- Date
- July 20, 1988, 19:24 local (Jul 21, 1988, 00:24 UTC)
- Place
- Golden Meadow, LA
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N33VXDouglas DC-6A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report June 18, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880720029169A
- Case key
- 22559
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
After abt 4.3 hrs on an overwater flt, the crew rprtd they had 15 min of fuel remaining. Subsequently, 3 of 4 engs lost pwr fm fuel exhaustion. Drg an emerg lndg, the acft hit a levee & was extensively dmgd. Most of the wreckage came to rest in a dainage canal. Bodies of the crew were rcvrd fm the water on 7/22/88. Drg an inv, no fuel was fnd in the fuel tanks & no fuel spill was evident. Records showed the acft had depd el salvador with 7 hrs of fuel. No reason for the loss of 2.7 hrs of fuel was verified; but abt 1 month after the acdnt, an employee of the operator rprtd finding an opendrain vlv in the wreckage, inside the #4 eng nacelle. A metallurgical exam indcd the vlv had been in an open psn for an extdd time. No gnd psnl saw fuel draining fm the acft drg start, taxi or tkof. The crew had no ctl of the vlv in flt. There was evidence the #1, #2 & #3 engs were not providing pwr drg impact. All x-feed vlv ctls were fnd in x-feed psns. Ethanol was fnd in the plt's & coplt's blood, but there was evidence that it was the resulted of postmortem changes.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N33VX
- Reported as
- Douglas DC-6A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 44615
- Airframe hours
- 27,978
- Engine
- P&W R-2800-CB/3, 2,200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 129
- Registered owner
- Univ. Air Equipment Leasing
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- AAIP · July 13, 1988 · 19 hours before
- Departed
- El Salvador, OF
- Destination
- NEO · New Orleans, LA
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 36
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,000 total · 3,500 in this make and model · 110 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HUM, 25 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.