Accident description


Status: Final
Date: 28 JAN 1948
Time: 10:50
Type: Douglas C-47B-40-DK
Operator: Airline Transport Carriers
Registration: NC36480
Msn / C/n: 16850/33598
Year built: 1945
Total airframe hrs: 2868 hours
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney R-1830
Crew: 3 fatalities / 3 on board
Passengers: 29 fatalities / 29 on board
Total: 32 fatalities / 32 on board
Airplane damage: Written off
Location: Diablo Mountains, CA (United States of America)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Oakland International Airport, CA (OAK)
Destination airport: Imperial County Airport, CA
Narrative:
Douglas DC-3 NC79055, certificated for 32 passengers, had been scheduled for the flight. The crew however took NC36480 by accident, certificated for 26 passengers and 7 hours overdue for a 100-hour inspection. The flight to Oakland was uneventful. At Oakland, 28 passengers boarded the DC-3, leaving three of them sitting on luggage without seat belts. While en route at 5000 feet, the no. 1 engine caught fire. Following an explosion, the left wing, including the engine, separated from the fuselage. The aircraft crashed out of control.
It appeared that the gasket in the engine driven left fuel pump was broken and the 4 studs holding the castings of the pump together were loose. Under pressure, gasoline probably sprayed from the pump, then being ignited by the exhaust. The aircraft was carrying Mexican deportees and a US Immigration & Naturalization Service guard.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the left wing in flight as a result of damage by fire which had its source in a defective left engine driven fuel pump."

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ASN Accident description 28 JAN 1948 Douglas C-47B-40-DK NC36480