Another Dakota gone.

[Paul S.]

WWII vintage, crashed and burned on take-off, all survived. Article and video here: All 13 Passengers Survive a Fiery Texas Plane Crash

Information

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[#1oilman]

Good to hear all survived ! Too bad about the loss of the plane.

[Brit plumber]

That looked a little odd, there were a few problems before wheels off and the pilot appeared to still opt to continue rather than abort. Possibly a control restriction. A real shame but at least all survived and still demonstrates the strength of the DC3/C47 after 80 years.

[#1oilman]

Looks like no flaps and insufficient speed at takeoff.

[Paul S.]

That looked a little odd, there were a few problems before wheels off and the pilot appeared to still opt to continue rather than abort. Possibly a control restriction. A real shame but at least all survived and still demonstrates the strength of the DC3/C47 after 80 years.

Possible control restriction was what I was thinking when I watched the video. I wondered if he had accidentally missed a control lock when he did his pre-flight. I remember reading that was the cause of the accident in which the US Army's Golden Knight parachute team was killed in 1973. That was a Dakota too. From memory, the investigators found a control lock still in place (rudder or elevator ????) at take off and after the crash.

I also wondered if he had a problem with the right engine speed (throttle? mixture control? fuel flow? magnetos?) since he took so long to get the tail up, and it appeared he veered to the right and was right wing low at one point then left wing low and veered left.

The accident investigation report will be interesting reading when it is published.

[Gil Boyd]

So few of these old birds left now in flying condition, really sad as many of these pilots have hundreds of hours on them, but they do seem to switch around from aircraft to aircraft.
Not saying that was at fault but it does look like a case of not enough elevation to lift at the point he crashed. As he survived with his passengers no doubt he will be able to answer the missing links!!
I watched a programme about the last surviving ATA lady Mary Ellis dying aged 101 I believe. She was saying she went from delivering a Spitfire one day and the next a Lancaster, what brave and ingenious women they were out of 1000 aircraft in her log book 76 different types and over 400 Spitfires. I'll see if I can find a link.
Here it is:

Mary Ellis death: Female Spitfire pilot and Second World War 'heroine' dies, aged 101 | The Independent

[Brit plumber]

At least the BBMF DC3 is still in fine fettle!

Got a good video of her today leading the Lanc, Spit and Hurricne if someone can recommend a free video host.

[Gil Boyd]

[Aragorn243]

He wasn't even going fast enough for the tail wheel to lift off the runway.

[Brit plumber]

Unfortunately it’s opposite number hasn’t faired so well

Switzerland crash: Twenty dead in WW2 plane crash - BBC News

It’s a shame to lose a vintage aircraft but more so when it takes lives.