1948 — March 12, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 (charter) crash into Mt. Sanford, AK– 30

–30  Aviation Safety Network. Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 4422, 12 Mar 1948.

–30  Baugher. 1945 USAAF Serial Numbers.  Sep 21, 2011 rev.

–30  CAB. AIR. Northwest Airlines, Inc. – Mt. Sanford, Alaska – March 12, 1948.

–30  INS. “30 Die as Plane Hits Mountain.” The Lima News, OH, 3-14-1948, p. 1.

–30  Liefer. Broken Wings: Tragedy & Disaster in Alaska Civil Aviation. 2003, pp. 209-211.

 

Narrative Information

 

Baugher: “Douglas C-54G-1-DO Skymaster….513 (c/n 35966) to Northwest Airlines as NC95422.  Crashed on west slope of Mt. Sanford, Alaska Mar 12,1948. 24 passengers and six crew all killed.”  (Baugher. 1945 USAAF Serial Numbers.  Sep 21, 2011 rev.)

 

CAB: “A Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-4…Flight 4422, a non-scheduled charter flight en route from Lunghwa Airport, Shanghai, China, to La Guardia Field, New York, crashed on the west slope of Mt. Sanford, Alaska, at an altitude of 11,000 feet at approximately 2114, March 12, 1948. The 24 passengers and 6 crew members were fatally injured, and the aircraft was demolished by impact and fire….[1]

 

“Take-off from Anchorage was accomplished at 2012, March 12, 1948….Approximately 42 miles, 51 degrees, from the Gulkana radio range station is Mt. Sanford, the elevation of which is 16,208 feet. In order to provide a safe lateral distance from Mt. Sanford for aircraft flying the route, the airway from Gulkana east is deflected to the north, its course being 23 degrees. Fifteen minutes after the flight was observed flying easterly from Gulkana a fire was observed on the western slope of Mt. Sanford….

 

“At 0600 the day following the accident, a DC-3 with officials from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Civil Aeronautics Administration, and Northwest Airlines departed from Anchorage for the Mt. Sanford area. The west course of the Gulkana radio range and the Sheep Mountain radio beacon were flight checked en route and found to be operating normally. The wreckage was located at an elevation of 8,500 feet on the west slope of Mt. Sanford 23 miles southeast of the center line of the airway. The point of impact, approximately 2,500 feet above the wreckage, was observed to be a section of smoke-blackened snow and ice. From this point there was a clearly defined fire-path where the burning wreckage had fallen down the almost perpendicular wall of the mountain….The scene of the accident was inaccessible from either the ground or the air….

 

“Communications from the flight were received to within approximately one minute before the crash. In view of the fact that no mechanical difficulty was reported at any time it is unlikely that this accident was caused by any mechanical failure. Furthermore, the aircraft crashed at its cruising altitude of 11,000 feet. All ground radio navigation facilities were flight checked and found to be operating normally, so they also are eliminated from any causal relationship to the accident….

 

“Since the aircraft was observed to fly easterly from Gulkana, at which time it was 4 miles south of the Gulkana radio range station, it appears that the flight was not following the airway, but was flying directly from Gulkana to Snag. It is probable that the pilot, relying on good visibility, felt confident that he would see Mt. Sanford and be able to safely circumnavigate it. Though no clouds were reported, the top of Mt. Sanford could very well have been capped by a thin layer of clouds. Such a layer of clouds would not only have tended to obscure the mountain but may have acted as a reflector for the aurora borealis which was observed to be particularly brilliant the night of this flight.

 

“It is concluded, therefore, that the flight flew south of the airways for the purpose of flying the straight line course from Gulkana to Snag, intending to circumnavigate Mt. Sanford; and since Mt. Sanford was not discernible either because of clouds, the aurora borealis, or both, the aircraft crashed into the mountain.”  (CAB. Northwest Airlines, Mt. Sanford, Alaska – March 12, 1948.)

 

Newspaper

 

March 13: “Anchorage, Alaska, Mar. 13 — (INS) — Northwest Airlines reported tonight that 30 persons were killed in the crash and fiery explosion of a DC-4 on a virtually inaccessible, snow-capped Alaskan mountainside. The plane, owned by Northwest Airlines, carried a crew of six and 24 passengers bound from Shanghai to New York. A. V. Hayes, Alaskan manager for Northwest Airlines reported that the craft smashed into a sheer rock wall at the 11,000-foot level of Sanford mountain, 170 miles northeast of Anchorage.

 

“The plane exploded and burned, scattering debris and wreckage down the icy slopes. Hayes held no hope that anyone had survived, saying: ‘The plane is scattered all over. There is no question of anybody being alive.’

 

“Officials said the crash probably occurred about an hour and 20 minutes after the plane took off from Anchorage, bound for Edmonton, Alberta, on a leg of the Shanghai-to-New York flight.

 

“The passengers were seamen who chartered the plane to carry them to New York after delivery of a tanker to the Orient….” (INS. “30 Die as Plane Hits Mountain.” The Lima News, OH, 3-14-1948, p. 1.)

 

March 13: “The passengers were oil company employees from Texas and California[2] enroute to New York.” (Wala-Wala Union-Bulletin, WA. “Crash of Plane With 30 Reported,” 3-13-1948.)

 

Sources

 

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 4422, 12 Mar 1948. Accessed 2-8-2009 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19480312-0

 

Baugher, Joseph F. 1945 USAAF Serial Numbers. 9-21-2011 revision. Accessed 1-1-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1945.html

 

Civil Aeronautics Board.  Accident Investigation Report. Northwest Airlines, Inc. – Mt. Sanford, Alaska – March 12, 1948. Washington, DC: CAB, July 28, 1948. Accessed at:  http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_aircraftacc

 

INS (International News Service). “30 Die as Plane Hits Mountain.” The Lima News, OH, 3-14-1948, p. 1. Accessed 1-2-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lima-news-mar-14-1948-p-1/

 

 

Liefer, G. P. Broken Wings: Tragedy & Disaster in Alaska Civil Aviation. Blaine, WA: Hancock House, 2003.

 

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, WA. “Crash of Plane With 30 Reported,” 3-13-1948. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/freepdfviewer.aspx?img=20686606

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Liefer notes the site was inaccessible and soon covered with snow, thus neither the bodies nor any aircraft components recovered at the time. In 1999, he notes, two pilots found pieces of the plane which had been moved down by a glacier. The Alaska State Police and NTSB were informed and were able to retrieve some human remains. (pp. 215 and 220.)

[2] Were merchant seamen coming back from delivering a tanker to the Nationalist Chinese government. (Liefer, 219.)