Greenlandair aircraft accident near Kangerlussuaq in 1961

Greenlandair aircraft accident near Kangerlussuaq in 1961
A DHC-3 Otter amphibious aircraft
Accident summary
Accident type	Emergency landing due to fire
place	12.5 km northwest of Kangerlussuaq , Greenland
date	August 29, 1961
Fatalities	1
Survivors	5
Aircraft
Aircraft type	De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
operator	Eastern Provincial Airways for Greenlandair
Mark	CF-MEX
Departure airport	Sondrestrom Air Base , Greenland
Destination airport	Aasiaat , Greenland
Passengers	4th
crew	2
Lists of aviation accidents

The Greenlandair accident at Kangerlussuaq in 1961 occurred on August 29, 1961. On a Greenland charter flight from Sondrestrom Air Base in Kangerlussuaq to Aasiaat , a De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter operated on behalf of Greenlandair of Eastern Provincial Airways (CF-MEX ) when a fire broke out shortly after take-off. One crew member was killed in the accident.

machine

The machine that crashed was a De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter with serial number 332 . It was finalized in 1960 at De Havilland Canada's facility in Downsview , Ontario . The machine was rolled out in April 1960. On April 21, 1960, it was delivered to Eastern Provincial Airways with the aircraft registration CF-MEX . The machine was flown to Greenland in new condition and leased to Greenlandair since the end of April 1960. On the transfer flight they accompanied another DHC-3 Otter (CF-LEA) and a Canso (CF-CRP) from Eastern Provincial Airways. The single engine machine, a commuter aircraft with STOL properties, had a radial engine of the type Pratt & Whitney R-1340 . It was an amphibious aircraft with floating runners and an additional retractable landing gear . It wore the standard paint scheme of Eastern Provincial Airways with a red base color and a white surrounding band and a white stripe on the tail unit. By the time of the accident it had completed 750 hours of operation.

background

In 1958, the Danish government signed a contract with the Canadian Eastern Provincial Airways to transport passengers within Greenland . The flights were to be flown over the ice as arctic exploration flights. From 1960 a contract was signed with the EPA for passenger transport with machines of the types DHC-3 Otter and Canso. For this purpose, amphibious aircraft of the types De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter with the aircraft registration CF- LEA and CF-MEX and a Canso with the registration CF-CRP were used. The flights should be carried out with floating skids in the summer months and with skids for landing on the ice in winter. Flight operations continued throughout the summer until the machines were flown back to Gander in October 1960 . Eastern Provincial Airways was again awarded the contract for passenger transport in Greenland in the 1961 summer season. The CF-MEX was in operation with landing skids from March 1961. Another otter (CF-LEA) was in use from mid-May . When it was recalled to Gander on June 16, 1961 for maintenance work, CF-MEX was the only DHC-3 Otter of the EPA to remain in operation within Greenland. The machine was used by Kangerlussuaq for flight connections to Sisimiut , Aasiaat , Qasigiannguit , Ilulissat and Qeqertarsuaq . The aircraft was stationed in Aasiaat for a few days and was used for flights between the cities in Disko Bay . The machine was also used for some charter and ambulance flights.

Passengers, crew and flight plan

On board were four passengers, two members of the United States Air Force and two Danes , as well as a two-person Canadian crew consisting of a flight captain and a first officer. The flight captain was Jim Rowe. The charter flight should lead to Aasiaat and other places northwards.

nationality	Passengers	crew	total
Denmark	2	-	2
Canada	-	2	2
United States	2	-	2
total	4th	2	6th

the accident

The machine was reaching an altitude of 3,500 feet after takeoff and was about 20 miles north of the takeoff airport when a fire broke out on board. The crew was unable to return to the airport. Thick smoke spread in the cockpit, so neither pilot could see what the other was doing. They were only able to reconstruct the events in the hospital as follows:

When the captain could no longer bear the heat in the cockpit, he leaned halfway outside and thus partially shielded the cockpit from further smoke penetration. Finally he managed to make an emergency landing on a lake at 3:23 p.m. local time. The plane sped across the lake and slid onto the bank on fire. The pilot was thrown forward from the cockpit and wedged under the left floating skid while the otter burned out.

Victim

All passengers were uninjured, but the pilots suffered severe burns. Both were flown to Kangerlussuaq in a US Air Force rescue helicopter and from there to the hospital in Goose Bay . Flight captain Jim Rowe was taken to a specialty clinic in Toronto , but died of his injuries on September 7, 1961. The first officer suffered mainly burns on his legs.

root cause

During the investigation into the accident it was found that the fire had been caused and fed by a leak in the carburetor. The leak occurred after an overflow line had come loose and fuel escaped in an uncontrolled manner.

Commemoration

On October 14, 1958, flight captain Jim Rowe had made an emergency landing on another Eastern Provincial Airways (CF-GCV) DHC-3 Otter on Lower Savage Island , Northwest Territories . He was awarded posthumously for his measures to rescue his passengers in the CF-MEX flight accident . A street in the city of Gander was also named after him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Accident report DHC-3 Otter, CF-MEX in the Aviation Safety Network
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Operating history and accident report in the DHC-3 Otter Archive
3. ↑ ^{a b} Crash of a De Havilland DHC-3 Otter near Søndre Strømfjord: 1 killed. B3A - Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives
4. ↑ ^{a b c} accident report , ICAO Circular 69-AN / 61, No. 29, pp. 160-162.

Coordinates: 67 ° 4 ′ 33.3 "  N , 50 ° 56 ′ 46.4"  W.