All World

About 1 hour after departure and 15 minutes after reaching the cruising altitude of 9,000 feet, the left engine quit. The flight crew feathered the left propeller and turned toward the closest
airport which was 80 miles away. The aircraft would not maintain altitude and entered a 500 foot per minute descent. About 20 minutes after engine failure the aircraft was ditched in the ocean about 50 miles from the closest airport. The flight crew and passengers were rescued the following morning and the aircraft was not recovered. The second pilot and owner of the aircraft stated the aircraft was about 90 pounds over the maximum allowable weight at the time of departure. The previous owner of the aircraft stated that both engines had exceeded the recommended overhaul time by about 450 flight hours.

On a ferry flight from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, the pilot declared a low fuel emergency and diverted toward Hilo, Hawaii. Approximately 2.5 hours later, the aircraft was ditched in the Pacific ocean. The pilot evacuated the aircraft before it sank and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. He stated that, under flight planned conditions, the aircraft departed Oakland with sufficient fuel onboard to reach the intended destination with a 2-hour fuel reserve. However, the winds at flight altitude, which were reported as light and variable at the preflight weather briefing, developed into a significant headwind during the flight. At a point 7 hours and 10 minutes into the flight, the pilot determined that his fuel remaining was 8 hours and 40 minutes, with 7 hours and 40 minutes remaining to destination. Three hours later, the pilot determined that his 2-hour reserve was gone. He declared an emergency and diverted toward the closest airport, which was Hilo. Prior to fuel system exhaustion, the pilot elected to ditch the aircraft with power.

Based upon digital flight data recorded (DFDR) information, the mishap aircraft departed Portland IAP at 1720 PST on 22 Nov 96 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight en route to North Island Naval Air Station. The purpose of the sortie was to conduct an overwater navigation evaluation. King 56 began the sortie with a normal takeoff, departure and climbout. One hour and 24 minutes after takeoff in level flight at FL 220 the mishap sequence began with the engineer commenting on a torque flux on the number 1 engine. Nothing on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the DFDR, or the survivor’s testimony suggested any unusual events prior to the engineer’s comment. Over the next three minutes, the operations of all four engines became unstable and eventually failed. Crew actions during these critical three minutes are known only by verbal comments on the CVR and the survivor’s testimony. The following discusses what we know of those actions. The engineer called for n°1 propeller to be placed in mechanical governing. This would normally remove electrical inputs to the propeller through the synchrophaser. The pilot then called for all four propellers to be placed in mechanical governing. This action was consistent with treating this emergency as a four-engine rollback. There is no indication on the DFDR or the CVR as to whether or not the crew selected mechanical governing on any of the remaining three propellers. At the same time the crew was analyzing the emergency, they also declared an in-flight emergency with Oakland ARTCC and turned the mission aircraft east to proceed toward Kingsley Field, Klamath Falls, OR, approximately 230 miles away and approximately 80 miles from the coast. The Radio Operator radioed the USCG Humboldt Bay Station and notified them of the in-flight emergency. During the turn toward the shore the number 3 and number 4 engines once briefly recovered most of their torque. These increases are recorded by the flight data recorder. When the RPM on number 3 (the aircraft’s last functioning engine) finally decreased below 94% RPM the last generator producing electrical power dropped off line due to low frequencies. As a result, at 1846 Pacific Standard Time all electrical power was lost. After a brief period, power was restored to the equipment powered by the battery bus. From this point on, the aircraft glided to the attempted ditching. There is no record of that portion of the flight, except the survivor’s testimony.The outboard wing sections and all four engines separated from the center wing section that in turn separated from the fuselage. Subsequently, the engines and fuselage went straight to the ocean floor at a depth of approximately 5500 feet. The outer wing and the center wing sections floated on the surface for several days and sank more than 50 nm from the impact location. The radio navigator was rescued while 10 other crew members were killed.

The pilot departed on a VFR flight behind another company airplane. About 5 minutes after takeoff, the pilot informed the pilot in the lead airplane that he was having a generator problem, and that he would monitor them. The lead airplane landed at a different airport, and waited for the other pilot to join him after dropping off his passengers at another airport. The pilot did not arrive at either airport. All shipping vessels along the airplane's expected course were requested to report any sightings. No contact was reported and the search was terminated. Aircraft damage and injuries are presumed.

Crashed in unknown circumstances in the Gulf of Mexico while completing a training mission. All three crew members, two pilots and an instructor, were killed.
Crew:
Cpt John Krafft,
1st Lt Ronald Pahl,
Ltjg Robert Roch.

The pilot had departed Swainsboro, Georgia at 1930 EST on an IFR flight. About 12 minutes later, he informed Jacksonville Center that he was very dizzy and could not see. There were no other recorded transmissions from the pilot. The airplane was tracked on radar until radar contact was lost at 2130. The airplane was at a heading of 110 degrees and an altitude of 9,000 feet the entire time. Attempts to locate the airplane by aerial intercept were uneventful. All shipping vessels along the airplane's expected course, were notified of the airplane's estimated fuel exhaustion point. No contact was reported and the search was suspended. Prior to departing Swainsboro, the pilot had mentioned to his wife that he had a headache. A review of the pilot's medical records revealed that he had twice indicated on his application for a medical certificate that he had a medical history of unconsciousness. In addition, he was being treated for hypertension with Norvasc and chlorthalidone prescription drugs.

The pilot stated he noted a loss of oil pressure and a partial loss of power of the right engine during cruise flight. The engine then lost power, and the pilot was unable to feather the right propeller. The airplane would not maintain altitude and the pilot ditched the airplane about 75 miles southeast of St Croix. After exiting the airplane, the pilot inflated a raft, and was found by rescue personnel about 4 hrs later. The airplane was not recovered.

The pilot, sole on board, departed Kolonia Airport on a 5 hours and 45 minutes flight to Tarawa Island, Gilbert Islands. En route, radar and contact were lost with the airplane that crashed in the Pacific Ocean. SAR operations were initiated but abandoned after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the pilot was found.

The aircraft departed overweight for a 17-hour ferry flight. Early in the flight the crew experienced some fuel problems and decided to continue when they resolved the problem. The crew indicated the en route winds were close to forecast. The ferry fuel system is a simple 5- tank gravity fuel feed into the fore and aft main tanks. About 6 hours from destination, they realized the ferry tanks were not flowing into the main tanks as planned. They began manually transferring fuel from the rear ferry tank to the forward ferry tank, and shut down the right engine to reduce fuel consumption. This did not stop the negative fuel flow from the main tanks. At the time of ditching, the crew estimated the fuel remaining in the ferry tanks was about 170 gallons, most of which was in the 3 aft ferry tanks. An aero engineer calculated that the aircraft was at least 10 inches behind the maximum aft cg at the time of ditching, and suggested that the ferry fuel system was not managed to maintain the cg within the allowable limits, a task made more difficult with the rear fuselage cargo.

The pilot, sole on board, was supposed to ferry the aircraft from Majuro, Marshall Islands, to Honolulu, Hawaii. About two hours into the flight, while cruising at the altitude of 7,000 feet, the pilot informed ATC about engine problems and decided to return to Majuro. Unable to maintain a safe altitude, the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft about 320 km northeast of Majuro Atoll. A pilot who was flying in a second aircraft was able to give the exact position and the pilot was rescued 20 hours later. The aircraft sank and was not recovered.