1951 — March 2, Mid-Continent Airlines airport approach stall/crash, Sioux City, IA– 16
–16 AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 03021951.
–16 Aviation Safety Network. Mid-Continent Airlines Flight 16, Sioux City, IA, 02 Mar 1951.
–16 Civil Aeronautics Board. AIR. Mid-Continent Airlines…Sioux City, Iowa, March 2, 1951.
–16 Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJFM&P, 3/1, Mar 1982, Table 1.
Narrative Information
Civil Aeronautics Board: “Mid-Continent Airlines Flight 16, a DC-3 aircraft, N-19928, crashed at 0912, March 2, 1951, during a landing approach to the Sioux City Airport, Sioux City, Iowa. Sixteen occupants, including the pilots, were killed, and the remaining nine were injured. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the crash and fire which followed…
“Flight 16 departed Kansas City, Missouri, at 0724, March 2, 1951, for Omaha, Nebraska, Sioux City, Iowa, and other intermediate stops with final destination as Minneapolis, Minnesota….
“At 0841 the flight took off for Sioux City on an instrument flight plan with Omaha as the alternate airport. There were 21 passengers…. The take-off was without incident and no difficulty was encountered en route to Sioux City, the flight proceeding at 3,000 feet altitude.
“At 0904 Flight 16 reported…11.9 miles south-southeast of the approach end of Runway 35 at the Sioux City Airport. It was immediately cleared by the Sioux City Airport tower for a straight-in approach and landing on Runway 35. Weather information was furnished to the flight as precipitation, ceiling 500 feet, sky obscured, visibility one mile in light snow showers, and wind from the east at 14 miles per hour. The medium-intensity lights for Runway 17/35 were turned on and placed at the position of full brilliance. Following receipt of this information, the flight requested permission to land to the southeast on Runway 13 and received clearance to do so. At 0909 the flight reported that it was contact over the southeast corner of the field and was cleared to land…. A left climbing turned to the north was then made and the pilot was advised that he was cleared to land on either Runway 17 or Runway 13. The pilot was also advised by the tower that there would be a 90-degree cross-wind if he elected to land on Runway 17. All transmissions to the flight were acknowledged. The aircraft was not further observed, and crashed about 600 feet north and west of the approach end of Runway 17. Fire developed immediately….
“Survivors and ground witnesses reported hearing a substantial surge of power immediately before the crash. Survivors stated that just before the aircraft struck the ground it was in a left turn, that the left wing suddenly went down, accompanied by a shuddering and an application of full power. The aircraft was at very low altitude and did not recover from the wing-low attitude, slipping into the ground on the left wing.
“The aircraft structure was largely consumed by fire before the arrival of rescuers, and it was not possible to determine the extent of impact damage to the fuselage and seat structure….
“The left wing panel was crashed and compressed from dip to root from absorption of impact, the force of which was applied almost parallel to the lateral axis of the aircraft. These facts alone show that the aircraft must have been at a sharp left slap and a stalled condition immediately before the crash in addition, several of the survivors were able to describe the stall and slip, advising that, the aircraft shuddered and seemed to slide downward in the direction of the left wing tip. Full power was applied at the time, further indicating that the pilot was attempting to recover from a stall. The aircraft struck the ground immediately thereafter. It must be concluded that the pilot permitted air speed to decrease below that which was necessary to maintain flight during the attempt to land….
“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a stall during a left turn too close to the ground to effect recovery.” (CAB. Mid-Continent Air…Sioux City, IO, Mar 2, 1951.)
AirDisaster.com: “Executed a missed approach, stalled, and crashed in poor weather conditions.” (AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 03021951.)
Newspaper
March 2: “The dead included Mrs. J. D. Alway, of Aberdeen. SD, who survived another Mid-Continent plane crash last Tuesday at Tulsa. Okla.…. It was the first fatal crash for Mid-Continent airlines in its 17 year history… It was the second crack-up, however, this week for the company. Last Tuesday, 29, passengers and the crew of four walked away from one of its airliners just before the craft was enveloped in flames after crashing at Tulsa, Okla.” (Walla-Walla Union-Bulletin, WA. “15 Killed in Sioux City Plane Crash.” March 2, 1951.)
Sources
AirDisaster.com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 03021951. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03021951®=N19928&airline=Mid-Continent+Airlines
Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1951. Mid-Continent Airlines Flight 16 airport approach stall and crash, Sioux City IA, 02 Mar 1951. Accessed 8-3-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19510302-0
Civil Aeronautics Board. Accident Investigation Report. Mid-Continent Airlines, Inc., Sioux City, Iowa, March 2, 1951. Washington, DC: CAB, September 27, 1951, 5 pages. Accessed 8-3-2023 at: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/33037
Eckert, William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982, Table 1.
Walla-Walla Union-Bulletin, WA. “15 Killed in Sioux City Plane Crash.” March 2, 1951. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com