident unique.
Thanks again for your quick reporting of this aviation news Juan.
That really was a good landing and save from a regular guy point of view.
Even if the fuel selector was in the proper position, O-rings in the valve may have failed causing air to be sucked into the fuel line anyway.
I remember doing aerobatics in the CAP 10. Before practicing my routine, I would always do a point roll, to ensure that my harness and belt were properly tightened. My habit in doing a point roll was to spread my knees against the fuselage and console, for lateral stability. In so doing, I shut the fuel off. Luckily, I was practicing directly over an airport; it was necessary to do simultaneous troubleshooting and setting up for a dead-stick landing. I was able to restore [power after the second systems check.
Why was that select switch by the foot area? KInda stupid I'm thinking. Should be on the main panel. Great video Juan and I learned from this that the engine was out. Not made known in previous video I watched. I've noticed a lot of WWII and later aircraft had some crazy locations of vital stuff that just made no sense.
Coincidentally the DC4M, produced to BOAC spec had a similarly poorly situated tank selector valve, causing one to crash at Manchester UK whilst operated by British Midland Airways. Due to one valve being inadvertently moved to a semi open position in preparation for landing, all four RR Merlin engines shut down one by one causing the aircraft to crash in a gully known as Hopes Carr with the loss of many lives and serious injuries. The irony was that the faulty positioning of the controls had existed all through the Argonaut's life with BOAC, then with Overseas Airways and had been noted but Douglas had never issued a Bulletin, despite being aware of the problem, and each time the fleet changed hands the next operator knew nothing about it.
What outstanding airmanship. Even if it's the result of an inadvertent fuel error like you suggest, how the pilot handled the emergency was just brilliant.
Surprised they're still flying! As the guys at Buffalo Airways Yellowknife (before the pandemic) were having serious problems obtaining petrol, av gas for these birds, So were either going to convert to Jet Props or just buy different cargo planes altogether. Excellent aircraft for rugged short airport landings. It'll be a full breakdown and inspection for that Right, Wright Engine, and a new set of props etc.
Starboard engine.
Regardless of the cause, Those two guys driving that bird just achieved Godfather status for aircraft handling. 10/10
Great flying on the part of the R4D crew averting a disaster. This is how it should be done.
To update all who are interested, the aircraft was repaired and is back flying again for the same company
Happy ending. At least they didn't have to ditch in Cook inlet. Merrill field was a good call.