Test

The crew (two pilots and two engineers) departed Dothan AFB for a local post maintenance test flight. Just after liftoff, the elevators jammed. The aircraft went out of control and crashed. All four occupants were killed.

The crew was completing local tests flight on the Konztanz Lake on this new seaplane prototype. Upon landing, the seaplane overturned and came to rest upside down. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was salvaged but damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft involved was experimentally configured with 4-bladed props and was on a test flight to determine handling characteristics following a throttle chop to idle power at 50 feet agl. This maneuver had been accomplished twice on the test flight without incident. On the third landing, the pilot later stated, that he retarded the throttles more briskly than on previous approaches. Observers on the plane and on the ground then saw a yaw and a wing drop. The right gear struck the runway first, followed by the left and nose gears. All three gear then sheared off. The aircraft slid to a stop off the runway 975 feet from initial impact. A postaccident teardown of the props revealed no preexisting misadjustments or abnormalities.

The pilot was making a short (35 minutes) local flight to 'check N333AA over' before turning it over to its new owner. The aircraft collided with the ground in a steep descent, wings level, attitude during an entry into the traffic pattern at Billings, Montana. VMC prevailed at the time. Witnesses said the engines were operating and there was no apparent attempt by the pilot to avoid the crash. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Following a dual engine change, the pilot test flew the aircraft. On initial climb, at about 500 feet agl, both engines began backfiring violently and lost power. According to the pilot, power sufficient for flight could not be obtained, and a forced landing was made about 0.75 miles from the airport. The landing occurred in open desert terrain and the aircraft was substantially damaged. The pilot acknowledged that he did not check the position of the control handles for the superchargers during either his preflight or pre-takeoff inspections. And the blowers had been inadvertently left set to the high blower position. According to the pilot, the checklist which he was using for the aircraft did not address the position of the blowers because for the past 15 years it had been company policy to 'wire the blowers to the low blower position.' Both occupants escaped uninjured.

While on a test flight, the twin engine aircraft struck the slope of Mt Tolfa located about 10 km northeast of Civitavecchia. Both pilots were killed.

Aircraft was performing test flight maneuvers when problems with the modified fuel system occurred. Ice blocking a fuel vent line caused a partial collapse of the main (engine feed) fuel cell which produced an erroneous fuel quantity reading. In addition, the main tank overflow shut off valve was leaking, so tank overflow occurred. The fuel overflow caution light illuminated and auxiliary tank fuel pump feed to main automatically shut down. Due to miscalibration, this system overrode pilot attempts to restart aux fuel pumps. Pilot remained in test area troubleshooting rather than immediate return to base, finally noted main tank gage continuing to read 'full.' En route to Boeing Field, fuel starvation occurred. Pilot opted to attempt forced landing in small athletic field in residential area rather than ditch in puget sound. The aircraft touched down in intended landing area, then bounced across an adjacent street. The arresting action of telephone wires on the vertical fin brought the aircraft to rest in a residential backyard. All three occupants were injured, one seriously.

The aircraft was used by the NASA to test fuel fire retardant and crashed upon landing without any passengers or crew on board. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

The pilot allowed the aircraft to stall at an altitude which was too low to effect recovery before ground impact occurred. He was in the process of performing VMC test and maximum performance single engine climbs during the test flight. Witness description of the aircrafts movements at the beginning of the accident sequence suggests that the VMC test were in progress immediately before the accident occurred. Both occupants were killed.

While taxiing at Omega AFB, the aircraft caught fire for unknown reasons. The crew was able to stop the airplane and to evacuate before it would be totally destroyed by fire.