Date:	Thursday 27 November 1947
Time:	03:17
Type:	Douglas C-47-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	Columbia Air Cargo
Registration:	NC95486
MSN:	6065
Year of manufacture:	1942
Total airframe hrs:	3756 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 13 / Occupants: 13
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Yakutat, AK -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Anchorage-Merrill Field, AK (MRI/PAMR)
Destination airport:	Yakutat Airport, AK (YAK/PAYA)
Investigating agency:	CAB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The flight departed from Anchorage at 00:20. At 02:38 the flight reported that it was over Yakataga, at 6,000 feet, and that it was proceeding in accordance with instrument flight rules to Yakutat, estimating arrival there at 03:20. Twenty-eight minutes later the flight called Yakutat Radio, stating that it was leaving the 6,000-foot altitude and making a straight in approach. The crew received Yakutat weather: Indefinite ceiling, 500-foot overcast visibility 3 miles, light drizzle, temperature and dew point 43 degrees, wind from the east-southeast at 10 miles per hour, altimeter setting 30.17. Yakutat Radio again called the flight at approximately 03:16, requesting that it report the height of the ceiling when it descended into the clear. Nothing more was heard from the flight. The DC-3 descended until the left wing struck a 140-foot spruce tree one mile distant and on a bearing of 70 degrees from the CAA Yakutat Radio station. The airplane crashed and caught fire.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Failure to follow the approved instrument approach procedures while making an initial approach to Yakutat at an altitude insufficient to clear trees along the flight path."

Air Britain Casualty compendium (pt. 47)
CAB File No. 1-0100-47

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