Accident Douglas DC-3-313 NC21789,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 341857
 

Date:Saturday 31 August 1940
Time:14:41
Type:Silhouette image of generic DC3 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Douglas DC-3-313
Owner/operator:Pennsylvania-Central Airlines
Registration: NC21789
MSN: 2188
Year of manufacture:1940
Total airframe hrs:565 hours
Engine model:Wright R-1820-G102A
Fatalities:Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 25
Aircraft damage: Destroyed, written off
Category:Accident
Location:near Lovettsville, VA -   United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature:Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:Washington-Hoover Field, DC
Destination airport:Pittsburgh (unknown airport), PA
Investigating agency: CAB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
A Douglas DC-3 passenger plane, operating Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Trip 19, was destroyed when it crashed near Lovettsville, VA, USA. All 25 occupants were killed. One of the passengers killed was Senator Ernest Lundeen (62, Minnesota).
Trip 19 was a scheduled service from x to y with several intermediate stops. The airplane took off from Washington-Hoover Field, DC at 14:21. Twenty minutes after departure the airplane flew into dark storm clouds near Short Hill Mountain. A lightning discharge occurred near the airplane, after which it descended out of control. It struck the ground on the edge of an alfalfa field in a nose-down attitude.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of probable fact and the entire record in this investigation, we find that the probable cause of the accident to aircraft NC 21789, which occurred at Lovettsville, Virginia, on August 31, 1940, was the disabling of the pilots by a severe lightning discharge in the immediate neighborhood of the plane, with resulting loes of control."

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: CAB
Report number: final report
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

CAB Report

Revision history:

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